When it seemed that the football business had not yet exploded, US dollars proved that it had already exploded. That happened in the 70s with the NASL (North American Soccer League). O Rei Pelé invented the business linked to the figure of a player. He enjoyed it while in Brazil for almost two decades at Santos, and reconfirmed it when he ended his career in North American soccer, which was trying to reinvent the local league, in a sport that was in the fourth place of popularity in that country. Behind Pelé, came Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cruyff, among the most exalted names of the world elite of the moment. The arrival of the number one of the XXI century, Lionel Messi, resembles that moment, beyond the growth of the MLS itself.
Pelé played two seasons in the New York Cosmos, a club founded in 1971 by businessmen linked to the music industry, and then retired. Beckenbauer, after playing 14 years at Bayern Munich, spent four seasons at the Cosmos, returned to his country, spent two years at Hamburg and returned to the United States to retire at the Cosmos. Instead, Cruyff spent three seasons, one at Los Angeles Aztecas and two at Washington Diplomats, but ended his career at home, first at Ajax and then at Feyenoord.
The figures that were handled in the 70s are derisory with those of today. Pele arrived at the Cosmos with the pass in his possession and arranged for four and a half million dollars. Messi arranged for $50 million for two years. Pele told in his biography why he decided to go and play in a league that had no world weight, perhaps comparable today with the Arabian League, which tempts footballers with their petrodollars. "I remember as if today was the moment he (Clive Toye, the British journalist who later became the general manager of the Cosmos) came into the house. He was sweating deeply. He was pale, looking like he was going to faint. I felt something happen and made a joke: 'How many millions do we still have?' And I almost had to call the doctor after his answer: 'Look, you, it's complicated'...", Pele recalled. In 1975 and with 34 years, the Brazilian charged $ 45,000 per month.
Pele retired at the Cosmos in 1977. Photo: AP Photo/Ira Schwarz, File)
In addition to Pelé, Beckenbauer and Cruyff, two other players who won the European Ballon d'Or also played in that league: the Portuguese Eusebio and the German Gerd Müller. In addition, the English Bobby Moore (Seattle Sounders) and Gordon Banks (Cleveland Stokers), the Hungarian Ladislao Kubala (Toronto Falcons), the Poles Zmuda (Cosmos) and Deyna (San Diego Sockers), the Peruvian Teófilo Cubillas (Fort Lauderdale Strikers), the Dutch Neeskens (Cosmos) and Rensenbrink (Portland Timbers) and Brazilians Vava (San Diego Toros) and Carlos Alberto (Cosmos) The NASL was dissolved in 1984 while the current MLS was created in December 1993, almost a decade later. December 17 will mark 30 years since its launch and will have the number one playing in a league that grew and sustains itself at the pace of long-term projects.
Guillermo Barros Schelotto was a multiple champion with Columbus Crew's.
Who are the Argentines who left their mark on MLS
Lionel Messi will not be the first Argentine to play it but he will be the most important. Although in the review of the most successful appear the names of Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Diego Valeri, Ignacio Piatti, Valentín Castellanos and Christian Gómez, the first to arrive was Diego Soñora, whose two sons, Joel (1996) and Alan (1998), were born in the United States while Chiche played for Dallas FC (1996-97) and Metro Stars (1998). He then starred in DC United (1999) and Tamba Bay (2001).
Gonzalo and Federico Higuaín, Matías Pellegrini, Nico Figal, Julián Carranza and Leandro González Pirez have already played at Inter Miami, while Franco Negri, Nicolás Stefanelli and Benjamín Cremaschi are currently part of the squad, as well as interim coach Javier Morales, former Arsenal.
See also
