Alecko
Photography by Peter Bonilla.
“I distinctly remember juggling a ball around with Carlos Alberto, Johan Neeskens, and Giorgio Chinaglia. I couldn’t wait until the games were over to go into the Cosmos locker room to kick a ball around with those guys. Those are some of the earliest memories I have as a kid.”
With a childhood like that, it comes as no surprise that Alecko Eskandarian, son of New York Cosmos legend Andranik Eskandarian, went on to pursue a career in soccer. While his dad excelled with the Cosmos, played at a World Cup, and faced off against mythical soccer figures like Maradona and Cruyff, Alecko would eventually have his turn to do the same in his own time.
From rising through the ranks of the U.S. development system in the ‘90s to becoming MLS Cup MVP in 2004 to scoring against Iker Casillas and the Real Madrid Galacticos, Alecko has had a career that most could only dream of.
And just like his dad, he has countless stories to tell.
As a kid, Alecko always knew he wanted to be a professional soccer player. While other children would fantasize about being astronauts, scientists, or firefighters, Alecko would spend his afternoons watching soccer with his father, playing 1v1 against his older brother, and rearranging the dinner table to talk about game tactics.
“Every day, my life was centered around learning about the game. Even to the point that my mom would get mad because whatever was on the dinner table -- whether it was a cup, a salt shaker, or a spoon -- everything turned into objects on a soccer field. My dad would rearrange everything and say, ‘if this guy moves here and this is the goal, then you have to move here and hit it like this.’ Things like that. It was every day, man. I learned everything from my dad, but he never pushed it. It was just something we both loved.”
For a time, that’s all soccer was for Alecko. Something he loved to do and something he hoped could one day turn into a profession. “Of course, I had aspirations to be a pro,” remembers Alecko, “but it just didn’t seem real to me. I was passionate about playing the game, and I played because I had fun. I never took myself too seriously as a player, so I just played because I loved to compete, and my progression came naturally.”
At the age of 14, things soon started to change for Alecko. Soccer had always been an outlet for him to express himself as a child, but once an opponent at a cup final urged him to try out for ODP (U.S. Youth Olympic Development Program), the path to the pros became slightly more clear.
“But I got cut. My friend who had invited me to try out made it all the way to the national team pool, and I got cut. I just froze up when it mattered most because I never felt like I fit in, and I didn’t believe I belonged.”
This setback is what kickstarted the lethal striker that the world would soon get to see.
“I went home, I looked myself in the mirror and made a promise to myself that I'd never allow myself to feel that feeling ever again. That feeling where I know I could've done more, and I didn't do it. I sold myself short. I sold my family short. It didn’t matter if I made it or not, but I knew I never wanted to feel like I didn’t give everything. From there, that was it.”
During that difficult moment in Alecko’s soccer development, his father would also offer a piece of wisdom that would help propel him to new heights.
“My dad told me, ‘yeah, you deserved to get cut. You didn't play with heart, you didn't show yourself. Soccer is a poor man's sport. You’re either hungry, and you eat, or you get left behind, and you starve.’”
Since that day, the hunger to score and to win has never left Alecko.
Later that year, Alecko entered Bergen Catholic High School in New Jersey, one of the most prestigious soccer schools in the state. At the time, first-year students were not allowed to play on the varsity team. Still, when an injury forced the coach to invite Alecko into a varsity training session as a freshman, he ended up scoring five goals in a single half and never played with the freshman team again.
By the end of his high school soccer career, Alecko had bagged 154 career goals, with 66 of them coming in 25 games during his senior season. That year, he was awarded the 1999-00 Gatorade National High School Athlete of the Year Award and was also named an NSCAA/Adidas All-American and New Jersey State Player of the Year.
Eventually, Alecko received an offer to play at the University of Virginia, where he would end up notching 50 goals in 60 appearances. By the end of his junior year of college, he was itching to make his jump to the pros.
