As the MLS season is now underway there are several new faces and teams in the league. With two new clubs in MLS including one in the untapped soccer market of the south, Soccer in the united states is looking for one of its strongest seasons yet.
There is a feeling in the cities of Atlanta and Chicago. Hope, Strange for the polar opposites of sports cities. Chicago booming and Atlanta on a slide to being the new Cleveland of sports cities in the US. So why put a Soccer team there? This was the overall response of the Soccer community, the south, dominated by football could never handle European football. When you bring in a former coach of Barcelona and Italian superstar Josef Martinez that changes though. Atlanta looks like a team that can hold there own. A playoff team? To early to tell but they can survive in the middle of the pack in this league. Suddenly “dirty south soccer” might not be that crazy after all.
Meanwhile in Chicago: A hero has emerged. Hes a German Midfield Maestro who has won the world cup. Played for both Bayern Munich and Manchester United. He is Sebastian Schwienstieger, and he may just be the lure for the biggest fish in the sea currently for MLS. Schwienstieger has the potential to dominate this league. He reminds me a lot of David Beckham and i think he can have that kind of an MLS career. It will be harder for Bastian than Beckham though. The league has seen an influx of international superstars over the past years and the level of play is twice as hard. However he can drag the long struggling fire into a playoff position. If he can stay healthy.
However Bastians biggest upside may be just his presence in MLS. Suddenly worldly household names should start taking notice of the MLS as a place to play after they have finished dominating Europe. Namely Zlatan Ibrahimovic the white whale for the MLS. If Zlatan were ever to come play in the US the marketability for him would be massive. So Bastian is just the beginning, for an MLS that can become as big as baseball. Develop young players and maybe for the first time, within the next 12 years, win the world cup.
