El Pibe
Filed under: MLS
With Boca legend and current Columbus Crew maestro Guillermo Barros Schelotto hitting 18 assists on the 2008 MLS season so far, it got me thinking about El Pibe, Carlos Valderrama.
It seems like it was so long ago since Pibe was in an MLS lineup week in and week out (the 2002 MLS season with the Colorado Rapids to be exact), but Valderrama still holds the MLS record for single season assists with 26 in 2002 (26 in 32 games and just a little side note, Mamadou Diallo had 26 goals that year… just saying) and a 114 assists in 175 MLS matches.
Nowadays everyone is talking about the Designated Player, but sometime we forget guys like Valderrama, El Diablo Etcheverry, Preki and Nowak pulling the strings back in the day and putting MLS on the map.
It would be cool to find out what El Pibe and El Diablo are up to these days. Any chance you guys can help?
Last I heard about Pibe was that he was down in Colombia and an assistant with Atletico Junior, but that was awhile ago.
Marco traveled with Thomas Rongen and the U-20’s as an Assistant as awhile, but not sure if he’s still with them.
I watched with glee as Valderamma was booed by the Swiss fans every time he touched the ball in a 1994 WC first round game in Palo Alto…and he touched the ball a lot. Probably my favorite player in the 90’s.