Is MLS next for Afshin Ghotbi, U.S. soccer's international globetrotter?

In 2000, Afshin Ghotbi found himself marveling at where life had taken him. Here was an Iranian-born, American-raised soccer coach, heading to Hong Kong from Los Angeles on a British Airways flight so he could interview with a Dutchman to be an assistant coach for South Korea's national team.

"If that's not globalization, I'm not sure what is," he said with a laugh during an exclusive interview with ESPN FC.

Ghotbi's globetrotting ways haven't stopped. His coaching career has spanned three decades across 12 different teams. He's been part of coaching staffs at three World Cups and spent the past dozen years in Asia, coaching in four different countries. In July, he was appointed manager of China League One side Shijiazhuang Ever Bright FC for the second time and in early-November, his side clinched promotion to the Chinese Super League.

"I'm not surprised," said former U.S. international John O'Brien, who played on youth teams in Southern California coached by Ghotbi. "Afshin was always so astute and so driven. It's been interesting, as an Iranian and an American, to see what opportunities have presented themselves and which ones haven't."

In many ways, Ghotbi is U.S. soccer's international man of mystery, fulfilling several key roles through the years while remaining largely unknown. He played collegiately at UCLA from 1981-85 and the U.S. is where his coaching career began. His last stateside coaching gig was as an assistant to Steve Sampson during the LA Galaxy's double-winning season in 2005. Yet even as Ghotbi returned to China, he still felt the pull of the U.S., the country that formed many of his soccer experiences. He interviewed for the managerial post at LAFC in 2017, which ultimately went to Bob Bradley, and still holds aspirations of coaching once again in his adopted homeland.

"I feel that my experiences and my qualities can bring something very different to the league and the players in MLS," he said. "I think because I've been 15 years away most people have forgotten or don't know me, but I think once they get to know me and see how I work, they will love the way my teams will play. I really think I can reach into the hearts of every player and make them giants."

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Ghotbi was born in Tehran, Iran, and his love for the game of soccer started early. He recalls playing in the streets with friends: bricks were used for goals, cars were defenders and combination passes were played off houses. "And sometimes angry neighbors," he notes with a laugh.

In 1978, after his parents divorced and his father remarried to an American, Ghotbi moved to the U.S. with his family at the age of 13. Settling in the L.A. suburb of Glendale, Ghotbi played soccer to connect to his new home. He was a self-starter, convincing the principal at his middle school to let him start a soccer team provided he could find a coach. It proved to be the first of many valuable lessons. "At that moment, soccer was not so big in America. You not only had to become a player but a promoter. You had to be a coach and you had to multi-task to play the game you love," he said.

Ghotbi excelled as a player in high school and he was good enough to walk on to a UCLA team that included former U.S. international Paul Caligiuri, who scored the dramatic goal that sent the U.S. to the 1990 World Cup. The coaching staff at the time included manager Sigi Schmid and eventual U.S. national team boss Sampson. Upon graduation with a degree in electrical engineering, Ghotbi founded the American Global Soccer School in 1988. Starting with $100, one player showed up on the first day, but it soon grew into 10 teams and 1,000 students each year. Ghotbi's motivation was borne of something he had seen at UCLA.

"Even the UCLA players missed the technical quality they needed to play at the highest level," he said. "The reason is when they're younger, no one is working with them." The school saw the likes of O'Brien, an eventual U.S. international, ex-MLS defender Joey DiGiamarino and Pete Vagenas, who won two MLS Cups with LA Galaxy, pass through its doors. Ghotbi was demanding in terms of players gaining mastery of the ball. It was through Ghotbi's connections that O'Brien moved to Ajax.

"Afshin was an intense coach," said O'Brien. "He's very much about challenging you. I was coming into my adolescence then, so there's something to be said about having a softer approach with kids. But with us, he was pretty demanding and driven and really focused on repetitive technique drills. That was really useful for me and he called me out. I had a bad right foot, especially as a side volley. That was really hard for me to do and he was like, 'This is not good enough. You have to practice this.'"

Ghotbi's contacts in Southern California -- Sampson in particular -- led to him being named as an assistant coach for the U.S. men's national team for the 1998 World Cup, with a special emphasis on scouting Iran. The match was littered with heavy political overtones, and remains one of the more ignominious nights in U.S. World Cup history, a game that Ghotbi recalls with mixed emotions. Iran prevailed 2-1 on a night in which the U.S. failed to convert some clear chances. The result eliminated the U.S. from the tournament but for Ghotbi, it made a deep impression that went beyond the game.

"To see fans that had American flags on one cheek and an Iranian flag on the other cheek, or a Persian man and an American woman, a married couple, in the stands, and to see that kind of friendship between two countries that have so many political problems, it really excited me to realize the power of the game," he said.

"I think regardless of our nationality and regardless of our culture, there are certain things all human beings share. When I go into a particular team or a country, the love of the game is very important. I think the respect you give each other is very important. Trying to listen and learn about how each culture behaves and how they think."

After the World Cup, Ghotbi planned to return to his soccer school but thanks to his overseas connections, South Korea and Guus Hiddink came calling with a special task to address a special challenge. A coaching staff that largely didn't speak Korean -- one of five languages Ghotbi now speaks -- needed a way to get their points across beyond translating their instructions. So Ghotbi was asked to reprise a role he had taken with the U.S., that of using video to reinforce tactical concepts.

"At that time, nobody was creating animations and breaking images down, bringing pictures into a computer and drawing over them," said Ghotbi. "Hiddink was quite clever because he thought, 'This can help me because I don't speak Korean.'"

South Korea went on to a historic run to the semifinals. Along the way they faced a U.S. team that included Ghotbi's old protégé, O'Brien, but Ghotbi's work with video, as well as the pedigree of having worked with Hiddink, proved to be a launch point into the coaching profession. When he was reunited with his old friend Sampson at the LA Galaxy, Ghotbi was tasked with providing the tactical preparation.

"[Ghotbi] was ahead of his time in terms of the video presentations that he did," said then-Galaxy defender Todd Dunivant, now the General Manager of USL Championship side Sacramento Republic. "He was very precise and the detail he worked with was very high level. He always went the extra step. The way he talks about the game, talks about opponents, it's very impassioned. And he's fearless. He's not afraid to take on a challenge."