Sacha Kljestan is the best player on the hottest team in the league, a legitimate MVP candidate who has a real shot to become the second player in MLS history to hit the 20 assist mark.
And he’s flying well below the radar.
The 30-year-old midfielder has been one of the best (perhaps the best?) No. 10s in the league since he signed with the New York Red Bulls last winter after four-and-a-half years at Belgian club Anderlecht.
He was a huge reason why the Red Bulls won the Supporters’ Shield last year, scoring eight goals and adding 14 assists in 33 regular season games. Like the rest of the Red Bulls, Kljestan got off to a bit of a slow start this season. But he’s been red hot since mid-April, scoring one of his two goals on the year and tallying nine of his 10 assists in eight regular season matches since April 16.
Not surprisingly, Kljestan’s solid play has coincided with the Red Bulls’ rise from their worst-in-MLS 1-6-0 record to the 6-7-1 mark that currently has them in second in the East.
While there’s no debating his importance to the Red Bulls, Kljestan is still mostly anonymous, compared to guys like Michael Bradley or Jermaine Jones. He probably even draws less fan attention than his Red Bulls teammates Dax McCarty or Bradley Wright-Phillips. That’s a bit weird for a stellar No. 10, especially one who’s American.
The main reason for the lack of love is probably Kljestan’s long absence from the US national team. A key contributor under Bob Bradley, Kljestan has received just 11 of his 46 career caps under Jurgen Klinsmann, with his last appearance coming over two years ago in friendly in March 2014.
That exclusion is no doubt a source of frustration for Kljestan, who famously sent a tweet wondering if an unnamed someone (read: Klinsmann) was “even watching” back in his Anderlecht days. Jurgen may or may not have had eyes on him back then, but Kljestan will have the MLS stage to himself on Sunday, when his Red Bulls host the Seattle Sounders at Red Bull Arena (7:30 pm ET; FS1 in the US, MLS LIVE in Canada). That match is one of the more intriguing of the weekend, and should be a solid showcase for Kljestan to display exactly why he could be useful for the USMNT ahead of the 2018 World Cup.
As our old pal Matt Doyle notes in the above video, Kljestan isn’t just great at delivering the final ball, he’s also one of the most important pieces in New York’s high press, too. He’s a very smart player, and works really, really well in Jesse Marsch’s tactical setup. When the Red Bulls win the ball back, he often pops up in the perfect spot to receive an outlet, turn and make a cutting pass toward goal. That’s a fantastic skill to have, and it leads to plenty of goals for New York.
I’m not sure Klinsmann will ever call him in, but Kljestan could still be of great use to the US over the next couple of years. The USMNT have a good thing going in the central midfield right now with Bradley sitting deep and Jones free to roam in front of him. But Jones is 34. That’s a scary age for a guy who relies a lot on his athleticism, even if his physical powers (shouts to the JJ/Russ Westbrook comparison) are still substantial.
If Jones does lose a couple of steps over the next year or two, Kljestan – who, it needs to be mentioned, isn’t the athlete Jones is – could be a guy to replace him in front of Bradley.
He could use his smarts to start the US’s defensive pressure, and those consistently excellent set pieces and clipped in through balls would look pretty good on the international stage. I’m not saying he’d be a game-in, game-out starter, but he could definitely provide some value as the US continue to work their way through the CONCACAF meat-grinder and toward Russia 2018.
