Attacking Midfielder Enzo Martinez fits this description perfectly. The coach, who knows winners and losers deep down in his bones, heaps deserved praise on his team MVP from last season.
Martinez on a Tear
“No one will ever outwork him [Martinez],” Soehn said of the Uruguay-born veteran. “He’s a coach's dream. I tell the young guys to watch how hard he [Martinez] works and to try to do that. He brings it to everything he does.”
And the 32-year-old midfielder, who has five goals in four Open Cup games so far this year, often finds himself on the same wavelength as his boss. “He doesn’t let anything slide by,” said Martinez about Soehn. “He’s really concerned with the details.”
Neither coach nor player need to be reminded about the possibilities alive in the Open Cup.
Soehn was head coach of eventual champions D.C. United in 2008 when the second-division Charleston Battery stormed to the Final. And Martinez, who still has a jersey he swapped with Landon Donovan in a huge Cupset from his days with the Carolina RailHawks, was watching closely last year when the Legion’s league mates Sacramento Republic made history by finishing runners-up.
“I could always tell the teams that were successful [through my career] by how the locker room felt and how the guys supported each other,” said Soehn, who sees similarities between his current Legion side and the champion teams he’s been a part of. “This team has a lot of that. It’s a fun place to go to work every day and good things come from that.”
It’s clear that Soehn is enjoying the new view – and his role among the underdogs. “We’re looking to show what we can do,” said Soehn, who’s won more than most in the Open Cup. “Maybe Charlotte [FC] will look down at us and say ‘sh*t we have to play these guys?’”
“The underdog always has the hunger.”
Fontela is editor-in-chief of usopencup.com. Follow him at @jonahfontela on Twitter.
