The Sporting Kansas City Academy U18's celebrated a 1-0 victory over New York Red Bulls U18’s Wednesday at the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Playoffs in Westfield, Indiana. Ranked third out of 79 development academy teams, New York entered the tournament with a staggering 20-4-3 record and a prolific attack that scored 100 regular-season goals.
Sporting KC still faces an uphill battle at the academy playoffs, needing to win by five or more goals in their final group stage match and get some help from the Red Bulls, but the team has reason to celebrate: Just six months ago, reaching the playoffs — let alone winning a game there — seemed like a pipedream.
“We lost 7-0 to the Houston Dynamo in January, which was a great impact,” said Sporting KC U18 head coach Istvan Urbanyi with a laugh.
“We actually had a good season in the fall, but then we just lost something. It happens after a three- or four-week break and a lot of other excuses. We lost the game — it wasn’t a 7-0 game — but it was good because we went through a lot of things. We changed our mindset, and game by game we came back and had a pretty good season.”
Daniel Salloi, the team’s leading scorer with 18 goals on the season, vividly remembers the locker room after that defeat and how it marked the turning point in the U18’s season.
“We had a huge talk with our coaches. They were really mad and they tried to change everything to see what they could do,” Salloi said.
“I feel like it helped us that we lost, because we wanted to prove that we were better than that. I think everyone changed their mentality, and we decided to have the best season we could. We didn’t think we could go to the playoffs, honestly, but we started winning games and saw we had a pretty good wild card position and we said, ‘All right, let’s go. Let’s do it.’”
The team stepped up the challenge and went 11-1-4 to cap off the regular season, finishing fifth in the U18 Central Conference Frontier Division while capturing the fourth wild card spot. They are the first Sporting KC U18 Academy team to reach the playoffs, which both Urbanyi and Salloi are incredibly proud of after such a disastrous beginning to the calendar year.
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There is much more to coaching academy teams than just wins and losses, how many goals were scored and which defender kept the attacker onside. Most important is the system to develop players, of course, but there is also the reality of dealing with family pressure, schoolwork and even girlfriends.
Urbanyi has pushed his Sporting KC teams at the U16 and U18 level to earn results on the field, but he’s also seen the importance of coaching kids in life, helping them with off-the-field issues and personal growth as players.
“This is about developing players,” Urbanyi said. “Focusing on the result is just one part of the story. They have to deal with their own story every time as individuals, because at the end of the day they have to find their own way to college or the pro level, so they’re not going to be taken as a team. However, as long as they’re here, we have to play as a team. Everyone has to learn to play as a team.”
Urbanyi joined Sporting KC in 2014 after a 30-year career as a player and coach in Hungary. It was there he met Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes, who helped open the door to a coaching position with the club.
In Kansas City, Urbanyi has learned to adapt to the American model of collegiate athletics and how it impacts soccer prospects. Overseas, players are often signed to professional contracts before they finish primary schooling, sometimes as young as 14 or 15 years old. In the U.S., college soccer has long been viewed as the primary avenue to professional soccer.
But when it comes to coaching kids, Urbanyi remains consistent with his style.
“I told them right from the beginning that I will coach them as professionals. Whatever I do, whatever I say, whatever I ask is based on the needs as being a good professional player, or at least being ready for that. And there’s no guarantee either, because it’s more and more difficult with more players coming through the system.”
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Sporting KC fans are well aware of the Hungarian connection in Peter Vermes and Krisztian Nemeth. They may not be as familiar with Urbanyi and the goal-scoring machine in Salloi.
A Hungarian AFS exchange student living with assistant coach Jon Parry and teammate Dominick Parry, Salloi has helped boost the Sporting KC U18s to success this season with a team-high 18 goals in 27 starts.
“As he comes from a different culture, I’d say he represents what we have in Hungary,” Urbanyi said. “He is not only a good soccer player, he also has the intelligence on the field. Peter Vermes is always preaching the major three goals or the philosophy of the club: Team always comes first, hard work and intelligence.
“Daniel definitely brought that intelligence to this team. That’s why it’s important to have some internationals. Hopefully we have more and more (in the future). Good players can teach others on the field. It’s a different type of education.”
Salloi joined the team last August after his father and Urbanyi discussed the AFS exchange program. He quickly put his stamp on the team, scoring a goal in his first game against the Colorado Rapids U18’s. That form started to dip midway through the season, which prompted a sit down with Urbanyi, who challenged Salloi to focus on improving his skill.
“When I came here, I was a skinny boy. Well, I’m still a skinny boy,” Salloi said. “But I’ve been working out with the staff, and they’ve tried to help me learn how to use my body. We have tough defenders here in America, so I’ve had to compete with them. It’s helped me a lot how to use my body to protect the ball. I was always skillful, but they could easily push me away. Now, I’ve learned how to use my body and become a better player.”
Salloi spent a significant amount of time on the training fields after practice, working on his shooting technique and hold-up play. It translated to an exceptional showing in the second half of the season, one that helped propel the U18’s into the playoffs.
“I feel like I’ve been part of a really good team who has helped me score all these goals,” Salloi said. “Istvan helped us a lot. He taught us so many things. Personally, I’ve never scored that many goals, but this year everything worked out. We are not done yet.”
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With just four players on the roster born in 1996, Sporting KC’s U18 team has showed youthful poise in the second half of the season and two games into the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Playoffs.
Friday, the team will attempt to stay alive and earn a quarterfinals berth. Regardless of the result, Urbanyi said he’s proud of this team’s roster and the road they’ve paved for next season.
“We are going forward step by step,” he said. “The most important thing is not only to educate these players, but bring different cultures and different style of players here to see what they can do.”
