Want to hear from some of the notable names around the league? MLSsoccer.com contributor Sam Stejskal spent 10 minutes talking to New England Revolution midfielder Lee Nguyen in the latest installment.
Nguyen, 28, was a National Player of the Year growing up in Texas and debuted for the US national team in 2007 at age 20. After starting his club career in the Netherlands and Denmark, Nguyen moved to his parents' homeland of Vietnam and became a matinee idol over the course of three seasons.
Returning to MLS in 2012, Nguyen was cut by the Vancouver Whitecaps but has thrived since being picked up by the New England Revolution. Last year, he scored 20 goals and notched eight assists in the regular season and playoffs combined to lead New England to the MLS Cup final, was a finalist for the MLS MVP award and earned his first US national team call-up in seven years.
Nguyen discussed the Revolution's goals for 2015, his love of coaching and his experience in returning to the US national team.
Stejskal: Last year was obviously a huge, huge season for you. How do you top it this year?
Nguyen: I think the only way to top it is to win MLS Cup. We all had a good year collectively, and I guess I did personally, too, but the goal is to try and replicate what we did last season again this year. You always want to do better. We want to get back to the playoffs and hopefully win the Eastern Conference and make it to the finals and try to get that Cup.
Stejskal: Along with your big MLS breakthrough, after seven years you finally made it back to the national team. You got the first call in November and then again for the January camp and friendlies. What does it mean to you to be back in the USMNT picture? Does it validate your decision to come back to the States from Vietnam?
Nguyen: It’s definitely rewarding to be able to get that call, get that nod from Jurgen [Klinsmann]. It’s an honor. I’m definitely very grateful to have been given that chance; I owe a lot to him. That’s why when you get that chance, you know how hard it is to get back there. I don’t take it for granted. I’m kind of cherishing it more this time around. You want to make the most of it, and you want to do as much as you can to earn that respect, that honor and that call-up. My thing is: I don’t want to make it just a one-time thing. I want to become a regular on the team and try to put myself in that starting lineup.
Stejskal: January camp is something you did before under Bob Bradley, but there’s a different manager now, and you’re a different player. What was it like for you this time around?
Nguyen: It’s a different type of camp under Jurgen, obviously. I enjoyed it, being around the guys again, seeing the way they do things day in and day out; it’s more like a club aspect. You go in, you do your work and you go home. You’re treated like adults, like professionals. That was cool. You got to see how camp works day in and day out, not just go there for a couple days. We were there for an entire month, so you got that atmosphere, like a club atmosphere, but at the same time you were repping your nation. I just thought that was very cool. Then to play with all the great guys in MLS, it was great. All the domestic guys there were guys you recognize, so that was cool playing with those guys.
Stejskal: One of the only downsides – maybe the only downside – of playing in the MLS Cup and then going to the January camp is that you didn’t have any sort of offseason to speak of. What was it like not having any time off?
Nguyen: It was different; definitely not used to that. But I don’t mind. If that’s the price to pay for making it to the final and going to camp, I’m cool with that. For me, I love having a little bit of a vacation, but after two weeks, three weeks, you start getting that itch again, so I think it was enough time.
Stejskal: After such a long, demanding year, how do you feel physically? Are you watching how much, and how hard, you train?
Nguyen: I feel physically fine. I think you get in this sport and you’ve got to learn how to take care of your body. That’s what the trainers are here for, and you’ve got to maximize your time with them. Nowadays you don’t just go get a massage and then you’re done. You have the top trainers, you have the top equipment, so I don’t think there’s much excuse to not take care of your body now. I think they manage it very well from a training perspective. With the national team, with the club team, you’ve got your fitness coaches, you’ve got your nutritionists, you’ve got your trainers, so I think everybody tries to manage the players very well.
Stejskal: There’s a lot on the radar for you this year, both with club and country. The Revs are looking to build on an excellent 2014, and the national team has the CONCACAF Gold Cup coming this summer. As you look at the next eight, nine, 10 months, what are your goals? What should we expect from Lee Nguyen?
Nguyen: Obviously you’ve got to take it game by game. I think my goal’s always been the same: Do good for your club, and if you do well here, you’ll get recognized and you’ll get called up. When you do get called up, you’ve got to represent. Obviously it’s a goal to be on the national team and make that Gold Cup roster, that’s obvious, but you’ve got to earn it. If I let my play do the talking, then I’ll earn my right to be there.
Stejskal: With you and the Revs having so much success last year, do you feel like you’re entering this year with a bit of a target on your back, both personally and as a team? Is the tone in camp different than it was a year ago?
Nguyen: I think expectations are the same, really. It hasn’t really wavered since last year, but now you see there’s more of a belief in the team. We set our goals, we set our standards, and we were able to meet most of them; we were really only short by one. Now it’s the same thing: We’re setting the same goals, but we know we can’t look too far ahead. That’s what got us here last year. We took it game by game, and even when we got in a hole, we didn’t look too far ahead. We knew we just needed to grind out a point or a win, something, and that’s how it all started again in the second half of the season.
Stejskal: You and Charlie Davies became part-time coaches with the Boston College men’s soccer team last year. Are you guys still involved there? You were planning on working on your coaching licenses this winter; have you had any time?
Nguyen: They’re obviously not in season right now, but Charlie and I still do it. We enjoyed it. Any time we can do that and give our experiences and our knowledge to the kids is great. I love helping them out, and the fun thing for us is I love how they reciprocate it all. They want to learn from us and they take everything we say and they try to apply it onto the field. That’s the most rewarding thing. I was trying to get my license in December, but I was a bit too busy, you know? I’ll keep trying if I get time.
