The incredible rise of Adam Moffat from Elgin City to being Raul’s new team-mate Glaswegian reaching for the stars with New York Cosmos
IF you asked Adam Moffat eight years ago to predict where he would be in 2015, the Elgin City midfielder would have doubted whether he would still be a footballer — let alone be lining up alongside one of the world’s greatest strikers. After failing to make the grade at Ross County and turning out for the Moray parttimers in 2007, the 20-year-old Glaswegian was prepared to extinguish his fading dreams of a life in professional football.
Signing off at Elgin with two goals to beat East Stirling, Moffat was handed a second chance when, out of the blue, an old coach called with an invitation to play in the USA. To say he hasn’t looked back would be a gross understatement.
Now in the eighth year of an American adventure, which has already seen him play against David Beckham and twice reach the MLS Final, Moffat will count Real Madrid legend Raul amongst his team-mates this season.
Last October, the 37-year-old former Galactico followed in the footsteps of Pele and Franz Beckenbauer by signing for the New York Cosmos.
With Frank Lampard’s will-he, won’t-he wrangle over his transatlantic transfer to New York City FC dominating the New Year’s headlines, few on these shores will have been aware of Moffat’s own move to the Big Apple earlier this month.
Now preparing to move to New York after completing his switch to the Cosmos from FC Dallas, Moffat is claiming his reward for years of hard graft.
After all, he came very close to giving up the game altogether.
‘It has been a good journey, seven years later to be playing at the level I am and with some of the players I’ve played with and against,’ he said.
‘It’s remarkable but it’s not just an overnight thing. I’ve had seven years. There are ups and downs in there but, if you go from the Scottish Third Division to being team-mates with Raul, it’s pretty incredible.
‘I played for the Scotland schoolboys and Under-19s. Then at Ross County I was one of the good young players they had coming through. Breaking into the first team never happened. A new manager came in and it never really worked out for me.
‘I was headed in the direction of maybe thinking I’m going to be done with this. I ended up signing for Elgin and I was just playing part-time. I was thinking of going to college or university.
‘As soon as that season had finished, I got a call from an old coach of mine — Richard Huxford, the assistant manager at Elgin four months prior. He said he had a friend in the US at a team in Cleveland, Ohio.
‘It was a random connection and I thought: “I don’t have anything here for me right now. I’ll go over there for maybe three or four months”.
‘I’d use it to get fit and come back and find another team. If I didn’t have that desire to keep playing, I’d move on and do something else.’
It is a desire that has seen him go from strength to strength in the States.
His first season with third-tier Cleveland City Stars saw him named in the division’s team of the year — earning a move to the MLS with Columbus Crew.
Stints at Portland Timbers and Houston Dynamo — where he lost two MLS Finals to Beckham’s LA Galaxy — followed, before he joined Dallas last year.
‘I’ve played alongside some good players,’ said Moffat. ‘There are a lot of boys from Central and South America that a lot of people in Europe don’t know about.
‘I think one of the best at Columbus was Guillermo Barros Schelotto. He was a legend for Boca Juniors in Argentina. He never went to Europe but could have. He was class.
‘Then you’ve got American boys who are good. I played with Clint Dempsey at Seattle last year. He’s got great quality and had a good World Cup.
‘In Scotland, you’re playing against Scottish boys every week, some English, some Irish and maybe a couple from Europe. But here, you’re playing against players from all different continents.
‘The team I’m going to now, we’re from all over the world. It’s cool when that all comes together and works.’
He will be playing in the NASL — America’s second tier — when the Cosmos’ season begins in April, but Moffat is relishing the chance to play for an iconic club.
The Cosmos blazed a trail for Stateside soccer, with the likes of Pele, Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto firing them to five league titles between 1972 and 1982.
Having folded in 1985, the club was reborn in 2010 with Pele as honorary president and rejoined the NASL in 2013. In keeping with their history of attracting global stars, the new side confirmed Spain’s Euro 2008winning midfielder Marcos Senna as their first big capture.
‘They have a worldwide brand,’ said Moffat. ‘Just about everyone in the football world has heard of the Cosmos. There’s the constant association with Pele.
‘There’s that appeal they have. It’s something I want to be a part of.’
If he shines with the Cosmos, Moffat is still holding out hope for a call up to Gordon Strachan’s Scotland side. ‘I haven’t written that off,’ the 28-year-old confirmed.
‘It’s been a little bit stop-start the past year and a half. I’m hoping for a bit of momentum back this year.
‘When I was at Houston, we had the two MLS Finals in a row. I thought that was a good time for it [Scotland]. It didn’t happen but I’ll keep myself ready and try to play the best I can and, if it comes up, great.
‘It’s been an ambition of mine since I was a young boy.’
What is certain, though, is that Moffat knows exactly what he will say to Raul when the pair meet for the first time early next month.
‘I used to watch Raul,’ he said. ‘I’m a big Manchester United fan and he broke my heart a couple of times. So I’ll definitely bring that up with him!’