The awesome back story between MLS Cup finalists Seattle Sounders and Luis Suarez
The Barcelona striker and Seattle are linked, but how?
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2 min read
The MLS Cup between the Seattle Sounders and Toronto FC is set for Saturday night, and do you know which soccer superstar playing in Europe is going to have quite the bit of interest in the game?
It's Barcelona striker Luis Suarez, and that's because he helped the Sounders sign their newest star.
Per MLSSoccer.com, Suarez actually translated for Lodeiro when talking with Sounders general manager Garth Lagerway.
The report says Lagerway and Lodeiro would talk a bit about MLS, the Sounders and the city, but at times it was difficult to communicate with each having a different first language. Suarez then jumped in on one of the calls to help out.
"It was just funny. Nico and I, we talked fairly regularly during the process, in part because it took four months for the thing to play out," Lagerwey said. "And he was in the US for the Copa America with Uruguay, obviously, and in hindsight that ended up being a big deciding factor for him, because he brought his wife and his little son and they got to see America and I think liked it and developed a comfort level with it. And I think that's what ultimately pushed them to make the leap, but I was talking and Nico's English is actually pretty, pretty good, but he isn't always so comfortable on the phone.
"You don't have body language, it's harder than it is straight to the face and so he just got frustrated that he couldn't understand everything that I'm saying. And so he says, 'Hold on, speak to my friend,' and I said, 'OK,' and I have no idea what's happening. And Luis Suarez gets on and says, 'Hi, this is Luis Suarez, how are you?' And I'm like, 'Morning, Mr. Suarez, how are you?' And he was our translator."
And the rest is history. Lodeiro left Boca Juniors for Seattle in July, scored four goals and had eight assists in 13 regular season matches, and then went off in the playoffs with four goals in five games as Seattle advanced to Saturday's final.
The Uruguayan has re-energized this team and has been a constant threat in attack, and he'll be the one player Toronto will be more concerned about than any.
But down the road could it be Suarez?
"He told me maybe he comes in seven years. That was his quote, so maybe that's when his contract runs out," Lagerwey said. "I told him we'd love to have him whenever he was ready, but it was just a funny little anecdote along the way."
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