- Slug: Sports-United Uzo, 550 words
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By Brian Carroll
Cronkite News
PEORIA — One Arizona United player stands out from the rest on the pitch. At 5-foot-11 and 220-pounds, Uchenna Uzo looks more fitting playing American football rather than soccer.
“Physically, he’s strong. Obviously you look at him and he’s a physical specimen,” Arizona United head coach Frank Yallop said.
Four months into his professional career, Uzo is already a fan favorite. United fans can be heard chanting “OO-ZO” whenever he touches the ball, or more likely, muscles one of the opposing players off the ball. Despite his physical style of play, Uzo has seen the yellow card just once in his 19 games this season.
His soccer career started in Lagos, Nigeria. Uzo played and captained Whitesands School’s soccer team and earned a spot training with the U-17 Nigerian National Team in 2010, but did not make the final squad.
“Soccer there, you have a lot of really good players, but it’s just luck, everybody there is trying to show out every day,” Uzo said.
In the nation of 182 million people, soccer is the only sport that matters. Every game, minute, even second is magnified. Making the national side in Nigeria, or catching the eye of a local or international scout, was tough for Uzo in a cut-throat environment.
“They will do anything to be better than the person who’s facing you even if it means breaking your leg, it’s ridiculous,” Uzo said.
His career path would lead the young defender to America. After spending time in Houston Dynamo’s academy, Uzo was spotted by Coastal Carolina head coach Shaun Docking.
The system at Coastal Carolina fit in with the all-or-nothing style he grew up with in Nigeria. Effort and work ethic was favored above everything else on the pitch.
“At Coastal our coach was English … so I kind of knew that the English people, they have the same mindset. If you give it all you can there is no way you are not going to play,” Uzo said.
His effort and physicality made him a standout in his three seasons covering the backline for the Chanticleers.
After college, Uzo traveled to Arizona to tryout for the team and earned his first professional contract.
The transition from NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer to the United Soccer League (USL) was not that big of a leap for Uzo. In his first professional game, he earned a spot as the starting center back for United.
“The coaches told me they never expected what they saw from me – they thought it would take a while for me to get used to (level of play),” Uzo said.
Uzo, a formidable player at the backline and one of the favorites in Yallop’s first year in charge, has led United in minutes played so far this season. .
“It’s his rookie year. You think about it – he’s four months into a professional contract, a professional career, he’s done well so far,” Yallop said.
In his short amount of time Uzo has made an impact on United. At the age of 22 his coaches and teammates believe he has the potential to be a great player in the future.
“I do love his attitude he is a great kid,” Yallop said.
“He tries hard and he works hard and you just want him to do well. Hopefully he’s going to turn into a good player, but he’s on the way to be doing OK. In general he’s had a good start to the season.”
