It was a moment Miguel Ibarra will never forget.
“I was so nervous, it was like a dream,” Ibarra said of his first training session with the US men’s national team. “I didn’t know what to expect but the guys made me feel so comfortable. They didn’t make me feel like I was coming from a lower division team.”
His initial tension was understandable. Ibarra was making history as the first second-division player to be called up to the national team in almost a decade, the first since Clyde Simms of the Richmond Kickers made the leap back in 2005.
A talented and tricky midfielder that can slalom through opponents, his talents were honed through hours of street soccer. “From when I was 4 years old I was always out there.” he said. “I would play after school every day on these dusty fields. I would even play during school at recess. Lancaster [in California] was a great place to grow up.”
Now established in the USMNT pool, his rise has seemed meteoric. In reality it has been years in the making. A college player at UC Irvine in California, interest in him as a teenager was high. “A lot of colleges wanted me but they said I was too small to play Division I soccer,” Ibarra recalled.
He faced the same claims when it came to being drafted into Major League Soccer in 2012. One man who disagreed with those detractors was his coach at UCI, George Kuntz.
“In high school he was playing on a PDL team as a sophomore,” Kuntz revealed. “He played against my college team and scored. I was just a caretaker, he arrived [at UCI] with that talent and potential.”
While MLS coaches doubted his ability to step up, Kuntz was determined to get Ibarra drafted, “I started reaching out to a lot of MLS teams,” he said. “I kept telling them he was a difference maker. I was texting coaches on the floor of the MLS draft saying: you have to take this kid.”
He still has those text messages on his phone, a reminder of the dozen or so coaches that ignored his pleas.
More than just a stellar technician, Ibarra also possesses frightening stamina, another natural gift. “In the off-season we would do sixteen 130-yard dashes,” Kuntz explained. “You would have to get back to the starting point in 30 seconds, one minute rest, then you do the next one. After about six-some guys are throwing up, others are bent over and Miguel’s just stood there, like a deer, ready to go for the next one.”
Eventually selected by the Portland Timbers, he was let go on the last day of camp. “They said if they had two spots left they would have kept me but they had to choose between me and another player,” Ibarra explained.
For the first time in his career the 25-year-old doubted himself. “I said maybe I should start my career, finish up school and get my Masters,” he said.
It was at that point he was offered a chance in the North American Soccer League with Minnesota United, convinced by former UCI teammate Amani Walker to join him in the Twin Cities.
Meanwhile Kuntz was still preaching on Ibarra’s potential. Friends with Jurgen Klinsmann after the two met in California, he mentioned Ibarra’s name as someone Klinsmann should consider. “He promised me he would get (U-20 head coach) Tab Ramos to take a closer look,” Kuntz said.
The timing was perfect. Klinsmann had only recently held a conference call with the coaches of NASL in a bid to find fresh talent in the second tier of US soccer. Ibarra’s teammate Christian Ramirez was mentioned, but it was the diminutive midfielder they took a keener interest in.
Despite stellar reviews in NASL, Ibarra was forced to be patient for his international debut much like with his start in professional soccer. It was around this time he began hearing of other interest. “I started hearing little rumours Mexico wanted to call me in as well,” Ibarra said.
A dual national with Mexico, he has been keen to reaffirm his commitment to the land of his birth. “Right now I’m 100% with the US,” he said. “I’m dedicated to them. If Mexico was to call me up that’s something I would talk to Jurgen about and go from there.”
Thus he will dress for the US against Mexico on Wednesday, an occasion he is eagerly anticipating. “It’s a big rivalry and it means a lot to me getting called up again for a big game against Mexico,” he said.
As for his relationship with Klinsmann, Ibarra is unequivocally positive. “I love him as a coach,” he enthused. “His personality always gives me confidence and he always has positive stuff to say to me and tells me what I need to improve. His communication is amazing and we get along really well.”
Yet to truly define his position for the national team, opinions are plentiful on where best to deploy him. “I like to play out wide, on the left side and cut in. I’ll play wherever they need me, but for me I like to play out wide,” he said.
Now eager to continue earning minutes with the USMNT, Ibarra also has his intentions for 2015 well mapped out: “My next goal is to keep getting called up and keep being consistent,” he said. “Then trying to get into that starting eleven and hopefully win the Gold Cup.”
His last objective could potentially have been achieved as part of Mexico’s national team, but for a degree of serendipity. A humble and talented player, it falls to his college coach and friend to best encapsulate why Ibarra would be an asset to the Gold Cup roster.
“There’s a saying, you need a lot more piano carriers than piano players,” Kuntz said. “Miguel is a piano player but he also does some of the carrying too.”