“I went on trial in Denmark, and I was at a club called Aalborg. But even though it went really well, it just didn’t feel right for me to start my career abroad. I didn’t like that my family couldn’t see me play, and I wasn't sure if I would be ready for it mentally. I also received an offer to go on trial with Sporting Lisbon when Cristian Ronaldo was there. But by that point, I had already watched many of my friends get their start in MLS, and I knew I wanted to play here.”
Soon enough, Alecko got his chance to play in MLS when he opted to leave the University of Virginia early and was drafted as the number one overall pick by D.C. United.
Despite being drafted by one of the most dominant teams in the early years of MLS, his first season with the club was not exactly what he had envisioned.
“I was 20 years old, and my first few games, I've never been so pumped to play in games in my life. And then all of a sudden by game four, game five, game six, I'm like, ‘wow it's the same pregame speech over and over again, and we're losing.’”
On top of the poor results, Alecko was not getting the playing time he had hoped, and back in New Jersey, some of the media had already started calling him a bust.
“I heard about a couple of articles that were calling me the number one pick bust, and I think the number two pick was Ricardo Clark, who was doing really well for the MetroStars. I grew frustrated that my coach wouldn’t give me the playing time I felt I had earned. So it was weighing on me, and I know my parents were surely hearing some of the same stuff, which made me angry. And there were certain journalists that were always praising me when I was in high school or college, that all of a sudden started writing me off when I didn’t even have a chance to prove myself.”
“So I was like, ‘okay, I'll remember you. I'm taking mental notes.’”
Despite the struggles with the media during his rookie season, Alecko still holds dear memories from his first year with D.C. United. In particular, some of the legends he played with gave him anecdotes he’ll remember forever.
“Marco [Etcheverry] was our captain my rookie year. An absolute legend, and he had the locker right next to mine. He’s one of the coolest, funniest guys ever. When we started losing games, our coaches created a fine system that would double every time anyone broke a team rule.”
“So when the coaches started explaining how the fines would work, Marco raised his hand, stands in front of the whole team, and he's like, ‘I just want to say to the coaches that you're doing the right thing. It’s been bullshit how some of us are showing up late, and we're not doing things the right way. And I totally agree with this new fine system. But, this is my last season, so I'm going to be late every single day. But I have a check in my locker. I'm going to give you guys a blank check, and you can fill out whatever amount you think is fair for me to be fined at the end of the season.’ And the coaches just said, ‘That’s great leadership, Marco, that’s great.’ It was the craziest thing I’d ever seen.”
Besides playing with D.C. United legends like Etcheverry, Alecko also had a chance to share a locker room with none other than Hristo Stoichkov.
“He’s one of the biggest personalities ever -- larger than life. I mean, he scored almost a hundred goals at Barcelona! The reason I know is because he brought his highlight film from Barcelona, and he put it on the big screen in the locker room every day. He would randomly call guys over to watch and say, ‘you guys see this? None of you can do this.’”
Aside from the banter in the locker room, though, Stoichkov took Alecko under his wing and gave him the opportunity of a lifetime when Barcelona came to play a friendly during the summer of 2003.
“Hristo used to play pranks on everybody, but he was great to me off the field. So one day, he casually told me he had made arrangements for my teammate (Doug Warren) and me to go train with Barcelona the next afternoon. He told Frank Rijkaard we were two of the top young American players he had seen and that they should take a look, and that was that. I almost didn’t believe him.”
“We showed up to Barcelona training the next day, and Hristo was nowhere to be found. We figured it was another prank and were getting ready to leave, and then he finally showed up out of nowhere and brought us into their locker room like he owned it. He told us to put our boots on, throw on a Barcelona kit, and go train. Next thing I know, I’m playing 5v2 with Ronaldinho, Quaresma, all these guys. It was just incredible.”
While that experience was one of the highlights of his rookie year, the second half of that 2003 season for Alecko was not much better than the first. He was still not getting much playing time, and he closed out the 2003 campaign by getting sent off in the last game of the regular season.
