African Players and MLS

By: Marc | August 24th, 2007

   

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This is an interesting article on the perspective of African players and MLS. According to the Crew’s Kei Kamara, David Beckham’s arrival is bringing more attention to MLS:

“I remember last year when I was watching the Premier League review, every once on a while they asked players: ‘Do you know anything about the MLS?’ and most of the players just seemed lost for words as they had no idea. But now with just one signing, David Beckham, who has now come to America, most people who did not know what the MLS is, now know what MLS is.”

Having lived in Senegal, African players are dear to my heart and I think MLS is a great league for African players. A lot of the smaller European leagues seem to “churn and burn” African players, bringing in a bunch and only keeping the handful that show a bit of promise, while in MLS players can have time to develop a bit more. And of course players like Houston’s own Joseph Ngwenya have talent and and exciting speed and are great additions to the league.

Category: MLS

   

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Comments  

• SOCCER WILDfeeds » African Players and MLS |  August 24th, 2007 at 12:41 am | Pingback

  
  
  

  [...] post by Marc and software by Elliott [...]

  

• massaer |  August 24th, 2007 at 6:01 am

  
  
  

  You lived in Senegal? Awesome.
  I’m senegalese myself so I hope you liked it there.

  

• Marc |  August 25th, 2007 at 2:05 am

  
  
  

  @ massaer

  Yes, I basically grew up in Dakar. My mom was a teacher at a missionary school and later went back as a full-time missionary. I was three when I first went over. I lived in Dakar and in Europe until my teens, then came back to the states for high school.

  I love Senegal and would love to go back to visit… but it’s not quite so easy now that I have to pay for it myself!

  I grew up playing soccer on the streets and in sandlots in Dakar. Just pick-up games with whoever showed up and with whatever “ball” we could find. Sometimes it was a soccer ball, but other times it was a basketball, a tennis ball, a tin can, whatever.

  That early experience is one of the things that influenced me the most about my attitudes toward soccer because soccer was a way to communicate: get a group of kids who wanted to play and no one worried about the color of skins or what language you knew or didn’t know — we were just having fun!

  

• Daily Dose 08.25.07 - World Football - The Offside - Soccer News and Opinion from leagues around the world |  August 25th, 2007 at 7:01 am | Pingback

  
  
  

  [...] African players and MLS (Houston Dynamo Offside) [...]