Dom Dwyer is not surprised by Jack Harrison's success in MLS after leaving England to play in the American college system.
After all, Sporting Kansas City's center forward took the same path himself, well before New York City FC's rapidly emerging rookie midfielder.
“There are a lot of young, talented players in England,” Dwyer said on Friday. “Those players just need the opportunity.”
Getting that opportunity isn't always easy, though, which is why Dwyer is not surprised that more young English players aren't going the US collegiate route.
“It’s difficult for a foreign player to come to the US,” said Dwyer, “when you factor in having to get a visa and then making sure the team that wants you has an available international spot.”
Harrison grew up in the Manchester United youth system, before moving to the United States at 14 to attend school in Massachusetts. His own opportunity then came at Wake Forest. He starred there for a year, scoring eight goals in 22 matches, before being taken by Chicago with the first pick of the 2016 MLS SuperDraft and later traded to NYCFC.
He sat out the first part of the season to recover from a pelvic fracture, but now has two goals in five appearances for the Eastern Conference leaders, who visit Sporting on Sunday (7 pm CT; FS1).
Dwyer, who will miss that match because of yellow-card accumulation, came to the US to play at Tyler (Texas) Junior College, after doctors in England advised him to give up soccer because of multiple foot injuries. Instead of listening, he went on from Tyler to the University of South Florida, where he played one season before Sporting took him in the first round of the 2012 SuperDraft.
During the 2013 season, he helped Orlando City – then in USL – win that league's championship during a pair of loan stints. He then went on to win MLS Cup with Sporting, making him the only player in MLS to win two domestic titles in the same country in the same year.
College and pro scouts can find plenty of young players in similar situations if they just look for them, said Dwyer, who set Sporting's single-season scoring records of 22 MLS goals and 24 across all competitions in 2014.
“It is difficult for players to make a name for themselves in England,” Dwyer said. “If the United States and Canada put more efforts into scouting over there, I think they can find a lot of talented players."
