Every player’s journey to their first MLS goal follows a different path.
Whether they burst on the scene at a young age, work their way through the college ranks or spend years playing abroad, that moment is one to celebrate.
For Maikel Chang, his first MLS goal on Saturday was the culmination of seven seasons in the USL – US Soccer’s second division – and a daring defection from his native Cuba. After Chang scored the eventual game-winner and added two assists for Real Salt Lake in a 4-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids, his teammates presented him with a game ball and all signed his jersey. The celebratory moment went beyond expectation as players, coaches and staff took a prolonged moment to congratulate Chang on a long-sought dream.
They were congratulating a teammate who had worked hard to reach MLS. Giving plaudits to a friend who had been there to do the same every step along the way. And celebrating a player who had dedicated his life and put everything he knew on the line to achieve his dream.
“When someone sacrifices and invests because they think it’s worth taking the risk to achieve their dream, you find a character and a person that you love to be around. In soccer, it’s a guy you love to coach,” RSL Head Coach Freddy Juarez said. “Nothing you do in soccer will ever be as tough as what he’s been through and the decisions he had to make to make his dream come true. There’s hunger. They know sacrifice.”
“It couldn’t happen to a better person,” said Justin Portillo, who has played alongside Chang since 2014 in parallel careers with the Charleston Battery, Real Monarchs and now Real Salt Lake.
THE JOURNEY BEGINS
Originally from Havana, Cuba, Chang’s visions of pro soccer would have to mean defecting from his home country, leaving behind his friends and family and everything he’s ever known off the field. Located 93 miles off the coast of Florida, the Caribbean country has long been a nation of political dissent with natives seeking means of starting new lives elsewhere. For many of those in the soccer world, that has meant defecting during trips to the U.S. and Canada with the Cuban National Team.
In 2012, Chang was with the Cuban National Team readying for a World Cup Qualifying match against Canada in Toronto. With a long history of players defecting, the team was on lockdown. At every turn, officials were keeping an eye on players and staff to keep the delegation together.
If Chang was going to make the move, it would have to be a calculated effort.
Joining with teammates Odisnel Cooper and Heviel Cordoves, Chang saw an opportunity and darted down an emergency exit before escaping down a side street. Thus started a long expedition that ultimately landed the trio in Tampa while they awaited an opportunity to play soccer. After three months, all three signed with the Charleston Battery.
A SAFE HAVEN
In Charleston, Head Coach Mike Anhaeuser has created a safe haven for Cuban defectors seeking to launch their pro careers. It started with Osvaldo Alonso and Lester Morè in 2008 and has included several more players since then. In welcoming players seeking refuge and new starts to their lives, Anhaeuser has made the Battery a success on the field – in 2008 Charleston was the last USL club to reach the U.S. Open Cup Final - while also developing players from all backgrounds for the next level.
“We’ve had the players that have come through here from Cuba and we just have a place that is comfortable and players have had success,” the longtime Charleston coach said. “It’s definitely not an easy situation for them.”
Chang, who was just 21 years old at the time, felt homesick for the family he left behind in Cuba, not knowing when the chance would come to see them again. On the field, however, any longing for home was put aside as he showed a deft technical ability and vision to match his undying work ethic and propel him to his goals.
During his first preseason, he had a chance to meet someone who had taken a similar path when the Seattle Sounders visited Charleston for a preseason tournament. Along with Cooper and Cordoves, he had dinner and a chat with Alonso, then a three-time MLS All-Star and 2012 MSL Best XI midfielder for the Sounders.
The chance to have that conversation with a national soccer hero would help to steer him on the path to not only finding success on the field, but providing a good example for other Cuban players to follow.
“When I lived in Cuba I watched some of Ozzie’s games and I wished that one day I could play in this league,” Chang said. “It was always my dream. The way that I see Ozzie, now many young boys in Cuba see me and I feel very proud of that.”
Over the next four years and change, he notched 14 goals and 19 assists for the Battery and put himself on the cusp of reaching that MLS dream.
“Maikel had the ability … he had something different,” Anhaeuser said. “He separated himself with us, he did it with the Monarchs. Watching those goals and assists on Saturday, he showed that he can do it in MLS, too.”
During the final season of his contract, he caught the eye of Real Monarchs General Manager Dan Egner – who now serves as Technical Director for Real Salt Lake.
THE DREAM CONTINUES
Coming off of a USL Regular Season Shield-winning season in 2017, the Monarchs sought players with USL experience who could still make the jump to MLS to help lift the team to further success. During the 2018 season, they brought in the likes of Chang, Portillo, Jack Blake and others to fortify their position.
