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The Major League Soccer is currently in its 22nd season and over the course of these two decades, the American top flight league has seen some of the best players from around the world step foot into US soil.
Football fans from all around the globe have had the chance to witness some of the biggest names in the sport, play for various teams in the Major League Soccer. Names such as Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo and Kaka are just a few ones, to begin with.
However, in the course of these past few years, the MLS has also witnessed some of the best strikers in the game to represent these top American clubs.
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MLS fans have also got the chance to get a closer look at these strikers, who have returned the favour to these fans by scoring some of the most marvellous goals of all-time in the league’s history. Thus, with this, let us take a brief look at the top 5 strikers who have played in the Major League Soccer:
#5 Didier Drogba
A larger-than-life personality, Didier Drogba is one of the most influential strikers to ever step foot into the sport of football. The former Ivory Coast captain is someone who has changed the face of football in Ivory Coast forever, thanks to his heroics in both club level and international level.
Drogba, till date, remains famous for his work with Premier League giants Chelsea FC for whom he played for a total of eight years (2004-2012). The African left Chelsea FC in the best possible way a football player could ask for, after he single-handedly carried Chelsea to a Champions League winners medal in 2012 against Bayern Munich.
Since leaving England in 2012, he has gone on to play for numerous teams such as Shanghai Shenhua and Galatasaray, before eventually signing for the Canadian club, Montreal Impact in 2015.
It did not take long for the African to make his mark on American soil, as he scored a “perfect hattrick” on his first start in the MLS and also went on to win the MLS Player of the Month trophy, later that same month.
Drogba then helped Montreal win the 401 Derby against their close rivals Toronto FC in October of 2015, after scoring both of Montreal’s goals in their 2-1 win.
The former Chelsea man also played a huge part in Montreal’s qualification to the 2015 Eastern Conference semifinals, this would turn out to be the first time the club had gone this far in an MLS season before eventually being eliminated by Columbus Crew.
However, Drogba was then named as one of the three finalists in the 2015 MLS Newcomer of the Year Award.Due to fitness issues and a back injury, Drogba struggled to perform at his best in his second season for Montreal and would go on to score just 10 goals in 22 matches before leaving the club.
Despite just playing for two seasons in the MLS, Didier Drogba found a tremendous amount of success in the American top flight.
#4 David Villa
David Villa is quite arguably the greatest Spanish striker to adore the game of football, after Raul Gonzalez. In his seventeen year career, Villa has mostly played for Spanish clubs such as the likes of Zaragoza, FC Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid. Villa is also Spain’s all-time leading goal scorer in the international level with a total of 59 goals to his name.
Villa first made the jump to MLS back in 2014, after playing one season with Atletico Madrid in Spain and thus eventually stepping out of Europe and playing for a non-European club for the first time in the process.
David Villa first stepped into America when he was announced as a New York City FC player back in 2014; however, Villa made his NYCFC debut in 2015 and scored the very first goal in the club’s history. Villa had a great start to his career in the US which saw him earn a place in the MLS All-Star Team.
In the following season, he was once again included in the MLS All-Star Team and this time his performances also earned him the 2016 MVP award for being the best player in the MLS.
Villa has also accomplished a lot more in his MLS career so far winning the NYCFC MVP award on two occasions and has also won the NYCFC Goal of the Year award. The Spaniard is still currently playing for the New York City outlet and has scored a total of 61 goals in 94 games for the club.
#3 Robbie Keane
Robbie Keane is one of the greatest Irish players to ever play the game of football—if not the greatest Irishman of all time. Robbie Keane has played for some of the top most teams in Europe, such as the likes of Inter Milan, Liverpool FC, Celtic FC and Tottenham Hotspur for whom he has scored a total of 197 goals during his first stint.
However, it is safe to say that Keane found most of his success when he moved to the MLS in order to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2011.
Keane had a dream start to his MLS career as he started firing away from the get-go, the former Ireland captain helped his side to become Western Conference Champions and also won the Supporters’ Shield in the very same season.
Later that season, Keane helped Galaxy to reach the MLS Cup finale and also played a big part in the finale, by assisting Landon Donovan for the only goal of the match.
Keane got off to a dream start in America, winning four club honours in his very first season. After his first MLS season, he was then loaned out to Premier League club Aston Villa until the 2012 MLS season began.
Upon his return to LA, he was back at his best once again as he scored a total of five goals in the month of July and won the MLS Player of the Month award.
In the 2013 season, Keane was promoted to the captaincy role of the Galaxy side in the absence of Donovan. The former Liverpool striker had another great season and for the third season running, he managed to reach double figures in terms of goals. Keane finished the season with a total of 50 MLS goals.
In his last season with the Galaxy, Keane managed to win the MLS MVP award and also the 2014 MLS Cup. He ended his LA Galaxy career later that season with several honours to his name and by scoring a total of 104 goals in 165 appearances.
#2 Landon Donovan
By far the greatest American men’s football player of all time, Landon Donovan proudly represented the LA Galaxy for a total of ten years. Donovan first started playing at the senior level for Bayer Leverkusen in Germany in the year 2000, but would move to the US within the next year, when he signed a loan deal with the San Jose Earthquakes.
However, it all began in the year 2005 for him when he first signed for LA Galaxy. In his first season with Galaxy, the American striker scored a total of 12 goals and had 10 assists to his name, as Galaxy won the MLS Cup that very season.
In his second year, Donovan became the second all-time top scorer in the MLS playoffs, falling behind Carlos Ruiz. In the year 2007, Donovan scored a total of 84 goals and managed to put himself in seventh place in the league’s all-time top scorers list.
However, the following year the LA Galaxy had a disappointing season following Donovan’s bittersweet relationship with English superstar David Beckham, who joined Galaxy and took over the captaincy from the American. Despite that, the two men buried the hatchet among themselves as Donovan once again took over the captaincy and started firing goals the usual way.
Landon Donovan would go on to end his LA Galaxy career in the year 2016 with a total of 253 goals to his name and also won the MLS Cup on four different occasions, as well as many individual honors.
#1 Thierry Henry
Thierry Henry has played for a total of six different clubs throughout his career but the French striker has not failed to deliver no matter which club he played for.
Henry first arrived in the US in the year 2010, when he signed a multi-year contract with the New York Red Bulls and became the team’s second designated player. He failed to win any trophy in his first two seasons as the Red Bulls were first eliminated from the quarterfinals of the 2010 MLS-Cup Playoffs, followed by a semi-final exit in the 2011 MLS-Cup Playoffs.
After a loan stint at Arsenal, Henry returned to the US in 2012 and got back to his best immediately as he scored a hattrick against Montreal Impact and also won the MLS Player of the Month award for March.
He went on to provide two assists in the last game of the season, as the New York Red Bulls defeated the Chicago Fire to become the champions of the regular season and win their first ever trophy in their 17-year history.
Henry left the club in 2014 after four and a half years with the team and would eventually announce his retirement from the game. The French striker would end up scoring over 100 goals for the New York Red Bulls and has a total of three major American trophies to his name.
