尽管梅西在对话中占据主导地位，但像哥伦布水手队的纳贝这样的球员帮助扩大了MLS的影响力。

Darlington Nagbe, a Columbus Crew midfielder, has approached his long career differently. He has been a quietly steady performer who has helped raise the profile of MLS throughout his career. While the league has been dominated by the outsized talent of Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi, Nagbe is among the players who have quietly contributed to making MLS a more prominent league.

The Crew won last season’s MLS Cup title, reached the CONCACAF Champions Cup final this year and won the Leagues Cup. While Nagbe is not a flashy goal scorer, he is the consummate facilitator for teammates including Cucho Hernandez and Diego Rossi.

The 34-year-old midfielder is known for placing his family and community ahead of his pursuit of accolades. Although he made 25 appearances with the U.S. national team, he turned down call-ups because that meant considerable time away from home.

He believes that he focuses on what he knows will be permanent when his career is almost done. He played for 15 or 20 years and then after that he has the rest of his life to live. So he tries to focus on the things that he knows he will be there when he stops playing and tries to live his life that way.

His attitude has won him fans across the league. He is known as a sun among the gray clouds of this profession. He grows on the field, his smile shines on the stage, holding a trophy in his hands, as he did with every club he played for.

When Nagbe was a baby, civil war in his native Liberia prompted his family to flee. At 11, they moved to Ohio and at 15 he caught the eye of then-Akron coach Caleb Porter, who recruited him to play for the Zips. He went on to win the MAC Hermann Award for the nation’s top college player as a junior.

He was drafted by the Portland Timbers second overall in the 2011 MLS draft and spent seven seasons there before moving to Atlanta and returning to Ohio with the Crew.

He told The Associated Press that he will return to the Crew next season and then reassess. He hopes that he helped his teammates and those he worked with on and off the field in some way.

Darlington Nagbe will continue to pursue excellence on and off the field in the upcoming season. He has been a key player for Columbus Crew and will continue to do so. His family and community-focused attitude has won him fans across the league, and he is known for his quiet, steady play that has contributed to the success of the team.