West Ham captain Lucas Neill believes Major League Soccer and the A-League in his native Australia are both on the fast track to joining football's world elite.
Neill, who completed a pre-season North American tour on Thursday night in Toronto as the Premier League side lost a showcase friendly 3-2 to the MLS All-Stars, has been impressed by the current state of the game in the USA and Canada following the influx of marquee players such as David Beckham, Juan Pablo Angel and Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
The Australian said he also saw similar strides being taken in the three-year-old A-League, where the fledgling, eight-team competition had attracted many former internationals back from spells with European clubs to compete on home soil.
"I think they're almost running parallel at the moment," Neill said.
"The crowds are getting bigger every game and the profile's getting bigger with both countries beginning to attract some household names.
"And it is people like David Beckham who are responsible for raising the profile and getting the excitement."
Neill said the success of Australia's Socceroos on the international stage was also a boost to the domestic league.
"From a national team point of view I think you do need to be successful as well and the impact that Australia had at the last World Cup really grasped the nation and made it stand up to pay attention.
"So for players such as myself, maybe in three or four years, to go back and give something back to the game, I think that will be important as well.
"The same applies for the higher profile players on the American national team. If they can come back and give a bit more, or if they stay, like Landon Donovan, that's going to make the league much better.
"And for everybody else, when word of mouth goes around it will eventually be on a par with some of the better leagues in the world."
Neill's West Ham boss Alan Curbishley endorsed the view that MLS was on the up and up.
"We feel the MLS is going to get stronger in the years to come," Curbishley said. "Obviously they've attracted David (Beckham) here but they're going to get bigger players to come over and at the right age.
"The problem, perhaps, a few years back, was that players were coming over at the wrong age but now I think that they've got the grassroots together, the coaches are here, the kids are playing soccer and it can only bode well for the future."
