Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson believes that soccer in the USA is developing at a rapid rate. Ahead of the famous English clubs visit to the States this summer, Ferguson spoke highly of the way the MLS is improving each time he returns.
"We're finding it increasingly more exciting each time we come here,'' said Ferguson. "If you go some years back, we played games here against Milan, Celtic, Barcelona; (but) the big change now is that MLS is now developing into a very competitive league, and is producing teams that make it more difficult.
"We found last season, particularly in Kansas City, we found that very, very difficult, which is a measure of the improvement of American soccer. And of course the (U.S.) National Team did very well in the World Cup.
"There is definitely a very good sense of a good future for American soccer.''
The successful Scottish tactician added that development was inevitable in a country like the USA but is impressed by the rate it has happened, allowing the national team to become as good as it is.
"Well, development is going to happen in a country the size of the States,'' he added. "The only thing I said years ago is that the weakness in the United States is where (do) the young kids go when they get to 16 or 17? They don't have a pyramid system the way they do in Europe, and that's always been a weakness.
"The change is, there's a new league started. I came across here in '78 to look at American soccer then and I was coach at Aberdeen and it was a different system. Now we see a far more competitive league, far more organized. As we experienced last year, teams like Kansas City are doing a very good standout job. (The U.S. tour) is not going to be easy. We don't expect them to be easy."
