MLS Growing in the United States

Major League Soccer is making huge strides bringing the Beautiful Game to the States.

     MLS has signed some big names over the years, and they keep making headlines as they recently acquired David Villa Sanchez. The 32 year old Spaniard has recently played for two of the biggest clubs in Spain, Atletico Madrid and FC Barcelona. 

     The NYC FC signing of David Villa (and future European signings to the MLS), will be very beneficial to helping futbol grow in the MLS and United States.  The hype David Beckham brought in roughly 7 years ago, when signing with the LA Galaxy, helped spike interest, credibility, and visibility to the MLS. 

     MLS operated on a strict salary structure until Beckham came along.  Thanks to the "Beckham Rule," each team can now have up to three "designated players" whose salaries only partially count against the cap.  That's helped bring in players like Thierry Henry, who now plays for the New York Red Bulls after playing at Arsenal and Barcelona, and Jermain Defoe, who is now with Toronto FC after spending his whole soccer career in England. 

     I would love to see class-act players whose skill is already deteriorating come in to the MLS, make players around them better, positively affect the youth, and as a result sell seats because of the improving competition in the league.  

     You're as good as your competition could mean two things:  You could potentially be as good as the competition or play below your abilities and be as bad as them.  There's a reason USMNT coach Jurgen Klinsmann wants his players playing at the highest level, which is now the English Premier League.  Playing with and against the best players in the World will only make you better.

     "The Group Of Death" could be just what the US Men's National Team needs to improve. Though the USMNT easily qualified for the 2014 World Cup, and went into South Africa with no test at qualifiers in 2010.  Playing challenging games against Germany, Portugal, and Ghana could help identify where the USMNT and MLS players rank compared to other international teams and players.