Chasing the Dream

Imagine you’re good at soccer – really good, a wizard at ball handling, and a standout on every team where you’ve ever played. You’re going to have a dream of making it in the big leagues, of being paid to play the game you love.  

Almost 60 young men showed up at Paradise Coast Sports Complex, the home field of FC Naples, to chase that dream last weekend. They came from as near as Naples and as far as Brazil and Australia, bringing their cleats, their hopes, and their desperation to stand out and catch the eye of FC Naples head coach Matt Poland.  

The two-day tryout had the hopefuls scrimmaging eight on eight Saturday morning before playing full-field, full-complement 11 vs. 11 on Sunday. The great majority of them will not end up with a roster spot, if indeed any do, so this represents their personal Super Bowl, their World Series, likely the pinnacle of their professional sports career. They will be left with just the memory of trying out for the pros and the FC Naples jersey that the team gives them for their efforts. So, it’s fair to say the players were giving it their all to become one of the lucky few who beat the odds.  

Monitoring the two simultaneous scrimmages, Coach Poland had his own challenge: to spot the gems among the talented players and put together a team capable of competing at the professional level. At age 32, Poland is barely older than the oldest of the players trying out in front of him but had his own playing career cut short by injuries.  

Asked how he can make sense of the nonstop soccer action swirling all around him, Poland said, “The numbers help. Also, we have a little bio of each player.” Even so, knowing which of the players swarming the ball just made a standout play is difficult, even if you are able to spot the number on the back of their “pinny” or “penny,” the blue or yellow shirt the players wore over their jerseys.  

Poland also had assistance in spotting from several assistants who joined him on the sidelines, but he made it clear these were not official hires as assistant coaches but “some friends of mine who are helping out.”  

Watching the players move the ball up and down the crowded half-size field was a little reminiscent of peewee soccer, except that these players excelled at trapping the ball and dropping it at their feet, then faking out their opponent and finding an open teammate to pass to. And despite the vital importance of showing off their talents, the players largely heeded Poland’s direction not to foul or chop the player they were up against. 

The coach complimented players on this after the workout.  

“All right, guys, how’s everybody doing?” he said as they gathered at midfield. “There were a lot of hard tackles, but mostly fair.” Poland thanked the players for coming out and cautioned them that, on Sunday’s full-field scrimmage, “there will be more running, so keep hydrated, and go easy on the caffeine.” 

Poland also introduced team co-owner and CBS soccer broadcaster Nico Cantori, who spoke to the players as well. Team CEO Roberto Moreno said that for him, “hearing the first-ever whistle for this new team is a dream come true.”  

Whether the players’ dreams of being an ongoing part of the team come true will have to wait. FC Naples will hold additional tryouts, not necessarily open to the public, with international players as well as some recruited from elsewhere in the U.S. The team’s starting roster of approximately 23 players will be set in January, with the inaugural game coming next March. 

The team also held a “fan fest” event Saturday afternoon with beer and barbecue, giving fans one more chance to “test drive” the seats for their season tickets.  

The Naples USL-1 team is one of five expansion franchises, augmenting the dozen existing clubs in the league. Current locations range from Statesboro, Georgia, to Spokane, Washington, along with Charlotte, North Carolina, Fresno, California, and Greenville, South Carolina. In addition to Naples, expansion teams will be located in Portland, Maine, Brooklyn, Santa Barbara, California; and Sherman, Texas.  

Much like the Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels under the Minnesota Twins in Major League Baseball, USL-1 is what would be considered a minor league or feeder league, with MLS, or Major League Soccer, the big league in the United States. South Florida has seen a surge of interest in soccer since the signing of Lionel Messi, the world’s top player, to the Inter Miami MLS team.  

Marco Island has a major connection with FC Naples through Coach Poland, who lives on Marco Island and has coached the Marco Island Academy (MIA) varsity soccer squads. He was also head coach of the Naples United FC semi-pro squad, where his team was ranked fourth in the country.