Caps striker is making a career of putting substance before style
The captain of Whitecaps FC 2 didn’t go to college with grand soccer dreams. He came close to not playing college soccer at all.
“I was just going to go to nursing school. I wanted to be an anesthesiologist,” says Kyle Greig, a 26-yearold forward from Olathe, Kan., who’ll be part of the Whitecaps’ lineup for today’s CONCACAF Champions League game against Central FC at B.C. Place.
“I had offers (out of high school), but not really any big (NCAA) Division 1 schools, and that was discouraging at the time. I played on a club team where a lot of guys were going Division 1.”
But the coach of Benedictine College, a small NAIA school about an hour’s drive from Greig’s hometown, convinced him to come and pursue soccer alongside his studies. Greig says it was the best decision he could have made because he played every minute there and really developed.
And, as it turned out, it was just the first stop on one of those long and winding soccer journeys that seems to build character and appreciation, and moulds the kind of player coaches love to work with.
“He’s keen as mustard,” says Caps assistant coach Martyn Pert, who, if you couldn’t tell, is English. “Every time you have a meeting, he’s there eyes wide open, trying to get every single bite of information to make the most of his career.
“He’s just a great person to have around. He’s doesn’t grab you right away (with his play). He’s not explosive. He doesn’t have lightning one-(versus)-one skills. But gradually, you notice his finishing, his work ethic. He’s got a maturity in his play. You can find a career like that.”
Greig has found one. So far, it’s just in the sport’s lower levels.
While in college, he also played in the USL PDL for the now-defunct Kansas City Brass. He scored against Sporting Kansas City’s reserves one day, which earned him invites to MLS training sessions.
After a failed tryout with Minnesota United of the NASL, Greig stood out in an open tryout for the Wilmington Hammerheads of USL Pro, which earned him a longer look in pre-season. He signed his first professional contract with the North Carolina-based club in 2013, and then joined the USL’s Oklahoma City Energy for 2014-15.
Jimmy Nielsen, the former allstar Sporting K.C. goalkeeper and 2013 MLS Cup winner, is the coach there.
“The first year I played for him was the biggest learning year that I had,” Greig says. “As a goalkeeper, he helped teach me, as a striker, how to make a goalkeeper’s life more difficult.”
Nielsen also gave Greig the confidence he could play in MLS — and that’s something Greig is trying to prove to the Whitecaps’ coaching staff.
He led WFC2 with 11 goals in 27 games this season and helped them qualify for the playoffs, which open Friday in Colorado Springs.
“He’s a tremendous guy, a great captain and he gives everything to the game,” says Brett Levis, Greig’s WFC2 teammate who signed an MLS deal this summer. “He’s helped us exponentially, just bringing us together.”
Carl Robinson, the Caps’ coach, has given Greig some first-team minutes in the CONCACAF Champions League group games and in the friendly against Crystal Palace.
Greig will likely see more time off the bench against Central today as the Caps have already locked up top spot in their CCL group and qualified for February’s quarter-
finals. But there’s still seeding to play for.
“It’s been fun being part of a club where, at the USL level, there’s residency players coming in and MLS guys coming down who are young as well,” Greig says. “It seems kind of weird people calling me a veteran, but I am (the oldest guy on WFC2). I like to lead by example and I’ve also learned to lead vocally more this year.
“The coaches are giving me a chance in these CON CA CA F games and we’ll just see what happens in the off-season.”
He’s used to the wait-and-see game, of course, although the hints from Robinson are that Greig will have every opportunity to earn an MLS deal next pre-season.
Greig moved to Vancouver this season with his wife, Emilee — they were college sweethearts — and their black Labrador, Dax.
They drove here in 30 hours over three days, and they’d like to stay a while. They recently went camping in Squamish, near Shannon Falls, and there’s plenty left to discover on and off the field.
In MLS, Greig can look to forwards like Dom Dwyer and Chris Wondolowski and know some players just take a little longer to emerge. Dwyer, now one of the top scorers in MLS, was on loan with Orlando City in the USL when Greig was with Wilmington.
“A lot of the players here have been a pro since their young teens,” Greig says. “I wasn’t even going to play college soccer and then I got an opportunity and fell back in love with the game.”