Page 19 - ARUBA TODAY

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SPORTS Friday 28 June 2019
MLS looks toward Asia as next major market for talent

By TIM BOOTH it's starting to shed the repu- er. "There are many eyes,
VANCOUVER, British Colum- tation of being a retirement scouters are watching the
bia (AP) — Greg Anderson league for Europeans. games. I thought it would
was supposed to be bound But Asia, and specifically be right fit, right league to
for Orlando, Florida, and Japan and South Korea, achieve my goal."
the MLS player combine in are markets producing sol- There are also the cultural
his role as vice president of id international players, yet adjustments. A long-held
soccer operations for the MLS has mostly been an af- belief is that Asian players
Vancouver Whitecaps. He terthought there. would be most comfort-
was hours from going to the That could be changing. able playing either in the
airport when a phone call Hwang believes there are a west — Vancouver, Seattle,
changed his itinerary. growing number of players Portland, Los Angeles — or
Instead of east, Anderson considering MLS as a po- in markets with large Asian
headed west. First, he land- tential springboard to op- communities like New York
ed in South Korea to meet portunities in Europe. and Toronto.
with the parents of promis- "Obviously my ultimate "It wasn't the most impor-
ing 22-year-old midfielder goal is to go to a higher tant aspect but it was defi- In this Saturday, April 13, 2019 file photo, Seattle Sounders mid-
fielder Kim Kee-Hee, left, kicks the ball away from Toronto FC
Inbeom Hwang. Then it was level and go to one of nitely very, very positive forward Jozy Altidore (17) during the first half of an MLS soccer
even further west to Dubai the European league and aspect there is a strong match in Seattle.
to meet with Hwang him- I knew that to achieve Korean community in the Associated Press
self and help finalize a deal that I have to have many city because I heard from
to bring him to MLS. eyes watching me play- other players who are play- people around. Here there for MLS is exposure over-
By the time Anderson ing and I thought that MLS ing overseas, some of the is a very helpful Korean seas. Most Asian players
caught a flight from Dubai is where there are many players are having a really community." are going to be more famil-
to Toronto and then back people watching," Hwang tough time," Hwang said. Henderson and Anderson iar with the Premier League
to Vancouver, he'd gone said through an interpret- "There is not many Korean said the primary challenge or Bundesliga.q
around the world to land
the Whitecaps a designat-
ed player.
It was a worthwhile effort.
But it's also a rare story.
Despite the efforts of An-
derson and counterparts
around the league, MLS
has yet to make extensive
inroads into the Asian mar-
ket to convince top talent
that playing in North Amer-
ica can be the next move
in their careers.
"There are certainly players
there, national team level
players, who could come
in and start and play in our
league," said Chris Hender-
son, Seattle's vice president
of soccer. "I think the aspira-
tions, at least in Japan, for
those players is to go to Eu-
rope. Korea, they want to
go to Europe. Because that
is what's on TV and they're
seeing all the games at the
highest level."
Currently only three inter-
nationals from Japan or
South Korea are playing in
MLS. Hwang and Seattle's
Kim Kee-hee are the South
Koreans, while Toronto's
Tsubasa Endoh was born
and raised in Japan before
moving to the U.S. following
the Fukushima earthquake.
Zachary Herivaux of New
England and Ken Krolic of
Montreal were both born in
Japan but mostly grew up
elsewhere.
MLS has been highly suc-
cessful recruiting players
out of South America and