Here is what you need to know about Warren Creavalle the soccer player: When his team lost two midfielders to red cards on the road against Atlanta FC, one of the best attacking teams in Major League Soccer, Head Coach Jim Curtin turned to Creavalle without hesitation. As the only natural midfielder on the pitch, the man from Acworth, Georgia put on a virtuoso display stifling one of the best creators modern MLS has ever seen.
And he had an assist.
In the cult classic film Leon: The Professional, Jean Reno plays a hitman whose steely indifference to the world is broken by 12-year-old Natalie Portman in her first movie role. The notion of a professional is exactly that: an ability to perform difficult tasks at a high level without getting unhinged or frustrated, regardless of how unexpected circumstances are or how chaotic the become.
The man wearing number two for the Union is Curtin's prototype of a professional. No matter the job, he will be ready. No matter the odds, he will perform. "I'll get fired up when I'm playing, when things aren't going my way," Creavalle tells me when I ask if he has ever been truly frustrated or mad on the pitch. "But only to a certain extent."
"I'm not exactly sure where it came from," he continues. "I can definitely credit my parents as far as my ability to be resilient. It's just been my outlook on different things. I want to be successful in everything that I do, but I've definitely been dealt my fair share of Ls in different aspects. I think the amount of success that I've had keeps me optimistic that it's all part of the game."
That outlook helped the young midfielder when he was drafted by Houston Dynamo following their 2011 run to the MLS Cup finals. "It was definitely a tough transition," he reflects. "It was nothing like what I knew: Playing, lifestyle, and all that. I was just trying to make it. There's a place I need to be and if I get that I'll fight on from there. Keep adapting, keep adapting, set your goals higher and higher."
Here is what you need to know about Warren Creavalle the creator: He went to Europe to tour Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam, and turned his experiences into a pop-up clothing experience for his creative brand Creavalle, trying to convey the interplay of human warmth and winter chill he felt as he wandered under the low winter sun, taking photographs and meeting locals. "I just wanted to see how the Scandinavian vibe was," Creavalle smiles. "I think I've always been somewhat of a creative person. And you just always want to have ways to express yourself."
The brand has been a creative outlet for the Union midfielder, and a way for him to continue developing off the pitch once he finished school. "As I've gotten later in my career, that side has picked up more steam, and gained more notoriety," he says. "The design part and the curation of it, nobody really gets to see unless maybe they're around for the photography, or maybe they're even the subject of it. I shot with [Josh] Yaro and Gilly [Wijnaldum] last year. But as far as the process -- not many people get to see that."
Here is what you need to know about Warren Creavalle the person: He will be there when you need him because he puts in the work when nobody else is looking, and he cares deeply about the people in his life. "Living in Philly has been a very good experience for me," he says without hesitation. "It's very close to New York and DC where I have close family and friends, and those are things that I value."
Creavalle arrived in Philadelphia after a tumultuous spell in Toronto. He was traded there by Houston while recovering from knee surgery. "That's probably the most frustrated I've been," he recalls, though that feeling was specifically focused on his own ability to perform at the level he expected of himself.
"I'm still looking at it as 'I'm not up to the level that I should be, I'm not playing where I should be.' Whereas if a season goes by and I'm playing at a level I'm OK with, a level that is at the standard I think that I've set, I can deal with that. I'm doing what I can do, versus not playing well, and that's what frustrates me more than anything else.
Since coming to Philly I was able to get my footing again, so I'm very thankful for that, and then just staying in good form. I've been blessed to keep that up."
You need to know all of these things about Warren Creavalle to understand him as a teammate, and to understand why he means so much to the Philadelphia Union. "His workrate is at a level that very few in MLS can have; his commitment to win the ball back, to make the job of the centerbacks easy," Curtin intones, listing off attributes that define a team player.
For Creavalle, it’s not complicated: Control what you can control and ignore the rest. "I think the biggest mental part is consistency," he says, "and that's definitely something that I've prioritized in my career. Making sure that every time you're out on the field, you can be relied upon for your energy, your mood, your level of play. Your team knows what they can get from you. That's the mental aspect that's toughest and that I've been intentional on working on."
That intentional work is often hidden, and few see how Creavalle dedicates himself to both his creative and athletic crafts. But his teammates see it. And his coaches see it.
"All the players love Warren," Curtin says assuredly. "And they love playing with him. And that is, as a player, you play for the respect of your peers.
"And every guy to a man in our group of 30 guys would say they want to go to battle with Warren Creavalle."
