Obed Vargas
At 17, Obed Vargas of Anchorage has already left an indelible mark on Alaska soccer.
Not only has he played in more Major League Soccer games than any other player from the state, but the third-year pro with the Seattle Sounders recently became the first Alaskan since 2008 to register a point after he earned an assist on his team’s only goal in a 4-1 loss to the Portland Timbers.
Vargas started at midfielder and logged 80 minutes. Sitting on the opposing bench was Timbers’ backup goalkeeper Hunter Sulte of Anchorage.
No biggie, just two titans of Alaska soccer on the same field in the country’s premier league.
They represent two of the three Alaskans to play in the MLS. The other is Anchorage’s Ely Allen, who in 2008 collected a goal and an assist in 13 games for the LA Galaxy.
FROM ALASKA TO THE MLS
Most career appearances in regular season
18 – Obed Vargas, Seattle Sounders
12 – Ely Allen, LA Galaxy
2 – Hunter Sulte, Portland Timbers
Vargas has started 12 of his 18 career appearances in the MLS regular season and played 74 minutes or more in nine of them.
In 2021, at 15, he became the third-youngest player to make his MLS debut. In 2022, he started 10 of 13 games and furnished an 84.9 passing percentage.
This year he’s played in four games for the Sounders (5-2-1) and picked up his first career point last Saturday with a beautiful centering pass to set up Raúl Ruidíaz’s goal in the 58th minute that gave Seattle a 1-0 lead at Providence Park in Oregon before a crowd of 25,218.
Vargas touched the ball twice in the run up to the goal, first dribbling around a defender near midfield before passing off the ball and then continuing his run up field before getting rewarded with a long pass in the right corner.
The Alaskan tracked it down and curled a one-touch crossing pass to Ruidíaz who buried his shot into the left corner of the net. Hard to believe by the looks of it, but that was Vargas’ first centering pass in the MLS. It was money.
Obed Vargas 🇺🇸🇲🇽(2005) with a lovely sequence of play for the assist!!!pic.twitter.com/NpuE8dRoW1
— Football Report (@FootballReprt) April 16, 2023