Tell us about your performance in League Series One and League Series Two? Results and all.
“In League Series One, I qualified for the broadcast portion—the quarterfinals—by finishing in the top eight; I was third place. My first match-up was against the Houston Dynamo, and I won that one. The next game—the semifinals—I lost against Atlanta United. In Series One, the main job was to be amongst the top 11 for the Final Cup, which is the eMLS Cup. Then, in League Series Two, I had an amazing first day, sitting first on the table. The next day, I didn't play as well, so I dropped off, and I missed off the broadcast portion on goal difference to whoever finished eighth, which was a bit of a tough pill to swallow because I thought that finishing first on day one, I had guaranteed my spot already, but that wasn't the case. We missed out on that, but overall, we finished top three, so we get a ‘bye,’ which means we don't have to play the first round and go directly to the quarterfinals for the Final Cup.”
“I've made it to the final already, I've been to the semifinals, and I've been to the quarterfinals. I'd like to go that step further and be the champion. I can only hope for that, and I'll work for it. I’ll do everything I can to bring the crown to DC.”
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced during these competitions?
“The biggest challenges that I’ve faced might be the fact that it's online; it's from home. If I'm living here in DC and somebody else lives in Los Angeles, there's a big gap, and the connection isn't the best, so connectivity has been the biggest issue for the last few years. Obviously, we don't have a choice, because it's the situation with COVID and everything. Anything else was just trusting myself in general. Sometimes, you need to believe in your own abilities, and some people lack that belief. As I said, if you don't believe in yourself, you can't do anything. That's what I needed to work on personally, and I think that I've done well working on it in the past few years.”
How do you turn things around after a tough result? Is there something you do to get yourself back into the game?
“When I play, I have a coach with me, so when I lose, I do get a bit heated. I'm angry because we just lost, so I keep the conversation flowing with my coach. He talks about something other than FIFA to get my mind off the game which has helped me manage game by game. Going from cloud nine and back down, because first place is what everyone wants, and the drop in performance affects us, so just keeping the conversation flowing, going on a walk for a few minutes, and then coming back for the next round. That is something I did that helped me shift my mind towards something else when facing a tough result.”
How do you prepare for a tournament like the eMLS Cup that’s coming up on March 13?
“I'm going to be working on it with my coach. We're going to have a set routine to work on certain stuff; things to give us a bit of an advantage when going into that last cup. Of course, I'd like to win it, that's the main goal, the aspiration of every player there. To be able to win it, you'll have to put in the work, and hopefully, by putting in the work, I'll be getting the fruits of that work. I just hope that after everything, the four-month preparation, focus on this and school, we're going to do good.”
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