These days, Major League Soccer is starting to look like the South American Soccer League. English megastar David Beckham gets the lion's share of the spotlight, but the impact players are coming from the New World.
It's not that U.S. players are getting squeezed out. MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis is quick to point out the league has invested heavily in youth academies, an effort that might not affect the MLS talent pool for a few years.
"If we feel that (the league) is not developing U.S. players the way that we want … we would look at that," Gazidis says. "I don't think we see that yet. There are more jobs for U.S. players than ever before and more opportunities for them to compete."
Most MLS teams are allowed eight international players, not counting those with green cards or refugee-asylum status. The exception is Toronto FC, which counts Canadians as "domestic" players and is allowed 10 internationals as long as at least two are U.S. players. Teams also may trade the international slots.
As of Monday, U.S.-born players are still more than 64% of the MLS player pool, not counting those who were born elsewhere but have lived in the USA since high school. Add Canada, Central America and the Caribbean, and the number is more than 75%.
South America accounts for more than 11%. That's far more than the 6% from Europe, the continent that for so long has guided U.S. soccer development. The league has almost as many players born in Argentina (19) as it has players born in Europe (21).
Beckham is the exception. He's the only European signed under the "Beckham rule," put into effect last season to allow teams to count only part of a marquee player's salary against the cap.
The others from last season: Claudio Reyna (USA), Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Mexico), Juan Pablo Angel (Colombia) and Denilson (Brazil, no longer in MLS).
This season: Marcelo Gallardo and Claudio Lopez, both from Argentina.
Why so many players from that region?
"They have tremendous technical ability, and with the Argentinian game in particular, there is a physical edge as well that goes with that technical ability that allows them to be successful in a league like MLS, which is a physical, relatively fast-paced league," Gazidis says.
D.C. United is the forerunner of the movement. United brought 2006 MLS MVP Christian Gomez to the league and has added three Argentines, one Colombian and one Peruvian this year. The players fit with United's traditional style — a technical, possession-based game — and the club is known in South America as a popular destination.
"Certainly with our history of success and winning many different championships, we have what we feel is the strongest soccer brand in the United States," general manager Dave Kasper says. "We've extended that brand into Central and South America and even into Europe. … It certainly is a strong selling point."
But it's not just the established powers looking southward. Real Salt Lake, which has yet to make the playoffs since joining the league in 2005, brought in three Argentines last summer and has added two South Americans this season.
For coach Jason Kreis, who took over a few games into last season, signing foreign players was a quick way of closing the gap with the rest of the league. But he says a diverse player pool helps the league compete for fans as well.
"We all have one eye on the fact that the level on the field has got to continue to increase so that we can get more fans," Kreis says.
