“With Messi, soccer in the US is going to grow much faster”

Lionel Messi is worldwide. In any part of the planet he generates an impressive movement. However, the United States is a country that generates a certain ‘mystery’ as to what the captain of the Argentine National Team could generate, because there are other sports that are more popular than soccer.

Darío Sala from Cordoba is an authorized word within Major League Soccer (MLS), either due to his achievements as a goalkeeper, defending FC Dallas between 2006 and 2010, or as a field assistant, when he was accompanying Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino in Atlanta United for two seasons and achieved a memorable championship in 2018. For this reason, Sala has no doubt: “Lionel Messi is going to revolutionize soccer in the United States.”

PROFILE CÓRDOBA spoke with the former goalkeeper who rose to prominence in soccer in Belgrano, in 1996; he broke it in Los Andes; he went through River, Independiente and Newell’s; he traveled through Mexico and Colombia (in 2002 he was chosen the best goalkeeper in the League at Deportivo Cali), and was a figure in the MLS. Recorded by his serious and technical demeanor under the three sticks, he is currently living in Ponte Vedra Beach, North Florida. From there he explains that in the United States “soccer is already a popular sport, although it will never be number one in this country because American football and the NBA are popular, even outside the United States. I think our football will continue to grow and Messi will make it grow a little faster.”

—What is said these days about the arrival of Messi?
—There was a lot of talk when he activated and now that he is going to play it has been mentioned again in the North American news.

—What kind of institution is Inter Miami?
—It is located in a very particular city, it is difficult for it to be an institution that can make decisions without considering marketing as a priority. Hopefully now things will change.

—Are MLS followed by more Latinos or by natives of the US as well?
—MLS is followed by a large number of native Americans. I don’t know the percentages, but MLS relies primarily on origins.

OPEN DOORS. The former goalkeeper of Belgrano and River. Darío Sala, was key to the arrival of Gerardo Martino to the MLS.

His relationship with Martino. Messi arrived this week on US soil and Miami is already having a romance with the Argentine star. Last Thursday he trained for the first time with his new teammates, under the orders of former Institute coach Gerardo Martino. Sala knows “Tata” well and was even very important for the man from Rosario to reach the MLS. “The relationship we have both with Tata and with the entire coaching staff is one of friendship. I feel that I did a lot for him to set foot in the United States, in the MLS, and then I helped in the Atlanta United process and contributed my bit, too, to get him to Miami”, says Sala.

“Are you going to work with him again?”
–I always try to help without expecting anything in return, either to Tata or to the Argentines who come to work in the United States. I think I always collaborate with Tata and support him. Today I am in other projects that I feel happy about, such as the tournament that we created in 2021 ‘The Women’s Cup’, and other projects in which I feel that I can be more useful.

—How is Martino considered in soccer in the United States?
—He has his reputation within the league, since we won the MLS in 2018 with Atlanta United. Now it’s a matter of him revalidating the scrolls they won at the time.

Sala was lost in 2010, at FC Dallas, facing Inter from Italy.

• PRESENTATION IN MIAMI. Messi will be presented today –from 7:00 p.m. in Argentina– at Inter Miami, with a great event at the Drive Pink stadium in Fort Lauderdale and his debut is scheduled for July 21 against Cruz Azul from Mexico, for the Leagues Cup. The revolution in Miami by the captain of the world champion team is so big that they even expanded the capacity of the Inter stadium, even before the contract was signed.