#European heroics of MLS alumni show league’s rising stature

RB Leipzig’s Tyler Adams scores the team’s winning goal in last week’s Champions League quarterfinal against Atletico Madrid.
AP

Same with the following day.

The league held no games on Thursday, Friday or Saturday. But in that timespan, some of its former players shone in the highest level of domestic soccer.

Former Red Bulls wonderkid Tyler Adams scored the winning goal against Atletico Madrid on Aug. 13, set up by former NYCFC left back Angelino. The next day, former Vancouver Whitecaps homegrown player Alphonso Davies tormented Barcelona en route to an 8-2 Bayern Munich rout.

Without so much as fielding a game, the MLS was a major talking point as the weekend rolled in.

It would be unfair to call the Adams’ goal or Davies’ astonishing assist (at the expense of Nelson Semedo) an arrival for the league. Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey thrived for years in the Premier League after moves from the MLS. Newcastle made former Atlanta playmaker Miguel Almiron a then-club record signing in 2019. Jack Harrison has become a mainstay for Leeds after departing New York City.

What we saw last week was more akin to a mission statement for MLS. It may not be on the same footing as the elite European leagues (and there’s no shame in that), but it can sure help you get there.

The days of MLS as a “retirement league” are long gone. Of course, aging stars craving a different challenge — potentially in some luxurious locale like New York or LA — will still make the move to MLS.

But last week showed how the league can be utilized by players in the opposite stage of their career; Adams and Davies (and to a lesser extent Angelino) have used it as a springboard to the game’s very top.

If that sounds like a pejorative, it shouldn’t. There are scores of leagues around the world with their own quality and style, but on a reductive level, they all feed into the consensus Big Five (England’s Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A and France’s Ligue 1).

For the MLS to be part of a tier of leagues that sends players to the Elite European level isn’t something to scoff at or put down. It’s actually progress for a competition whose “retirement league” label had a fair amount of truth for a long while.

More recently, the league has shown itself capable of exporting top talent in addition to just importing it (in the form of aging stars). According to Transfermarkt, seven out of the league’s 10 most expensive departing transfers have occurred within the last four years.

Of course, fees have inflated over time, but this doesn’t change the fact that the league’s stature has undoubtedly risen. Even some of the league’s big-name designated players have started to trickle over to MLS at an earlier age; MVPs Sebastian Giovinco and Carlos Vela both debuted in the league at 28 with plenty left in the tank.

Those players will remain part of the league’s makeup for the foreseeable future, but MLS’ mission should be continuing to fashion itself as a competitive league where good young players can get minutes and perhaps reach the heights of Adams and Davies.

American youngsters like Adams, Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie (at much younger ages respectively) took the plunge to Germany to further their careers. Perhaps more European youngsters, like former New York City winger Harrison, should go in the other direction to kickstart theirs.

Maybe someday the MLS will reach the level of the Big Five. Maybe not.

For now, it’s still a competitive league brimming with young potential. Adams, Davies and Angelino showed where that potential can go last week.