Martins: It’s not easy to play in MLS

Obafemi Martins is no stranger to the gruelling demands of the lengthy European football season. But the past 12 months have likely been the Nigeria striker’s most demanding spell as a professional yet, and there is still much more to come. Martins began the 2012/13 La Liga campaign with Levante, featuring 21 times and scoring seven times along the way.

And then in March, Major League Soccer club Seattle Sounders signed the striker, sending him to the Pacific Northwest where the American top flight league was just underway, meaning Martins would be playing another eight months – totalling 16 consecutive months – of football.

Now well into the MLS season and with the dust finally settled since his move to Sounders earlier in the calendar, FIFA.com was able to speak exclusively with Seattle’s No 9 to learn how he is finding life in America, handling the strenuous workload in a tough league and the origins of his famous backflip goal celebration. Read more