We’ve all heard the whispers. The number ten role is dying in world football. A role that defined eras, a role that made a two-digit number a branding of soccer royalty, and a role that made entire generations fall in love with the beautiful game. Iconic players engraved their places in history playing this role. Players such Pele, Maradona, Zico, Platini and Cruyff, and more recently Kaka, Bergkamp, Sneijder, Ronaldinho and Ozil. The number and role is given to the most creative player on the pitch. Nothing has ever matched or come close to the prestige of the number ten. But yes, that beloved number ten has become an endangered species in world football.
The number ten is given to a highly creative, technical player whose job is to use these assets to create magic and pull the strings on the offensive side of the game. Whether it is going on a dazzling, dribbling run through the entire opposing team or picking a beautifully weighted through ball in behind the defensive line, the ten is the maestro of the attack.
It is this sole focus on attacking that is the reason why tens are disappearing in the modern game. High pressing systems that require every single player to defend are taking over. Having a passive number ten who has no defensive duties just doesn’t cut it anymore. Tens are being replaced by athletic, box-to-box midfielders who run up and down the pitch for ninety minutes. For this reason, the classic number tens are fading away into a not so distant memory.
However, hope is not all lost for the number ten role. Whereas Europe can be described as a dry desert that a ten will struggle to survive in. There is a place where it is a paradise for the classic maestros of football. An oasis in the midst of all the desert. It isn’t temporary but rather can serve as a permanent safe haven. A place where tens are not only welcomed but can strive in and be the key attacking stars they once were. This oasis… *dramatic pause* is Major League Soccer.
In a world where the number ten role is dying, it is more alive than ever in MLS. As recent as in the past five years, you are almost guaranteed to find a brilliant ten who pulls the strings for every MLS team who reached the MLS Cup final. In 2015, the MLS Cup finalists were Columbus Crew and Portland Timbers. Each team had an elite ten with Federico Higuaín on Columbus and Diego Valeri on Portland. In 2016 the two finalists were Toronto FC and Seattle Sounders, following the same trend, each had their own elite ten. Nicolás Lodeiro on the eventual winners Seattle and Sebastian Giovinco on Toronto. The next year in 2017 Toronto ended up winning the MLS Cup in a rematch with Seattle with Giovinco leading the way.
Fast forward to 2018 and we have Portland once again but this time they’ve added Sebastian Blanco, another high-level number ten, but with Valeri still there he played wide. Atlanta United, of course, had their own number ten, Miguel Almiron, and ended up beating Portland to win MLS Cup in just their second season in the league. Then we look at last year, 2019. Seattle wins the MLS Cup once again with Lodeiro against their familiar rival Toronto. This time Toronto has a different number ten in Alejandro Pozuelo replacing Giovinco. Do you get my point? There is a direct correlation between an MLS team’s success and an elite number ten playing for them.
This correlation isn’t just a recent occurrence either. When number tens were the biggest stars in world football during the 90s and early 2000s, the number ten hype train was in full effect in MLS as well. MLS boasted the likes of Carlos Valderrama, Marco Etcheverry, Mauricio Cienfuegos, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Piotr Nowak, and Guillermo Barros Schelotto to name some of the electrifying, era-defining MLS number tens. Unlike the rest of the world, tens in MLS didn’t just last for an era. They continue to be an essential role and player that the best teams in MLS build their team around.
Elite number ten equals MLS success. Is that a law of nature? Just about. The role is so vital in MLS that one can easily make the argument that in order to be an MLS Cup contender it is a requirement to have an elite number ten conducting the offense. It almost seems like you are at an automatic disadvantage right off the bat if your MLS team doesn’t have such a player. But what makes MLS different than other leagues around the world that makes it such an ideal place for number tens?
Two main reasons. The first is that the 433 formation with two box-to-box midfielders is the most popular formation to play the modern high press system. There is no room for a number ten in this formation and system. On the other hand, MLS teams and coaches happen to heavily favor the 4-2-3-1 formation. Number tens are historically used in the 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2 formations. If you look at the current semi-finalists for the 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs, all four teams play in a 4-2-3-1 with a ten in the middle of it all.
It is no coincidence that every single semi-finalist this year is playing a 4-2-3-1. With each team having a top number ten, their goal is to build the system and team around their tens. Columbus has Zelarayan, New England has Gil, Sounders has Lodeiro, and Minnesota has Reynoso. In most cases, the 4-2-3-1 is the best formation to get the most out of them. Placing your ten centrally provides them with the most accessibility to get on the ball which is exactly what the number ten needs to dictate a game.
When the defense wins the ball, the ten will be close enough to receive it immediately to initiate a counter. He can link-up play between the two holding midfielders, the wingers on his side, and the striker ahead of him from this position. He can also run in behind the striker to receive a layoff or sit back and be available to recycle play. You want your number ten to have the max accessibility to the ball and his teammates. This is how you get the most out of his creative and technical abilities.
The second reason MLS is such an ideal place for tens today is the gap in quality between MLS attackers and defenders. This gap is a result of the unique roster and salary restrictions that MLS has. A byproduct of these rules is that teams tend to invest more money into their attacking core but at the sacrifice of their defense. The three designated-player slots are normally best utilized for high quality, dynamic attackers who can single handily take over a game. And what has been the most influential position on the soccer pitch? That’s right, the number ten. So naturally, MLS teams will use one of their DP slots on a number ten who normally can easily play at a high level in Europe but opts to play in MLS instead.
This creates mismatches within a game. When you have a DP number ten who gets paid millions because of his quality going up against an MLS defender who normally gets paid a couple hundred thousand in most cases, it’s just not fair. This gap between the quality of tens and MLS defenders is a big reason why they can, in many cases, completely outclass opponents in MLS. The gap in quality between the two makes it an uneven playing field with the advantage clearly in favor of the number tens.
Not only does the lower quality in defenders affect the 1 v 1 scenarios but the entire defensive organization of teams. The quality of the defensive structure and discipline of most MLS teams isn’t very good. While coaching is probably more to blame for this, the players still remain major factors of the success of a press. If an MLS team plays a high press to try and mitigate or counter the effect a number ten has over a game they risk exposing themselves. Simply because they can’t run a press as effectively as the superior teams around the world. All it takes for a great number ten to break most MLS presses is a clever pass or dribble to escape the press and expose the defense.
The MLS has hosted and continues to host a wide variety of number tens. At all their cores they are just those young kids having fun in a street futsal match playing for the pure love of the game, but they also all bring something unique to the number ten role.
Carlos Valderrama was your prototypical number ten who would dance and play with opposing players with his mesmerizing dribbling ability only to distract you until he played an impeccable pass to a teammate for an easy goal. Sebastian Giovinco played the ten role more Bergkamp-like playing as a second striker but still keeping all the pizazz of a traditional, showboating ten. Miguel Almirón was a skillful ten but one who also loved to use his natural, blistering speed to fly past defenders. Nicolás Lodeiro has the elite attacking creativity of any great MLS number ten but combines that with a high work rate and never-ending stamina to not only contribute offensively but defensively too. One could go on and on about the different legendary number tens of MLS and how they made the role their own.
But while the glory days of the number ten are gone in world football, the glory days are very much still alive and strong in MLS and not going anywhere anytime soon. In a soccer world that has moved on and no longer welcomes number tens, they will always have a special place in MLS.
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