MLS
‘COSTA IS QUICKLY BECOMING AN IMPORTANT PART OF VANNEY’S SIDE’
ABOVE: Douglas Costa for Bayern Munich LEFT: Another great trophy-winner will be coming over to the MLS in Douglas Costa BOTTOM: The Italian is the biggest name to move to MLS in 2022, even if TFC fans have to wait until after the Serie A season to see him live.
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SOCCER360 MAY • JUNE 2022
and around the goal,” Vanney said. “I feel like whenever he’s on the ball, we can be very dangerous. Because he’s hard to stop in the one-on-one, which means he can get into different types of space. I’m pleased with the progression.” Costa has been searching for a new home since leaving Juventus to join Bayern Munch on loan in October 2020 and it looks like he may finally have found one in Los Angeles after a couple of difficult seasons. While he did manage to win the Bundesliga title with Bayern, he didn’t contribute a whole lot and was returned to Juventus at the conclusion of the campaign. He was then loaned out to Gremio in Brazil, before joining the Galaxy as a Designated Player. Despite the plethora of experience he has playing around the globe, there are still some unique aspects to MLS and soccer in North America that may take a little while longer to get used to. Unlike most other top leagues, MLS has a salary cap system in place ensuring parity across the board. MLS has never seen a team with nine consecutive championships like Juventus did in Serie A. There is also the aspect that some MLS teams play on turf, which is extremely rare in Europe. "Most games are even, there's not one team that's above another. Playing on turf, it's something that has been a problem for me to adapt to. I didn't have that when I played in Brazil." The Brazilian is not the only European arrival to have an issue with some of the turf pitches in MLS, with Sebastian Giovinco often criticizing the hybrid grass pitch at BMO Field during his time in Toronto. But he will have to learn to make the most of it as it isn’t going away anytime soon. There are currently eight teams across the league playing on either hybrid grass, field turf or polytan.