In Chang, they found a player that was a dual-threat in the attack, scoring and setting up teammates to score. Beyond that, his work on the defensive side of the ball and on the practice field has endeared him to coaches and teammates as a workhorse driven by team success.
“Maikel Chang is a player that is going to always play his game. He’s going to do defensively what you ask of him, but he’s the kind of player that needs the freedom going forward in the final third,” said Monarchs Head Coach Jamison Olave. “We tried to teach him our structure of how to play and recognize those moments when he can use the freedom to make a difference.”
In two seasons, he scored 17 goals to go with 15 assists in the regular season and added two goals and two assists in the Monarchs’ run to the USL Championship title in 2019. His reward was another chance at his dream with an MLS contract.
Coming into preseason, he knew that getting playing time with RSL would be a tall task. With many established players ahead of him on the depth chart, he would need to show that his successes at the USL level could translate amidst the speed of play and physicality of MLS.
On the training field for RSL, he did that and earned his first appearance while playing in the MLS Is Back Tournament in Orlando, Florida. Fittingly, it was against Alonso and Minnesota United that he would make his MLS debut.
“It was a great moment for two Cubans playing against each other in MLS. For me, that night was unbelievable. It was a great night and I’m proud to be a part of his accomplishment,” Alonso said. “For us, it is difficult. In Cuba, soccer is not the main sport. You come here with a lot of hope to play soccer and get to MLS. It’s really hard to get the opportunity to play, so I’m very happy for him. He worked so hard to get there and he showed that he can play in MLS.”
While his first two appearances came as late-game substitutions when RSL was looking to press for a goal, Saturday marked his longest sojourn on the field. Trailing 1-0 at halftime to the Rapids at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, he was brought on for an added dimension to the attack. Put on the right wing, he made his mark early, but it wasn’t the goal in the 76th minute that caught the attention of RSL Head Coach Freddy Juarez, but the aforementioned defensive work that led to RSL’s early opportunities in the half.
“What I love more is that he did the dirty work that led to good things happening,” Juarez said. “We can’t lose sight of that.”
With all that as background, the stage was set for Chang’s shining moment.
TAKING CENTER STAGE
With the match tied at 1-1, Justin Meram played Albert Rusnàk on a run into the box up the left side. His shot was met by William Yarbrough charging off his line. The rebound spilled in front of the Colorado goalkeeper and with three defenders separating him from the goal, Chang sprung to the ball and deposited a left-footed shot past all of them for the go-ahead goal.
As ball hit net, Chang turned to run towards his teammates warming up near the endline. There he was met by Portillo, his teammate of seven seasons who had toiled with him on busses in the Charleston summer heat, on practice fields throughout the USL and finally to an MLS field.
“Since I’ve been a professional, Maikel’s been on my team. Since 2014, we’ve been by each other’s side. For me, it felt like I scored,” said Portillo, who nearly ran onto the field in celebration, but was stopped only by Chang pointing for him to stay on the endline. “To see him go in and score and get two assists, if I could have run on the field I would have. Fortunately, he met me on the touchline. I’m super proud of him.”
That pride was echoed throughout RSL’s roster, but also in all of those who have been there along the way for his growth.
Mike Anhaeuser - “I had a bit of a feeling that he might get a shot to go in there and do something and those are the opportunities you need when you’re trying to break into the team. I was proud because he was here for so long and he went there for a reason and this is the reason he went there – to make it into the first team. He’s a great trainer and he’s really disciplined on getting better. I’m sure that’s why he got the opportunity.”
Jamison Olave - “He works hard. He worked hard with Charleston. He worked hard with us with the Monarchs and he continues to work hard. You have to be happy for him.”
Freddy Juarez - “He’s just a good guy. A good human being. He comes in every day and loves what he does. You rarely see him have a bad training session. As human beings, you love that story and want to support people that have had hardship in their life. When a good teammate does something good, you just want to lift and support them and be happy for them. When they do well, it feels like we all do well.”
Osvaldo Alonso - “I was excited for him. I was happy like when I scored my first goal. I take pride in it. We all had the goal to come to the highest level in America and show that in Cuba we can play soccer.”
Chang felt those words of praise deep in his heart. With time to reflect, his thoughts went to his teammates and coaches along the way, his family and all of those soccer players in Cuba with dreams like his who could come after him.
“I’m happy for all that the work I’ve done to get here; happy for my family in Cuba; and happy to be able to help the team, which is the most important thing,” he said. “It means a lot to me. When you see players which you admire congratulate you, it is a great emotion. They have welcomed me as a family and I am very grateful for that.”
