“Not a Single American” – USMNT Legend Questions MLS Future After Lionel Messi Headlines Best XI

In soccer, domestic leagues are typically dominated by players from the country that the league represents, such as English players in the Premier League or Spanish players in La Liga. While this may be the norm in Europe, across the big pond, things are quite contrary. Recently, the 2024/25 MLS Best XI was announced, and for the first time in history, no American players made the cut. USMNT legend, Alexi Lalas raised questions on how good are the standards of their players compared to the likes of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and others. 

Through the years, the USMNT has struggled to secure a major international tournament victory, with their closest recent achievement being a quarterfinal finish at the 2002 World Cup. To rub salt in the wound,  the USWNT has won the World Cup on 4 occasions and looks like a favorite in every tournament they play in. Lalas believes it’s about time we ask more questions of the national players playing in the MLS. 

“There’s not a single American in this XI, now that in itself isn’t necessarily a problem, but this is the American league, and when it comes to stars and stardom, it is obviously, heavily focused on the foreign players,” said Lalas on the episode of his podcast, State of the Union, highlighting the fact that the American players are simply not good enough. 

“Well obviously it is now a league of choice, at least for players that are coming from outside,” said Lalas, asking the MLS commissioner, Don Garber questions on whether the league would be player-centric and based around the Americans. Lalas also vented his frustration on how there are starting XIs in the MLS nowadays don’t feature any American players. Lionel Messi on the other hand bagged 20 goals and 16 assists which justifies his spot in the Best XI. 

And looking at International representation from the MLS, the current roster only features 4 players from the league, and Tim Ream of Charlotte FC is the only one getting regular game time because Chris Richards is injured. However, head coach Mauricio Pochettino has a different outlook on the league. 

Mauricio Pochettino believes MLS is up to par

Speaking at the pre-match conference of USMT’s second-leg clash with Jamaica, Pochettino announced that the MLS players have the same chance of playing for the USMNT as their European counterparts. He said if the players have performed well at club level, irrespective of the league, they can join the national camp. 

But on the contrary, players like Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams who started their careers in the MLS did admit to the European leagues being way tougher than their domestic league. There was once a time when not a single MLS player managed to get playing time during the 2024 Copa América. 

With former Barcelona players like Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba, and Riqui Puig, all of which made the Best XI, they are raising the MLS stock, as with big names, viewership increases, which also helps with the revenue. While business may be booming, is moving to Europe the only way to guarantee international caps?