European Soccer Stars Keen on Coming to US

By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

European professional soccer is considered the top of the line when it comes to international football. Spain’s “La Liga” usually jockeys with the English Premier League for the top spot among world leagues, with Italy’s “Serie A” and the German Bundesliga running close behind. Here in the United States we have Major League Soccer (MLS), which unfortunately has not been a very high caliber league, and has generally been regarded as a place where former soccer greats go to finish off their careers while experiencing America.

David Beckham came stateside, but he subsequently discovered that he still had more left in the tank, so he quickly returned to the Italian league. French great, Nicolas Anelka, has now proclaimed a desire to eventually play in the MLS. The Muslim striker, who currently plays for English Champions Chelsea, has been well-travelled, having played professionally in France, England, Italy, and Turkey. So it appears that he would like to add the United States to his passport. Similarly, Swedish goal-scoring machine Zlatan Ibrahimovic has now declared a desire to someday play in the United States. Zlatan has also moved around a bit in recent years, starting off with Inter Milan before being traded to Barcelona for Samuel Eto’o, only now to end up back in Milan with A.C. Milan.

Hopefully someday the MLS will be considered something more than a just a rest home for senior soccer players. But for now it will remain as such.

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