A VIEW FROM AMERICA
Story by Editor 17 March 2004
An American soccer website does a piece on our reserve Kenny Cooper – very interesting
From Top Drawer Soccer:
If you can’t find soccer in Manchester, don’t go looking for curry in Rusholme. Finding a place to see a match is as simple as buying a ticket for Metrolink, the light rail connecting the home of Bury FC in the north to that of Altrincham FC in the south. Old Trafford, home of legendary club Manchester United, sits conveniently near an eponymous station just south of the city’s center and the rail line’s halfway mark.
Kenny Cooper, a 19-year-old American lately of Dallas by way of Tampa and Baltimore, is fixated on one day being driven through the matchday throngs at Old Trafford on the first team bus. For now, however, he’s got a way to go.
Cooper was recently spotted wearing the number 12 and shaking his legs for warmth to rousing cheers as he prepared to appear for United, perhaps the world’s most-famous sports team, against Liverpool on February 19.
But this was a reserve, not first-team, match; the teams met at Altricham’s ground, not Old Trafford; and the cheers marking Kenny’s entrance were mostly for departing star Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who played 62 minutes of rehabilitative action.
The fans who packed Moss Lane to standing-room capacity on a cold Thursday night got their money’s worth: Admission, at two pounds ( approximately $4), was less than one third what the stadium’s main tenant charges adults. The match was played at a brisk pace, and both teams had several “name” players -- stars like Wes Brown and David Bellion figured for the hosts, while Liverpool featured Danny Murphy and El-Hadji Diouf -- on display.
Cooper’s not drawing the fans - yet. Just 19 and in his first season at United, he’s still stunned when young fans approach him with autograph requests.
But given the expectations piled on anyone who wears United’s colors -- not to mention his success since joining the club -- perhaps he shouldn’t be surprised.
From Texas to Manchester
How did a Yank from Texas slip under the radar of many American soccer observers and then under the microscope and of the soccer machine known as Manchester United?
The story turns on a youth soccer tournament held annually in Dallas, but it helps to know a little Cooper family history as well.
Blackburn Rovers reserve goalkeeper Kenny Cooper Sr. could sense his English career stalling in the late 1960s. In 1970, at 22, he spurned opportunities in England and Australia to cross the Atlantic and play for the Dallas Tornado of the now-defunct North American Soccer League.
“It was just a great opportunity,” says Cooper Sr., who remembers fondly the excitement the recruitment of players like Pele and Johan Cruyff brought to the NASL. “There was always something fascinating about the States -- it was an opportunity I didn’t want to pass on at that time in my life.”
Manchester United fans will perhaps recognize something of Dutch star Ruud Van Nistelrooy in his play -- he is frequently asked to make a decoy run, then move into position for the next pass near the opposing goal. In the Liverpool match, unfortunately, that pass never comes.
He’ll get other opportunities: He not only scores against Wolves’ under-19s, but also their reserves in a match the following week -- bringing him to 10 goals in 21 total appearances ( with minutes totaling not much more than 13 full matches) through February.
When pressed to characterize his game, Cooper has recalled American striker Brian McBride, currently playing for Fulham in England’s Premier League. The comparison is apt. Cooper may lack McBride’s athletic grace, and he agrees with Ryan’s assessment that he must improve his aerial game, but the combination of power and skill McBride was still developing at 19 is clearly there. “I’ve always admired Brian,” says Cooper. “I think I play a lot like him. I like to have the ball at my feet. I like to run at people.”
This makes Manchester United the perfect place for Cooper. Under Ferguson, the team has sometimes come under fire because of a determination to pass balls out of danger rather than play it safe. “We are a passing team,” says Kenny. “Coach always stresses pass and move, pass and move.”
Some clubs interested in Kenny, his father says, were often too quick to see a tall player and tell him to run onto long balls for a quick strike -- using his size at the expense of his skills, which didn’t diminish during a four-inch growth spurt in his late teens. “Coaches sometimes mischaracterize him,” says Cooper Sr., “but Kenny is a soccer player. He always has liked the ball at his feet, and under pressure.”
Cooper Jr. agrees. “But goalscoring,” he concludes, “has always been my strength.” Goals, after all, are goals. His first in United colors came in his fourth match, against Newcastle United’s reserves: He tried a volley, but the ball hit his knee -- and then the back of the net. His second goal came later in the same match. “I was just so happy to get a goal,” remembers Kenny.
