Soccer is a small world. You see it time and again as players who featured at the youth level (for club or country) find themselves playing together later on in their careers.
One such example is the Sporting KC duo of Mikey Lopez and Amadou Dia. Sporting KC drafted Lopez in the first round of the 2013 MLS SuperDraft (No. 14) and Dia in the first round of the 2015 MLS SuperDraft (No. 20). But Kansas City was not the first time the players featured on the same team.
The first U.S. youth training camp that featured both Dia and Lopez came in December 2009. At the time, Dia was playing for Real Colorado, while Lopez patrolled the midfield for Lonestar SC. Another familiar name in that camp to Sporting KC fans is Jon Kempin, the homegrown goalkeeper who earned his first call-up to the USMNT for last month's January camp.
Both Lopez and Dia impressed head coach Mike Matkovich enough to earn spots on the roster for U.S. U-18 roster for the 2010 Lisbon International Tournament. Lopez played 45 minutes in a 1-0 loss to Norway - coming off at halftime for current D.C. United midfielder Perry Kitchen - while Dia came off the bench for the final 19 minutes. In the second match of the tournament, Lopez came on for Dia at halftime as the United States defeated Romania 1-0.
Lopez and Dia also featured together in a U.S. U-18 MNT camp in November 2010 and again in the USSDA Select match the following month. Lopez played 90 minutes, Dia played 45 minutes and both were victorious as Vilyan Bijev's hat trick led the Red team to a 3-0 victory over Kempin's Blue team.
Fast forward to the college years, where both Lopez (UNC) and Dia (Clemson) featured for teams in the vaunted Atlantic Coast Conference. Their lone match-up came in 2012, when Lopez scored in the second half to lead the Tar Heels to a 2-0 win over the Tigers. Lopez signed a Generation adidas contract following that collegiate season, while Dia completed a four-year career at Clemson.
That brings us to 2015, where Dia and Lopez are once again wearing the same uniform. They aren't the first players to be intertwined by the U.S. Soccer system, nor will they be the last, but the links in their careers are undeniable. With that in mind, today's #TBT throws it back to 2010, when the two players represented their country on the international stage for the U.S. U-18 MNT at the Lisbon International Tournament.
