San Jose’s mid-summer English import Darren Huckerby is back home for the offseason and telling the Brits how much he’s enjoying life in MLS. Just because many things are different, he told a regional newspaper, doesn’t mean they’re not good.
“I think they liked the way I play,” Huckerby said of his popularity with Quakes’ fans. “I was a little bit different because there aren’t that many players over there [the U.S.] that like to run with the ball, it’s more pass, pass, pass. I think I settled there better than I thought I would.”
Huckerby said there “are some very good players” in MLS as well as “the ones you hear about, like [David] Beckham, but Beckham didn’t get in any of the top 10 voting. He is in the top 10 of getting paid, and he is a massive ambassador for the league, but I think that sometimes undermines how good some of the other players are.”
Huckerby said the main difference between MLS and the Championship — England’s second tier where he played for several years with Norwich City — was the lack of roster depth. “The standard of the first 11 players in virtually every team is pretty good, but after that they were no way as strong as here [in England]. If you look at any squad in the Championship you have 25 players who have all played a lot of games and who all know the game inside out. Over there, after the first 11, 12, 13 players you have got kids who have only kicked a ball at college level.”