Raitala rolls with career, life changes

German soccer preseasons tend to be brutal, and there’s one day in particular, a three-practice, 10-hour day, that sticks out in the mind of Crew SC defender Jukka Raitala.

Heading home from a summer 2011 training session with Hoffenheim, Raitala got a call from his agent asking if he would be interested

in playing in Spain for a season on loan to La Liga club Osasuna. Raitala, who knew playing time in Germany would be difficult to come by, said the opportunity sounded like a good one.

“(My agent) said, ‘Perfect, because I have tickets booked for you already for tomorrow morning,’” Raitala said.

Raitala called his thengirlfriend, Riikka, and told her to start packing. Twelve hours later, he was on a flight to join Osasuna for its preseason training camp. He never went back to Germany.

“I remember the night. It was like you pack some stuff and you don’t know what’s gonna happen,” the Finnish native said. “Of course I was very excited but also afraid because sometimes I like to have time to think about things.”

Raitala, 29, likes to tell that story because it illustrates how quickly things can happen in the business of soccer and how important it is to learn to be flexible.

Raitala was his usual calm self Thursday, even with his life set to drastically change in the near future.

The last week or so has been a waiting game for 12-10-6

Crew — GK Steffen; D Raitala, Mensah, Williams, Afful; MF Trapp, Artur, Meram, Higuain, Santos; F Kamara. Red Bulls — GK Robles; D Escobar, Long, Murillo; MF Adams, Felipe, Davis, Lawrence; F Kljestan, Wright-Phillips, Muyl.

The team has tied four straight games and is 0-2-4 in its past six games across all competitions. … New York is tied for second in MLS with 62 yellow cards and tied for first with 14.4 fouls Raitala and Riikka, now his wife of more than two years, as they prepare for the birth of their first child, a daughter.

When the Crew traveled to Vancouver last Saturday, Raitala stayed in Columbus with his wife, just in case. He plans to be available for a game Saturday game at Mapfre Stadium against the New York Red Bulls but goes in knowing his plans might committed per game. … Sacha Kljestan is tied for second in MLS with 14 assists.

Forward Ola Kamara is in the midst of his first four-game scoring streak since coming to MLS in 2016. … Crew SC seeks its first seven-game unbeaten streak since March 26 to May 7, 2011. … The Crew is 16-12-5 all time at home against New York.

New York will roll out many of the same players it used Wednesday in the U.S. Open Cup final at Sporting Kansas City. If the Crew can avoid mistakes against the Red Bulls’ press early and allow fatigue to set in on the visitors, it should be able to continue its unbeaten streak. suddenly change.

“A little bit we’re just making jokes, like, ‘Let’s hope it’s not two hours before,’ ” Raitala said. “It’s a little, not frustrating, that’s not the right word. You don’t know if it’s happening tonight or in three days or a week, but it’s nice. It’s new for both of us and it’s very exciting.”

The attitude Raitala has assumed as a soon-to-be father is the same one that allowed him to transition to Major League Soccer this season without too many issues, Crew coach Gregg Berhalter said.

“The thing I think about Jukka is he just does his job. He puts his head down and goes to work. Very steady player and I think you need that sometimes in the group,” Berhalter said. “He’s flexible. That’s the life. That’s the life of a player, especially an ambitious one. Ambitious ones want to keep moving, keep pushing.”

Raitala has grown comfortable moving between countries and adapting to new environments, but change and rumors of change were more difficult to deal with when he was a teenager in Finland.

As a 15-year-old, he had a chance to join Aston Villa’s academy in England but wasn’t ready, realizing after a week of training he was homesick.

Several European clubs, including AEK Athens, Ajax and Hoffenheim reportedly showed interest in Raitala during his first seasons with HJK Helsinki in Finland. Looking back, Raitala said, it was too much transfer talk for a teenager to handle.

“I just wanted to focus on my game and sometimes I got a phone call from some journalist in Greece asking me if (transfer rumors) are true and I’m like, ‘I don’t know anything, please call me later,’ ” Raitala said. “I was like 18 or 19 and I didn’t know how much of it was true.”

Raitala decided he was ready to leave Finland in summer 2009, joining Hoffenheim initially on loan and later on a full contract. He made stops in Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway before moving to Downtown Columbus with his wife before the Crew preseason.

The time difference from Europe has taken some getting used to for contacting family and friends in Europe, but otherwise, the transition has been smooth, Raitala said, in part because he has grown up.

“You realize you have to solve some problems and just survive, so it’s been nice,” Raitala said. “It’s a nice journey so far and I’ve been very happy about it.”

That journey is days, perhaps hours away from entering a new, exciting chapter. Expect Raitala to be ready at a moment’s notice.