Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
McKenzie ready for challenge of a busy 2020
CHESTER » High preseason hopes didn’t pan out for Mark McKenzie in 2019.
Though he’d spent much of the preseason with the U.S. national team, it didn’t lead to his first cap. Instead, it paved the way for a succession of small injuries, then a bout of appendicitis, then the disappointment of not being as involved with the Under-20 U.S. World Cup squad as the team’s captain anticipated he would be. He didn’t make his first MLS start until Aug. 24.
There wasn’t much the Homegrown center back could’ve done to avoid many of the freak pitfalls he ran into last year. But there are lessons he took from balancing international competition and his time with the Union that are applicable to another busy season.
“You just take it one game at a time, one training at a time and not look too far ahead,” McKenzie said. “When that door opens and the opportunity comes, I’ll be ready for it. I’m controlling what I can control, and that’s my play on the field.”
Much like last year, McKenzie enters preseason figuring to get a lot of time in the Union’s back four. There’s also a major tournament looming, with McKenzie (and teammates Matt Freese and Brenden Aaronson) among the crucial members of the U.S.’s effort to qualify in March for the 2020 Olympics. McKenzie could miss significant time for that competition, and he’s also now in the senior team picture after earning his first cap Feb. 1 in a friendly with Costa Rica.
That’s a lot to manage. But he’s returning to a Union team coming off its best season with lofty aspirations.
“There’s a lot to look forward to in 2020,” McKenzie said. “I have high hopes that it’ll be a really good year, as an individual and as a collective here in Philly and with the national team as well. Just trying to build on what we did last year with Philadelphia, going to the playoffs and now trying to bring a trophy back. We have a lot of tournaments this year, so a lot of opportunity for not only myself but other guys on the team to make a name for themselves here.”
McKenzie is going to be the guy defensively. The Union effectively signaled that in December in trading away fellow Homegrown center back Auston Trusty to Colorado, a clear indication that the club rated McKenzie’s upside higher. He’s a year younger than Trusty, and while he doesn’t play at a position where success and failure are easily separated from the team aspect, there will be a big responsibility on his shoulders.
The Union added help via Norwegian Jakob Glesnes, and Jack Elliott is the third member of the center-back rotation, with Aurelien Collin as a veteran spotstarting option. It’s likely, given that Glesnes missed more than a week of preseason while finalizing his visa paperwork, that McKenzie and Elliott will start in Saturday’s trip to FC Dallas (6 p.m., PHL17) to open the season.
“I think it’s a lot of competition,” McKenzie said. “At the end of the day, that’s what breeds success. So I think everybody, from myself to Jakob to Jack to Collin, there’s going to be opportunities through the year, there’s going to be ups and downs for everyone. When your name is called, you’ve got to be ready.
“I think the competition is going to push us to keep us in check. At the end of the day nobody gets complacent, because someone is trying to take your spot.”
Manager Jim Curtin has seen a high level of fitness from both
McKenzie and Aaronson, a product of being with the national team. He’s also hoping it translates into a renewed hunger, a taste of the national scene that drives McKenzie and others to want more.
McKenzie is trying to keep an even keel. He’s not oblivious to the fact that a strong season, including the Olympics, could land him on the radar of European clubs and the senior national team, two years out from a World Cup. But he’s keeping his focus much narrower.
“I don’t think it changes the approach,” he said. “I went to camp the same way I go into preseason. At the end of the day, you’ve got to fight for a spot. There’s going to be challenges throughout the month, whether it be in camp or in preseason. I think those ups and downs, even though it is a month, it helps you and it prepares you for what’s to come.
“It’s a little taste of the season, and I’m always hungry for more. As soon as you become complacent is when you lose your spot.”