had but to play an MLS opponent when the staff’s gamers filed onto one of many manicured fields on the Empire Polo Membership earlier this month to tackle New York Metropolis in a preseason exhibition. Recognizing one participant particularly, a small military of youngsters rushed the white picket fence guarding the sector and broke right into a chant that’s destined to develop into one of the vital common within the league this season.
“El !,” they known as rhythmically and in unison, repeating the cry that has adopted Lozano for the reason that opening sport of the .
San Diego, an growth staff that can swell the MLS to 30 golf equipment when it opens its first season towards the reigning league champion on Sunday at Dignity Well being Sports activities Park, might not have a regular-season win, a tradition or a historical past but. Nevertheless it already has a star in Lozano, a 29-year-old Mexican ahead who has spent the final eight years in Europe.
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“Chucky,” mentioned Tom Penn, the staff’s chief govt officer “was our signature participant.”
Penn has tried this earlier than. As president at , he made 29-year-old Mexican ahead Carlos Vela the signature participant for that staff’s first season in 2018 and that labored out fairly properly, with Vela breaking the MLS scoring document a yr later, then main the staff to 2 appearances within the MLS Cup ultimate.
Nevertheless Lozano didn’t come to San Diego to interrupt data — though that might be a pleasant bonus. What attracted him was town, the league and the membership’s ties to the Proper to Dream youth academy, a collection of residential colleges and coaching facilities based in Ghana and now run in 4 nations by San Diego FC co-owner Mohamed Mansour.
“The entire San Diego undertaking, the Proper to Dream, the membership. All that caught my consideration,” Lozano mentioned in Spanish. “That’s why I selected San Diego.”
Making that undertaking succeed will probably be a problem however the staff isn’t precisely drawing on a clean canvas. The Proper to Dream academies, which nurture younger gamers holistically in each soccer and training, have graduated some 260 college students, sending greater than 150 gamers to skilled golf equipment and greater than 65 to nationwide groups. And San Diego coach Mikey Vargas mentioned that success gives a basis for his fledgling MLS staff.
“We’re not beginning every little thing from scratch as a result of we have already got a mannequin,” mentioned Vargas, whose solely expertise managing on the senior degree was a two-game stint as interim coach of the U.S. nationwide staff. “It’s how can we adapt it to make it distinctive and accessible and profitable in MLS.
“I need pure alignment. Whether or not it’s a brand new undertaking or a longtime one, pure alignment — coach to management, coach to gamers, coach to supporters. That form of diamond is crucial factor.”
Essential as a result of, as an growth membership, San Diego has neither a tradition to outline it nor a historical past to fall again on. Vargas mentioned this yr’s staff will probably be accountable for constructing each.
“The membership’s going to be right here in 100 years. We’re not,” he mentioned. “So when the membership is ready to attain again, they’re going to succeed in again on what we do and what steps we take proper now.
“That’s a large accountability. Since you don’t simply have an effect on your current, however you’re actually going to have an effect on the trajectory of the membership 50, 100 years into the long run.”
To do this, San Diego has assembled an eclectic roster of gamers from 14 nations. Amongst them is U.S. World Cup veteran Luca de la Torre, former LAFC gamers and Tomás Ángel, former English Premier League defender Paddy McNair and Proper to Dream graduate Ema Boateng, who spent three seasons with the Galaxy.
“Being an growth staff, the nice factor is there’s no blueprint for us,” mentioned Boateng, who has additionally performed for Columbus, D.C. United and New England, all authentic MLS golf equipment. “We are able to mould it in our personal approach. We’re setting examples for future generations and we’re setting the bar for our followers.”
Like Lozano, Boateng was additionally drawn to San Diego by its connections to Proper to Dream. Boateng, who was born in Ghana and grew up in a home with out operating water or electrical energy, began his soccer journey on the academy when he was 12. He teared up whereas giving a shifting speech on the ribbon reducing for the Proper to Dream’s latest facility in El Cajon, Calif., the place the MLS staff can even practice.
“I’m perpetually crammed with gratitude once I consider Proper to Dream,” he mentioned later. “At first it was mainly a charity that helped me and gave me an opportunity. Now it’s a corporation that I play for.”
“I’ve been on a number of groups the place the phrase household has been used,” he added. “This actually appears like household. It’s a corporation that gave me every little thing that I’ve now.”
It additionally appears like household to Lozano, whose first title is Hirving, not Chucky. The nickname was held on him by gamers in Pachuca’s youth system who thought that Lozano, then 11, resembled the evil red-headed Chucky doll from the “Little one’s Play” collection of horror movies.
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And Lozano embraced it, hiding underneath beds to frighten teammates. Now he’s embracing his function because the signature participant on an MLS growth franchise — which is why he lingered lengthy after that first sport to circle the sector signing numerous autographs and posing for images with the children who welcomed him by chanting his title.
“The whole San Diego undertaking, every little thing that’s round San Diego, town, the individuals, being a part of that caught my consideration,” he mentioned.
Lozano hopes the remainder of MLS will quickly be taking note of San Diego as properly.
This story initially appeared in .
