MLS: Mason Toye illustrates how important competition is

Minnesota United striker Mason Toye revealed how Luis Amarilla inspires him to improve. His comments illustrate the importance of competition that all MLS teams should strive to find.

Naturally, headlines focus on the stars. They are the ones who produce the amazing moments, the individual highlights we all love to consume on social media. They tend to score the goals or inspire a reaction from those watching, in the stands and at home. However, oftentimes, what separates the great teams from the good teams is not star power but depth and competition.

This is especially true in Major League Soccer. Due to the Designated Player rule, a team can only have so many star players. Having just three DP slots makes it difficult to keep the high-profile players in the squad. This is why Atlanta United traded Julian Gressel to D.C. United in the offseason, for example.

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There are many teams that have superb DP cohorts. But do they have the depth and competition at other positions to provide necessary support?

Minnesota United striker Mason Toye, who lost his place as the starting number nine as the spearhead of head coach Adrian Heath’s attack in the offseason, helped illustrate the importance of this competition with his recent comments on new signing Luis Amarilla, who is now the starting striker. Speaking to mlssoccer.com about losing his place, Toye said:

"“It’s not frustrating, it’s more motivation to prove myself know with time <…> I’m not going to sit here and lie and say I wasn’t frustrated not to play, but you gotta be realistic. My strengths and talents, holding the ball up and closing the game isn’t my strong suit. I come in to try and win games.”"

He then commented on Amarilla specifically, revealing the motivation and inspiration his presence provides:

"“The competition is great, (Amarilla is) a really good guy. He’s got decent banter even though his English isn’t great, there are a lot of curse words. But he works his socks off every day. It’s motivational for me, seeing a guy with a big price tag working so hard still. If you had a guy in front of you not working hard, it’d get annoying. But this pushes me to keep myself in check. The problem last year is I took the starting spot, ran with it but by the end of the season I dropped the ball. That’s a big thing this year, making sure I stay consistent. In this league, it’s going to be tough to be the starting No. 9. I have to prove to Adrian that I can carry that burden.”"

As Toye highlights, he lost his place in the starting XI to Amarilla this offseason. But he is going to work to earn a role for himself, just as he did last season. That has two very obvious effects: First, it means that Toye will work hard to improve, and will likely see results in this process; second, Amarilla knows that if his performances drop off, Heath has another option to turn to. Toye and Amarilla are in competition with one another and it ensures that the standard of the striker position in Minnesota is high.

This is where many MLS teams miss out. They have strong starting XIs, but they lack the depth and variety throughout the rest of the squad. Depth is important to deal with long and arduous seasons, of course, as injuries and suspensions inevitably take their toll on a squad. But it also provides healthy competition for the starters which helps maintain a high level of performance throughout the team.

It is this competition that often separates the elite MLS teams from the rest. The four teams whoo made the Conference finals last season, Seattle, Toronto, Atlanta and LAFC, all had competition for places last season. As Toye highlights, this is what others must now find if they are to challenge the MLS elite.