BEAVERTON, Ore. – Darlington Nagbe didn’t have to wait long after becoming eligible to see his US national team dreams realized.
The dynamic midfielder, who was born in Liberia and received his first USMNT call-up Friday on the heels obtaining his US citizenship in September, was all smiles while talking to media after the Portland Timbers’ sun-drenched training session at the team facility.
“Excited, you know,” the soft-spoken Nagbe said. “Not many players get the opportunity. There are a lot of great players in this league and other leagues.… I’m happy because you’re getting recognized for performing well with your club team and helping your team win, so definitely exciting and satisfying as well.”
It’s a significant milestone for the 25-year-old, who is currently playing some of the best soccer of his five-year professional career, recording three goals and an assist in the Timbers’ final two regular season matches to lead them to the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed in the 2015 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs.
In five seasons with the Timbers, Nagbe has 23 goals and 20 assists, with his best season coming in 2013 when he recorded a career-high nine goals along with four helpers. He had five goals and five assists this regular season and will lead Portland into Leg 2 of their Western Conference Semifinal series against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday (10 pm ET; FS1 in US, TSN1 in Canada).
“If he could get his citizenship sorted, we felt he was good enough to get the opportunity,” said Timbers head coach Caleb Porter, who has known Nagbe since he was a teenager and coached him at the University of Akron. “And it’s all played out like we’d hoped.”
The national team camp leading up to qualifiers against St. Vincent & The Grenadines next Friday and at Trinidad & Tobago on Nov. 17 will be the first for Nagbe, who was born in Monrovia, Liberia but raised in Ohio, where he was discovered by Porter, who was coaching at Akron. Nagbe told MLSsoccer.com earlier this season that he preferred to accept a call-up from the US rather than his native country, which his father, Joe Nagbe, represented during a nearly 20-year international career.
Nagbe had previously said that receiving his citizenship was all part of his mother’s dream of a better life for her children when they emigrated from his war-torn home country.
“Just the whole situation, getting my citizenship, and this is just the icing on the cake being able to represent the country in important games for qualifying games,” Nagbe said.
Nagbe has been on the wish list of many USMNT followers for years, many of whom salivate over his unparalleled mixture of athleticism and on-the-ball skills.
Joining the team for World Cup Qualifiers, rather than the team’s January camp, which has traditionally been used to identify players who haven’t been part of the program in the past, is perhaps a look into just how important Klinsmann thinks Nagbe can be to the team.
And Porter said it’s an opportunity for Nagbe to grow his game even further.
“I think anytime you get thrown into a new ocean, with new fish, you’ve got to raise your level,” Porter said. “And I think with new players and new a new challenge, new competition, I think it will raise his level and hopefully bring even more out of him. He hasn’t been thrown into a new ocean in awhile.… Every step he makes he seems to rise to it and raise his level, so I’m real excited to see him take this next step and go to the next level to see what more is in the tank of Darlington Nagbe.”
Dan Itel covers the Timbers for MLSsoccer.com.