“But that’s what my first year was like. Lots of ups and downs.”
Alecko’s 2004 season was vastly different from his rookie year. D.C. United and Ray Hudson parted ways, and Piotr Nowak was brought in to hopefully deliver another MLS Cup to the capital.
“Piotr was very much of the mentality that everyone needs to prove themselves, no matter if you were a veteran or a rookie. If you had a bad game, he’d make you train with the reserves or do fitness. If Ray Hudson was a players’ coach, Piotr was the opposite.”
Nowak’s coaching style led to a few locker room blowups between the coaching staff and the players, but the fiery team meetings always helped bring the group together. “In the end, we all cared about winning. After one of these blowups, we all just said, ‘let’s come together and see if we can make this happen.’ We went undefeated the last ten games of the season, and then we had that special run in the playoffs.”
In more ways than one, Alecko attributes their success that season to the players’ unity off the pitch.
“We had a fun team. We all went out together, and when we went out, there were no cliques. There would just be like 20 of us together in the same spot. I remember when we made the playoffs, we used to always go out on Tuesday nights. And I’ll never forget, when the playoffs were going to start, I had decided I was going to stay in and focus.”
“So one of the top veterans on our team calls me up and says, ‘You’ve scored so many goals this season, and what have we been doing every Tuesday? We are not changing now. We’ve been doing this together all year.’ So we kept our same routines throughout that entire cup run. I really think the biggest reason we won is because we were so close-knit.”
And Alecko is probably not wrong. During the 2004 playoffs, D.C. United were unstoppable because of their grit and commitment as a team. Their outstanding relationship off the field allowed them to weather adversity against all the teams they faced, but especially against bitter rivals New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference Final.
“The game against New England in the Eastern Conference final was, in my opinion, one of the best games in MLS history. It was an absolute war back and forth. Three to three, double overtime, and a shootout. It was epic. It was one of those times that even when you're in the moment, you're like, ‘this game is the best game I've ever played in.’”
Alecko managed to grab a goal in regular time and slotted his penalty in the shootout to help D.C. United advance to MLS Cup. While Alecko might remember the game against New England as the best game he’s ever played in, the MLS history books will never forget him for his performance in the grand final.
“The day of MLS Cup was crazy. I was a member of Athletes in Action, and before each game, a small group of us would have a prayer with a pastor beside the locker room. On the day of MLS Cup, since the pastor didn’t have a credential, I asked him to meet us at the hotel and get a quick prayer in during the 5 minutes we had between the pregame meal and getting on the bus.”
“In the small sermon he gave before we headed out, I remember the message was to the effect of ‘You have to be the example and find peace in your heart.’”
The teams left to the stadium, warmed up, the opening whistle blew, and within 5 minutes, D.C. United found themselves down 1-0.
“After we went down, I remember just thinking, ‘man we have to find a way to get back in this game, I hope Christian [Gomez] breaks down the defense or Jaime [Moreno] finds a way to score a goal, or that Kansas City makes a mistake or something.’”
“Then, the conversation in my head shifted, and it was like I had a flashback to when I was 14 years old when I looked in the mirror and told myself I’d never let another opportunity slip without making my mark. Then it was like, ‘why am I waiting for someone else to step up? Why can't I be the one who steps up for my team?’ At that moment, it all clicked. Everything that had led to this point, even the message from the sermon before the game. I just thought, ‘this is written, I have to step up. I’m doing this.’”
Alecko would end up scoring two goals in the first half just four minutes apart -- the fastest pair of goals in MLS Cup history. Two minutes after his brace, he played a part in D.C. United’s third goal, which put them comfortably in the lead. United would hold on for a 3-2 victory that gave them their fourth MLS Cup trophy in nine years. And Alecko was named MVP.
“Winning was a relief, especially because of the season I had compared to the year prior, where everyone was ready to write me off. People forget that when they write that, family reads it too. You don't go through it on your own, and your family suffers with you. It felt great to know that all the hard work and sacrifice paid off.”
