Soccer in the USA is not as popular as in other countries, but there were still Russian stars there. One of them was Mikhail Ivanov, who defended the goal for an American team for several years. Ivanov was born in 1948 in Shanghai to a family of white émigrés. After the communists came to power in China, his family moved to the USA, where they had to adapt their names to the American style, and Mikhail became Michael. He became interested in soccer while studying at the University of San Francisco, where he proved himself to be a talented goalkeeper with excellent intuition and skill, winning the US college championship as part of the university team.

His talent was noticed by leading coaches in the country, and he was first invited to the youth national team, and in 1967 he became the goalkeeper for the national team. Ivanov's debut was in a match against Bermuda, where he did not concede a single goal and soon became the team's main goalkeeper. His star moment came at the Munich Olympics in 1972 when the US team played against Morocco. The Americans were considered underdogs, but Ivanov steadfastly deflected all the opponents' shots, not conceding a single goal. The match ended with a score of 0:0.

At the Seattle club, Mikhail also established himself as an outstanding player. He won the hearts of American soccer fans after a match against Minnesota, when the opponents took 27 shots at his goal, 12 of which were on target, but managed to score only one goal. Ivanov retired at the age of 37, which is considered late for an athlete. For some time, he coached the goalkeepers of the Seattle club, and then retired, remaining in the memory of fans as one of the best North American goalkeepers.