Amid much speculation in recent weeks, this past weekend it was announced that Graham Zusi and Matt Besler had both re-signed new deals with Sporting Kansas City. While both reportedly had a number of offers from Europe, both chose to commit long term with the team that drafted them. Both cited being extremely happy at Sporting. They love the club, the culture, the fans, they have albeit not the largest but one of the best stadiums in MLS, they just won MLS Cup last year, they look to be contenders in the future, and the ownership is now willing to pay them properly.
While the details have not come out yet, both indicated that they are now Designated Players and will be with Sporting at least through the 2018 World Cup.
I for one am happy for MLS, Sporting KC, and the dynamic duo. They deserve the money and the security. We get to watch them continue to grow and develop in the US. And let’s face it, Matt Besler seems like one of the nicest guys in MLS and the USMNT. As a Galaxy fan, I’m getting jealous that a new face of the league is on the rise. With the potential to win MLS’s first CCL trophy and the new US Soccer facility, Sporting KC looks to be a trend, not a blip. But I digress.
Matt Besler and Graham Zusi not going to Europe is bad for the US National Team and its potential showing in Russia 2018. Matt Besler was phenomenal in Brazil, but he ran out of gas at times. When Lukaku subbed into the match for Belgium, both Besler and Omar Gonzalez looked overwhelmed. To their credit, they had already played an exhausting 90 minutes. As for Zusi, it seemed to me that he was invisible unless he was taking a corner.
When 2018 rolls around, unless the US somehow gets in the Mega Group of Death, they will be expected to get out of the group. Heck, if they draw a non-world power country as the top seed in their group, some people might pick the USMNT to win the group. Regardless, the United States will be expected to play better in the knock out stage.
I don’t mean to denigrate the league I love and support, but if the likes of Besler, Zusi, and Gonzalez leave for Europe now, as long as it’s to one of the better second tier leagues or a Big 4 team they could potentially start for (Hull City or Stuttgart for example), then they’d be playing better competition. The MLS first timers fought valiantly in the World Cup, but I can’t help but wonder what is going to happen four years from now when they run into another Lukaku? Yes, Jozy Altidore is getting his butt kicked at Sunderland, but he’s playing some of the best players in the world. If he has to go 90 minutes against Ron Vlaar, at least I know he plays against that quality of a center back on a regular basis.
Besler and Zusi can and will continue to develop as players with Sporting. But another four years of weaker opponents playing for a draw at Sporting Park won’t get them ready for what they’ll be facing with the USMNT. Mexico is not going to be as impotent as they were in qualifying for this World Cup. Costa Rica looks to be on the rise, and their top players look to be on the move to better clubs. CONCACAF is going to get tougher.
Four years of defending Steven Lenhart isn’t the same. Four years of attacking the Houston Dynamo’s back line isn’t the same. If they had decided to leave Sporting and cut their teeth in Europe, the foreign players I’ve mentioned above will be regular occurrences to them. Zusi won’t shrink against opposing wingers who are better than he is technically. Heck, he might even become better than them. Besler won’t have to put fires out left and right, because he’ll have the wherewithal to smoke them out before they start. He’ll be better prepared for the physical challenge.
They’ll even see the occasional wild Mario Balotelli. No one is ever ready for Entei the first time they run into him. For Zusi to truly reach a Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, or Clint Dempsey level with the US, he needs to match up against Eden Hazard quality players regularly.
I love MLS, but the league isn’t there yet. It’s well on its way, but it isn’t ready to develop half of a World Cup quarter finals national team in house right now. With very few exceptions (see my first ever LWOS article on Landon Donovan), most players can’t make that jump from club to international play while remaining in MLS. Tim Howard played well because he makes saves on those top level players every week at Everton. I believe that he would not have been prepared for Belgium having played exclusively in MLS.
Klinnsman is right to tell his players to challenge themselves, to push for the Champions League. I can’t knock Zusi and Besler for choosing what makes them happy, but they chose the comfortable path.
Another four years at Sporting playing the Chicago Fire isn’t going to get you ready for beating Mexico and Costa Rica in the Gold Cup, much less winning a World Cup Quarter Final.
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