“I'll never forget I walked in to do the post-game press conference. I looked around the room and said, ‘I just want to let you know that I remember every single one of you that was writing negative things last year, calling me a bust. And today, all of you can shut up.”’
And Alecko would continue to prove many of his doubters wrong. In 2006, after missing much of the 2005 season through injury, Alecko returned to the field in stride. In the summer of that year, he was named an MLS All-Star, and in August, he even had the chance to face off against Real Madrid.
“From that game, I still remember Piotr Nowak putting up the lineup and writing the names of Raul, Beckham, Robinho, Casillas, Cannavaro, Sergio Ramos, and then all of us in the locker room just looking at each other like ‘are we really getting a scouting report on these legends?’ Piotr then just stopped and said, ‘it doesn’t matter what I tell you because you already know these are the best players in the world. Just go out there and earn respect.’”
“We came out hard against them, and they knew right away that this was a real game. They had so much quality and went up 1-0, but we had our moments as well. And then we had that fantastic combination play that allowed us to tie the game. I remember Jaime [Moreno] laying the ball off, and I placed my shot right into the far corner past Casillas and then seeing the faces of 70,000 fans in the crowd going like, ‘holy shit, you just scored against Real Madrid!’ Nobody believed we could compete with them except for us. It was a back and forth match that ended 1-1, but it was unbelievable.”
Just like his father, Alecko Eskandarian has earned a chapter in the history of North American soccer. While he made history in MLS with his sensational cup-clinching season in 2004, he has continued to make an impact in the game. Since his forced retirement at age 27 due to a career-ending injury in 2010, Alecko has been involved with youth development and coaching.
“Kids would always come up and ask me questions and for advice. And at that point, it kind of hit me that I'd invested way too much in this sport just to stop being involved. I realized that now it's my responsibility to help the next generation.”
In 2012, Alecko’s old coach Piotr Nowak hired him as Youth Technical Director of the Philadelphia Union. “It’s pretty funny to talk about it now because I was new to the job, but some of the first kids that I identified have become pros, like Christian Pulisic and Zack Steffen. They were 12 and 15 years old when I first saw them. It’s awesome to see the great success they are having now,” says Alecko with a smile.
“I knew even at that age that they were going to be pros for sure, but it wasn’t a certainty they would reach the level they’re at now. It’s changed my perception of our talent here domestically, Just like when no one believed my D.C. United team could compete with Real Madrid, we have to overcome the negative stigma. I believe we have world-class talent here in the U.S. If we commit to developing our best players and putting them in the right environment, the sky's the limit.”
Later on, in 2013, Alecko fittingly became assistant coach of the relaunched New York Cosmos, his father's former club in NASL. At the Cosmos, Alecko earned three championships in four years, and he had the chance to rekindle a fond memory with an old opponent from the past: Real Madrid legend Raul.
“When we signed Raul with the Cosmos, he was a super nice guy, so we got along really well and joked around. Over the first few weeks, I was waiting for the right moment to bring up that I’d actually played against him and the Galacticos in 2006.”
“All those years later at the Cosmos, I finally went up to Raul and told him that he probably didn’t remember, but we’d actually taken a picture together years ago. He was so confused, so I said I would bring it in and ask him to sign it. It was actually a photo of me celebrating the goal I scored against them, with him standing in the background. He just started laughing and tore it up.”
After ending his tenure at the Cosmos with plenty of silverware, Alecko has now been working for the last four years at MLS as Director of Player Relations and Player Development. The vast experience he brings from his playing and coaching career has been invaluable at his new position.
“It’s a very different change of pace from being in a locker room most of my life, but I have loved it. It’s amazing how many of the current players have no idea what we had to go through back in the day to get the league to where it is today. Now my focus is on continuing to elevate our league from the position I’m in.”
“I’m just hungry to keep improving and play a role in writing this next chapter.”
Photography by Peter Bonilla.
