Six Degrees: American Center Backs
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Larrys Mabiala), a Croatian (
Bill Tuiloma), and an American (
Zac McGraw). Which of these guys do I think has the best chance to someday win MLS Defender of the Year? Despite not yet playing a single MLS minute, my money’s on McGraw.
Why? Simple: he’s an American center back.
2) For no good reason, I recently went digging around on Wikipedia, where I found their list of every MLS Best XI and discovered some interesting things.
Since the Timbers joined the league in 2011, the Best XI teams have listed 29 forwards. Four times, one of those forwards was American. That’s 14%.
“It was rough, but that was the reality of life,” Shumbusho said of being a refugee from age nine to 14 before coming to Canada. “You mature very quickly at a young age. It moulded me, especially in terms of work ethic. Nothing is given without it.” There were two rooms for a family of five, one of which was his mother’s tiny shop during the day and a bedroom by night. But the two parents and three children got by. There are small mercies even in the most dire of circumstances. Uganda is a Commonwealth nation so Shumbusho was able to pick up English, which held him in good stead when he started school in Chilliwack.