Ten Best: Metros who started elsewhere in MLS
September 18, 2024
Unless something weird happens in the playoffs (it's not gonna happen), this weekend marks the last time Dax McCarty will step into Red Bull Arena as a player. Now on his sixth MLS team, he will forever be remembered as one of the greatest Metros ever, with two Supporters Shields to his name, the second as captain. Of course, he didn't start out here... Neither did the rest of this list: (Just missing out: Mike Ammann, Mark Chung, Daniel Hernandez, Mark Lisi, Eddie Pope, Kenny Cooper, Frankie Amaya.)
10. Carlos Coronel (Philadelphia)
It's easy to forget that Coronel actually played four games with the Worms, on loan from Salzburg, back in 2019. Now, if he ever beat the Worms for Metro, that would be nice...
9. Tim Parker (Vancouver)
Acquired from the Whitecaps for Felipe Martins, Parker partnered with Aaron Long to form the best central defense in team history en route to the MLS points record and the Supporters Shield.
8. Jamison Olave (Salt Lake)
Does Metro win its first Shield without Olave? Unlikely. His acquisition (together with Fabian Espindola) from Salt Lake for an allocation shored up the defense for Metro's first real trophy.
7. Felipe Martins (Montreal)
Before he was traded for Parker, Felipe was an incredibly important member of the team that wont he second Shield. He arrived from Montreal prior to that tumultuous, Shield-winning 2015 season. In his three full seasons with Metro, he started 100 out ouf 102 regular season games, playing almost every minute.
6. Steve Jolley (Los Angeles)
The arrival of a certain attacker (listed bellow) might have energized the 2000 offense, but Jolley's acquisition, from the Galaxy for a lowly 2nd round draft pick, was essential in shoring up the defense. Jolley started four years for Metro, came back for a cup of tea in 2006, and still bleeds the colors as the team's radio voice for over a decade.
5. Dave van den Bergh (Kansas City)
In what is still the biggest heist in team history, VDB was acquired from KC for what amounts to a 7th round draft pick. Still the greatest crosser of the ball in team history, he scored one of the biggest goals ever, in a 2008 MLS Cup semifinal against Salt Lake. If only the idiot brass didn't run him out of town...
4. Lewis Morgan (Miami)
Kevin Thelwell's one good move in charge of this club was shelling out then-MLS-record 1.2 million in allocation money to Miami for Morgan. Looking at the team's fortunes the last three years, it's pretty obvious that it plays well when Morgan is available. As of this writing, he has scored 30 goals in just 69 games.
3. Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA)
Now we're in Metro greats territory. Kljestan started at Chivas USA before heading to Belgium. Even though he was not officially part of the Felipe trade, as part of the transaction Metro acquired an allocation slot to bring him back to MLS. What followed was three seasons, one Shield, two MLS assist crowns, and one iconic mustache.
2. Dax McCarty (Dallas, DC United)
In 2011, when Metro traded recently -acquired Dwayne De Rosario to the Scum for McCarty, who was exposed by Dallas in that year's expansion draft, heads were scratched. When he was raising the Shield in 2013 and 2015, they weren't scratched much longer... until the unceremonious trade to Chicago a year later. The Ginger Ninja departed as Metro's all-time leader in games played and will forever be one of the most important players in team history.
1. Clint Mathis (Los Angeles)
Acquired by Metro in the most MLSish transactions ever, as the league forced the Galaxy to give up two players in order to sign Mexican superstar Luis Hernandez, Mathis became Metro's first true star. The 2000 season is stuff of legends, and the beginning of 2001 gave hope to what never happened. Mathis held the Metro all-time scoring record before Juan Pablo Angel passed him, and we will choose to forget that he began and ended his career in Los Angeles.
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