A year ago, Jordan Allen was poised to have a great start to his career with a good showing in preseason, then he suffered ankle and knee injuries that derailed his season after just two matches.
It’s been a long road to recovery, but he made his return to the pitch on Saturday in a scoreless draw with the Portland Timbers, subbing on for the final eight minutes of the match. Now that he has taken time to reflect on it, he knows just how important those eight minutes were, not just for his own confidence, but in the faith put in him by the RSL coaching staff.
“It was just a great feeling. It’s the end product of 10 months of hard work and a lot of frustration at times. A little bit of doubt in some times,” Allen said on the Claret and Cobalt podcast Tuesday. “Coming back, Jeff has given me a lot of confidence. I think that’s been important. He’s trusted in me. He’s believed in me enough to put me in a game when it was tough circumstances.”
Allen, 19, thrives in a style where he can go at opponents from wide positions. The limited his usefulness in the previously used diamond midfield. Now in the 4-3-3- setup, he is able to better utilize his talents, whether it’s as a wide forward or as an outside back.
“I was really personally excited when we decided to go to the 4-3-3. I get to get wide and I have space and time to go 1v1 at players. So it suits me a little bit more,” he said. “This year the question marks around my position are a little bit different than last year. I’m going to be wide, no matter what.”
Now with three appearances to his credit, he has seen the challenges of road matches in MLS. Now with two straight road matches on the schedule, he is hopeful that he can make his home debut.
“I still haven’t played at home at Rio Tinto, so I know that’s going to be a great experience, hopefully this weekend,” he smiled.
Saturday’s match kicks off at 7:30 p.m. MT and tickets are still available at RealSaltLake.com.
