We’ve all heard the critique before, we’ve even been a party to it. Is Major League Soccer a retirement home for European stars seeking one final paycheck and the benefits of living in North America?
The answer to this question is clearly important with regards to the national, as well as global, perception of MLS.
If the answer is yes, why should disinterested Americans even begin to care about its growth and its product? It’s a lesser facsimile of the top European leagues, an extravagant marketing ploy content to sell the jerseys of aging has-beens.
If the answer is no, well, we can tell the ‘Euro snobs’ in no uncertain terms to shut the hell up already. The growth of MLS is undeniable and worthy of everyone’s attention. This is the league to get behind and support as the quality continues to approach the highest international level.
In Giovani Dos Santos and Andrea Pirlo we have the perfect embodiments of the cases for and against MLS as a retirement home.
The Case Against The MLS Retirement Home
SERIOUSLY, @OficialGio??? #LAvRSL https://t.co/DGItdJc9Xa
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 24, 2016
After appearing for illustrious clubs like Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur, Galatasaray and Villarreal, Giovani Dos Santos’s transfer to MLS and LA Galaxy as a designated player was always going to raise a few eyebrows.
It feels as though Dos Santos has been around forever. His performances for Barcelona B back in 2006 ensured that he’d be forever closely watched and monitored by fans of El Tri. He’ll have represented Mexico for ten years now should he be capped this summer in either the Rio Olympics or the Copa America Centenario.
Dos Santos is approaching a century of caps for Mexico and he’s still only 26 years old. Why, many onlookers have wondered, is a former Barcelona player in the prime of his career playing in MLS?
Photo: @Futbol_EnLaRed | Twitter
The answer might just be for stability and consistency. Consistency has been something that’s been sorely lacking from Dos Santos’s career ever since he left Barcelona. During the following seven years, he appeared for seven different clubs, culminating in signing for Los Angeles in 2015.
His debut season with the club was solid but not spectacular, and doubters used that as ammunition against him. How, in 11 MLS matches, had he managed only three goals and five assists? It was brutally unfair, but such are the expectations Dos Santos has set for himself.
Now, Dos Santos is back to his blistering best. Providing creativity, class and imagination to an LA side that has lost only once in their opening seven matches, Dos Santos was recently named MLS Player of the Week.
He’s scored three goals in four appearances this season, including his stunning chip against Real Salt Lake. Having scored a goal that’s eerily reminiscent of his stunning effort against the United States in the 2011 Gold Cup final, Dos Santos has likely used MLS as a springboard back into Juan Carlos Osorio’s plans.
The Case For The MLS Retirement Home
Photo: @Frank_NYCFC | Twitter
The Andrea Pirlo in MLS experiment is fast becoming an unmitigated disaster. Pirlo has done his part in elevating the profile of MLS — he’s respected and loved the world over. However, and it pains me to write this, his game has deteriorated faster than the patchwork pitch at Yankee Stadium.
The 36-year-old appears disinterested. While his languid style does little to combat this appearance, it’s obvious that Pirlo’s ambling style has been turned down a further notch while he strolls around the midfield like a man strolling through his vineyard.
Pirlo dándolo todo defendiendo un córner... jajaja https://t.co/jEPCY4fvZo
— Fútbol Fichajes (@FutboolFlchajes) April 19, 2016
As Jake Walerius wrote in a recent article for Howler, “Pirlo is horribly suited to MLS, an extremely physically demanding league for all its technical shortcomings . . . It should worry the league, which has invested so heavily in him, that Pirlo at his best looks more or less identical to Pirlo at his worst.”
With Patrick Viera at the helm and David Villa, Frank Lampard, Mix Diskerud and Pirlo fully settled into life in MLS and the Big Apple, this was supposed to be a breakthrough year for New York City FC. After all the spending and hype, NYCFC occupy last place in the Eastern Conference.
They’ve played seven matches and managed a single, solitary victory. Pirlo’s first season in MLS returned zero goals and two assists in 13 matches. This season, he’s not yet registered a goal or an assist in six appearances.
Andrea Pirlo is a legend, a cerebral world class player and a class act off the field. However, his play in MLS only cements its reputation as a retirement home.
