FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Sports

Lee Nguyen's Globe-Spanning Search For a Home

From teenage American soccer standout to Dutch league washout, Lee Nguyen's journey hasn't been for the faint of the heart, but it's finally paying off.
Photo by David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Lee Nguyen sat down with Vancouver Whitecaps coach Martin Rennie in a nondescript hotel lobby in Orlando on March 1, 2012. The coach broke some hard news: Nguyen was being waived by the Whitecaps.

A few months earlier, Nguyen left behind a lucrative contract offer in Vietnam and decided to return home to the United States and play in MLS. Now, Nguyen was without a team. He felt relieved.

"We had just done two preseason games already and I didn't get any playing time at all, didn't even get a look. It was pretty obvious that I wasn't going to be in [Rennie's] plans for that season," Nguyen says. "And for me, I came back to play, to prove myself. I needed to be in an environment that allowed that. I was a little fortunate to get that break."

Advertisement

Read More: Carlos Vela Is Mexico's Hottest Novela

So Nguyen packed his bags and boarded a plane from Orlando to Vancouver. When he arrived there was a text from his agent, "Call me when you land." Nguyen had a new team. He had to pack all over again and head to Boston. He was joining the New England Revolution.

The Revs were in a rebuilding phase and Nguyen fit the mold that new coach Jay Heaps wanted—technically gifted on the ball, tactically aware, sneaky fast, and motivated. Nguyen's signing would prove vital to New England's revamp of the squad.

Now in his third season with the Revs, Nguyen has become the focal point of the team's new core of talented, young players. After a rough first season—the team finished 9-17-8 and missed the playoffs—Nguyen has led New England to consecutive playoff appearances and, in the process, became one of the best midfielders in MLS.

On October 11, Nguyen put that status on display against the Montreal Impact.

The Revolution were losing, 2-1, and needed a draw to secure a spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs. In the sixty-ninth minute, Nguyen received the ball near the edge of Montreal's penalty area, took a quick touch off his right foot, and, with the defense collapsing around him, scooped a shot from 18 yards out that looped over the defense and goalkeeper into the net. The game was tied. The Revolution made the playoffs, which began last weekend, thanks to Nguyen.

Advertisement

The sequence captures much of what makes Nguyen a star in MLS. He's small, but tough to knock off the ball and deceptively quick. The ball sticks to Nguyen's feet, as if it's on a yo-yo string. His ball control allows him uncanny awareness, his head always up looking for the next pass or pocket of space. He shifts the ball around defenders with quick touches, allowing himself time and space to either shoot and score or find the open man. The ease with which he's come to dominate MLS, though, belies the challenges he's overcome. Getting cut by the Whitecaps two years ago doesn't even begin to cover it.

The 28-year-old Vietnamese-American has journeyed around the globe and back. He blipped onto the American soccer radar as a teenager and quickly disappeared. He's gone from the next great player to a mystery to arguably one of the best American midfielders in the world.

Nguyen was named the National Boys Soccer High School Player of the Year in 2005 and committed to Indiana University. He won the 2005 National Freshman of the Year award and was an All-Big Ten Selection in his one season as a Hoosier, scoring five goals and tallying 12 assists in 22 games. His technical ability on the ball, as well as his eye for goal and the killer pass, caught the attention of both MLS and European clubs. The kid from Richardson, Texas spurned MLS to try his hand in Europe. He signed with Dutch Eredevisie squad PSV Eindhoven—one of the league's preeminent teams—in February 2006. He was 19 years old.

Advertisement

Things didn't work out. The Eredivisie is known for its open play, scoring, and development of young attacking players, a seemingly natural fit for Nguyen, but a rotating door of four different managers in two years stalled his progress at PSV. He would make just one appearance for the club, a 3-1 loss to Ajax in 2006. Nguyen was clearly of little use to the club.

"For any soccer player, you want to go where you're wanted," says Nguyen. "You want to play where you're wanted."

One team that wanted Nguyen was Hoàng Anh Gia Lai of V. League 1, Vietnam's top division. He initially rejected their offer, but after taking a trip with his father to visit with the team, Nguyen signed a lucrative contract and moved to Vietnam.

"I knew it was going to be all the way on the other side of the world where nobody was going to follow me anymore, so I was going to be out of the picture in the soccer world," Nguyen says. "It was one of those things where do I push and still try to follow my dream? Or do I go for the money and try to save up and have a little security after playing?"

Nguyen, who was 23 at the time, took the money, but had no idea what was waiting for him in Vietnam.

"It was TMZ when I landed," Nguyen told a local radio station in Boston this week. "There was paparazzi when I landed, following me in my car to my hotel."

The entire country was following his career. He was a superstar in their eyes and, like any superstar, couldn't even go out to lunch or dinner without being hounded by fans.

Advertisement

On the field, Nguyen scored almost at will. In his first season in Vietnam, he scored 12 goals and chipped in 16 assists. He switched clubs for his second season in Vietnam, joining Becamex Binh Duong FC for one injury plagued campaign. The fat paychecks that came with his superstar status in Vietnam, however, didn't stop him from holding out hope of playing for the U.S. Men's National Team (USMNT). When Jurgen Klinsmann replaced Bob Bradley as the team's coach, Nguyen decided it was time to return home to the states. He was ready for a new challenge.

"Proving myself is just being able to show people that you can play in a league like this or with top players," Nguyen says. "People said 'Oh, he can't play in this physical league,' 'He can't handle this type of of pressure.' For me, I just wanted to show that I can play at this level and that I had more to give."

This season he's shown everyone that he is more than suited to playing in MLS. He scored 18 goals—a single season MLS record for a non-forward—and regularly out-played some of the most recognizable names in American soccer, like USMNT stalwarts Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley. To put Nguyen's season into context, the second highest goal scorers on the Revs were Kelyn Rowe and Diego Fagundez, each with five goals. Without Nguyen, New England is nowhere. The #MVLEE campaign is just one measure of his place as frontrunner for MLS MVP.

After playing on three continents, Nguyen finally feels secure where he is. He has a team built around his skills and a young coach who has embraced the style of play that Nguyen embodies—quick movement, ground passing, high-pressure, and free-flowing skill on the ball. He's still waiting on a call from Klinsmann, but his globe-spanning journey has gifted him perspective on his profession.

"[Soccer] is a funny thing," Nguyen says. "There are places to play everywhere, you just need to find your home and try to make the most of it."