“The first time I stepped on the field, I got on the ball and I tried to take a touch by someone, and I got bowled over,” Dante Huckaby said after participating in a scrimmage with members of the Philadelphia Union first team on Thursday. “Usually when I play, I’m more physical than anyone, but they were way more physical than me.”
The standout under-17s player has made multiple US Boys’ National Team appearances and can play both center back and holding midfielder, but none of that could prepare him for the first time he went shoulder-to-shoulder with Derrick Jones.
Huckaby, though, who joined training along with U17s teammate Patrick Bohui, U15s right back Brandan Craig, and U19s/Bethlehem Steel goalie Tomas Romero, was not over-awed by the experience. “I have to play quicker and not rely on my strength as much,” he concluded, making a personal analysis of the day before even discussing the scrimmage with the Union coaching staff.
Union head coach Jim Curtin drew the same conclusions. “Dante Huckaby as a No. 6 did really well with his passing with the ball,” he said. “A couple moments where he gets into physical duels and battles and he loses them — things that he can get away with where he's been playing, people are bouncing off of him, now it's the opposite — he's running into Derrick Jones and Warren Creavalle in the middle of the field, and I'll just say that they don't move as much.”
With an international break creating a break in games this weekend, Curtin and the Union took the opportunity to bring in some top academy talent. But the goal was not to form judgments or make decisions, but to simply give experience and confidence about the ability to transition to the top level.
“The vision for them is a long-term one,” Curtin explained, adding that he and his staff trust that the Union academy will ensure the young players don’t get down on themselves if they feel overmatched by seasoned vets. “It's a game of mistakes, and that's what you tell them. Ale Bedoya is going to make, during the 60 minutes, five or six mistakes too. But what's most important is his reaction after mistakes to win the ball back or do what his team needs in that moment.”
“To Brandan, I asked him: Are you going to win a head ball over CJ Sapong?” Curtin said, “Are you going to physically outmuscle him in this? And the answer is obviously no. So how are you going to beat him? And you have to use your brain. You have to think, that's what this game is about.
“For a 14-year old, he makes good soccer decisions when he's on the ball,” Curtin said of Craig. “Set up 2-3 goals today, serves some good balls into the box. Sees things early and plays things early. Even Haris came up to me and when I told him what his age was, he was shocked to hear how young he is for how well he sees the game.”
“Mr. Curtin just thought I did pretty good and told me to defend inside to out,” Craig added, “To force them outside because the less dangerous man is outside.”
Of the prospects, Bohui has made the most visits to first team training in the past. “With Patrick, you see a really dynamic winger that has a ton of attacking qualities,” Curtin said. “You can see him when he gets 1v1: He comes to life and is really dangerous. He can work more — he sees it himself — defensively. How demanding it is end-to-end and how quickly it can go up and down with the way we want to play. Working on the fitness side of things and doing the defensive work is a big part of it that he can improve on as well.”
One important part of this experience for these academy talents is that they are following a path blazed by guys they compete against when they make the trip down to train with the first team. Although Matt Real and Anthony Fontana were with Bethlehem Steel, Auston Trusty and Mark McKenzie were on hand to show Bohui, Craig, and Huckaby how to play at a pro speed.
“They've been in before they turned pro and kind of thrived,” Curtin said of Trusty and McKenzie. “And eventually, as they continue to improve, you give them little rewards and they worked their way up.
“The way Mark was today, he was the best player on the field, still as a teenager. It works.”
