He took his chances when they came, no matter how long he had to wait or how weird the conditions.
Vazquez’s first game, in the Round of 32 against the second-division Battery in Charleston, was a waterlogged disaster. “There were holes everywhere and the ref said it wasn’t safe to play,” remembered Vazquez. “So we bussed back home that night.”
It was a six-hour drive and the team got back into Atlanta around 3 a.m. The game was replayed the next day, behind closed doors. None of it rattled Vazquez – not the wait, the long drive, the change of venue or the peak Open Cup-ness of the whole scene.
Early Signs of a High Ceiling
He came off the bench, kept his cool, and scored two late goals in a come-from-behind win to book Atlanta a place in the Round of 16 against the Columbus Crew. Another game full of challenges, and all the water you could handle, it was halted for over an hour after halftime due to massive downpours.
“I never saw rain like that in my life,” said Vazquez, who scored two more in a 3-2 win over the Crew. “You have to adapt and once you get on the pitch you have to be focused and have the mentality to win. You have to push through it.”
Club superstar Martinez returned in the latter rounds of that Cup – for wins over Cinderella side Saint Louis FC and Orlando City, and at home against Minnesota United in front of a record crowd for an Open Cup Final.
Vazquez, still barely out of his teens, then returned to his role of back-up, poised at the margins and waiting for a transformative moment. His play, as a bonafide MLS star under former USMNT striker Pat Noonan in Cincinnati in 2022, was that moment.
And moments, as they do, beget more, and bigger, moments.
“This is a fresh start,” said the in-camp Vazquez, with an opportunity to make the USA’s No9 position his own. “There’s a lot of energy and excitement to be here. All I’m focused on is doing my best for the team and helping them win. I want to score as many goals as possible."
“If I step onto the field and do my job there,” he said, “the rest will come.”
Fontela is editor-in-chief of usopencup.com. Follow him at @jonahfontela on Twitter.
