US football legend Brad Friedel sits down with sportingpost.com in an exclusive interview to preview the MLS, and discuss whether Messi is headed to Miami.
Q: The MLS starts this weekend. How do you assess the League right now? Who are your favourites to win, which teams do you expect to be amongst those making the playoffs?
Austin can build on what they did last year.
If we go West Coast first, LAFC and LA Galaxy will still be strong. Real Salt Lake is a really solid team and a very good academy. But right now, from what I’ve seen in the pre-season I like Seattle, LAFC and Austin.
On the East Coast I think FC Cincinnati have improved, and will be difficult to play against. I like what Wilfried Nancy did at Montreal last year so I’m thinking he’ll be able to do that at Columbus Crew. Montreal will be worse off but Columbus will be better, they have a pretty good squad. The front runner from me, and who have been the most consistent, are Philadelphia. I know they made the final of course. Atlanta might be strong, Almada is a talented player for them. But for me, Philadelphia and Nashville will be hard to beat.
Q: Which young players in the MLS do you have your eye on this season?
Almada is very good at Atlanta. The right back for New York City is very good, Tayvon Gray looks great. John Tolkin at Red Bull is also very good.
The goalkeeper at Chicago, Chris Brady, who is going to replace Gabriel Slonina, is one to keep an eye on.
At San Jose, their Striker Cade Cowell is someone to also keep tabs on. There’s some good young players.
Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas produce fantastic young players all the time. They have two wonderfully run academies and they do a great job. Sometimes you see names that don’t even pop up on the pre-season fixture list and then they come into play with the MLS pro rules. Those players are able to sign with their second team, and then with the first and you’ll start to see more young players start to come through.
Q: There’s huge rumours about Messi playing for Inter Miami. Do you think it’ll happen? Will it be the biggest ever MLS story?
Will it happen? I’m 50/50 because I’d imagine he’s getting offered a lot of money elsewhere so who knows. He’s currently at PSG and I’m sure they could offer him a boat load more. We all saw what he did at the World Cup, and at PSG this weekend. At PSG he can still play with and amongst the best.
The best thing that happened for the MLS was when Beckham came over. He did an incredible job on and off the field for the League as a whole. Him then staying on in the League and being an owner has helped it again.
I don’t just mean as a great player, but everything surrounding his star power and he really helped validate the League and give it that verification that was needed at the time.
If Messi came over it would make that almost like it never happened. Messi is SO big, it would be like Michael Jordan signing for Galatasaray basketball in Istanbul or going over to the Greek league, it would be so big. I hope, as an American and somebody who wants the sport to keep growing over here, it happens. I don’t think people in the US realise just how big until he were to set foot here.
Inter Miami’s training will be full, you won’t be able to get a ticket for the game. There are stadiums that don’t fill out, but just like what happened with Beckham, when Messi is there all of a sudden they are sold out. That’s what Messi would do and it would be that way for however long he was here. It would be incredible.
Q: DC United ended up last in their conference last season under Wayne Rooney – do you see them doing any better this season?
They’ll be better, definitely. Wayne, being the person he is, isn’t going to let them lie down and let them be worse. They’ve made some signings to bolster their squad. I don’t know if they can win anything but they’ll be on the cusp of the playoffs, but there’ll be a big improvement on last season.
Q: LA Galaxy face LAFC this weekend, who do you see getting off to a good start? Do you have a prediction?
I would say a draw. LAFC will be just better over the course of the season, but LA Galaxy have had some turmoil in the off-season with some of the fans going against one or two of the board members. They’ve had some off-field struggles, but I think Greg Vanney and the team are very good. LAFC are all together and they’ll kick on from last season. But I think in the opening game I’ll go for a draw.
