Frankie Amaya started this past week as USL Championship player – technically.
After two appearances for FC Cincinnati earlier this season, the club sent its No. 1 pick in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft to Orange County SC hoping that would increase his minutes in professional soccer.
He played two matches for OCSC. On Thursday night, he was recalled from his loan. On Saturday, he made his first MLS start.
“It felt really good,” Amaya said. “I thought I played good, and it just felt right playing here.”
The last part of that quote should excite the FC Cincinnati supporters and coaching staff alike.
Yes, the Orange and Blue lost 1-0 to the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night at Avaya Stadium. The club’s losing streak is now five-straight games, and the last goal was April 7. Those aren’t reasons to smile about.
But Amaya’s performance was exciting and an example of encouragement this club could use approaching next weekend’s home match against the Montreal Impact.
The rookie fit in Saturday. Defensively, he made plays – four tackles and won possession seven times. He also created openings for others with crisp passes and exciting runs where he dribbled at opposing players.
For being 18 years old and only making his third MLS appearance, Amaya looked comfortable – as if it “just felt right” that he was playing for Cincinnati.
“To have Frankie back was great,” Head Coach Alan Koch said. “You could see he didn’t feel phased at all. I thought he played very, very well. He cramped up towards the end and that’s understandable. That’s the highest level he’s ever had to play at.”
In his first MLS start, Amaya played 67 minutes before being substituted for Roland Lamah.
During those minutes, the teenager had a 95.5% passing accuracy, which was 92.3% in San Jose territory. He also had one chance created and won 63.6% of his duels. He said there’s room for improvement, though.
“I am solid defensively, but I need to attack more,” he said. “I need to get in the pockets, need to shoot, need to pass (more). I just need to do more for my team.”
Truthfully, he was being too critical of himself. What Amaya showed against the Earthquakes is that he belongs on an MLS roster with minutes against other MLS opponents.
At the match, he had roughly 20 friends and family members at the match. (He’s from Santa Ana.)
That amount of support should be comforting, but that’s in the stands. As for support in the locker room, Amaya said everyone had something to say to him about the start.
“I had like 100 voices just tell me in the locker room to just do your thing, just have fun and I just listened to them,” he said. “I took it all in and just did my thing.”
