2014 was a banner year for Lee’s Summit, Missouri native Erik Palmer-Brown. The Sporting KC homegrown defender began the year in a training camp for the U.S. U-18 men’s national team and quickly became a mainstay for head coach Tab Ramos and the U.S. U-20 men’s national team.
The 17-year-old defender then became the youngest player to appear in an MLS match in club history when he made his professional debut on May 18 against the Chicago Fire. But despite 2014 being the most successful year of Palmer-Brown’s young professional career, it also ended unceremoniously, with a stress fracture that sidelined him for the final three months of the year.
“It started as a stress reaction, but it didn’t hurt so I continued to play,” Palmer-Brown told SportingKC.com. “I kept going until one practice in late September where it started to hurt really bad. The trainers sent me to get an X-ray and they found a stress fracture in the fifth metatarsal of my right foot.”
The doctors initially told Palmer-Brown that he would miss up to 10 weeks, which would take him up to the start of 2015. But with the coming year an important one on the national team front – the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup kicks off May 30 in New Zealand – Palmer-Brown saw extra motivation to work hard in his rehab.
“That was my biggest pushing point,” Palmer-Brown said. “I kept asking our trainers if I could make it back for qualifiers [in January]. They were optimistic, but in the end, both the national team and Sporting KC agreed it wasn’t worth pushing it.”
The U-20 MNT will begin their qualifying campaign next month in Jamaica. Ramos named the Sporting Kansas City defender to his 35-player provisional roster for the 2015 CONCACAF U-20 Championship, but chose not to call Palmer-Brown in for the pre-tournament training camp this week in Sunrise, Florida. The final 20-player roster for the tournament will be named on Friday, Jan. 2.
“I spoke with Tab and he just told me to be ready,” Palmer-Brown said. “This U-20 cycle is packed with professionals who are playing domestically and overseas including some who could not get released for this tournament. I think we have a good group going into qualifiers and I have high hopes that we’ll qualify for the U-20 World Cup.”
Ramos has never been shy to heap praise on the 17-year-old defender despite Palmer-Brown being the youngest player on his provisional roster. In an April interview with AmericanSoccerNow.com’s Brian Sciaretta, Ramos was quick to point out the way Palmer-Brown adapted to the U-20 level after starting the year with the U-18s.
“I brought him in as a backup right back for the last camp just to try him a little bit and give him an opportunity as a younger player,” Ramos said. “I ended up playing him at center back, where he was excellent. Then actually gave him an opportunity to play center mid because I thought he was so good and I just really wanted to test him. He really impressed me and is definitely somebody we want to keep around because I think we certainly are barely scratching the surface with Erik Palmer-Brown.”
After three months of waiting and rehabbing, Palmer-Brown is ready to get back to work. The defender has been cleared to train, but has not faced any physical contact on the soccer field since suffering his injury. His hope is that he won’t have to wait much longer.
“Tab told me he would call me in again after the qualifiers and to have the right mindset for when they need me,” he said. “I’m ready to do whatever I have to get back to playing soccer again. I’m working hard to keep my fitness up so I can be ready when the call comes.”
