Yoshimar Yotún and Sacha Kljestan had a less-than-friendly first encounter.
It was August 2017, and Kljestan, then a New York Red Bull, had just received a pass on the touchline. Yotún, playing in his first game with City, stepped up to the ball and swatted him in the face.
“When that game finished I went and apologized,” Yotún said. “We talked for a bit. He played with a friend of mine, Behrang Safari, who I played with in Malmö. Those are things that happen in games. Now we’re teammates.”
The new teammates had a much friendlier encounter last week in Los Angeles at the MLS Media & Marketing tour.
“We got to know each other. We talked, we talked a lot. He speaks a good bit of Spanish,” said Yotún, who then joked about his own English.
Yotún and Kljestan find themselves as the elders at the deepest position group on the roster. Beneath them on the depth chart are rookies Chris Mueller and Cam Lindley and a pair of 19-year-olds in Pierre Da Silva and Josué Colmán.
The youngsters couldn’t ask for better role models.
“Coming to Orlando has been a blessing,” Mueller said. “Sacha led MLS in assists last year, so coming from leading college in assists it’s obviously a huge step. I’m just excited to learn from guys like this.”
There are the obvious things – passing, positioning, situational awareness – that come with time. Then there are the less obvious qualities budding pros would do well to pick up quickly.
Among those are “that every training session is at the highest level. That every drill we do is at full concentration, even if it’s just a passing drill,” Kljestan said.
Kljestan prides himself on his professionalism and his resume speaks for itself. He’s a two-time MLS Best XI selection and has been named to the MLS All-Star team twice (though he went with the U.S. to the 2008 Beijing Olympics instead). He’s led MLS in assists two years running.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself – I always have,” he said. “I’ve been very successful my whole career. I don’t think it’s going to stop now. I’m going to push this team to have a winning mentality and try to put my stamp on the team.”
Kljestan said he sees a lot of similarities between Orlando City and his Red Bulls team in 2015. Back then, New York was beginning anew without Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill, and Kljestan was asked to help lead a young group.
Kljestan and the Red Bulls went on to capture the 2015 Supporters’ Shield.
“I don’t think [Jason Kreis] needs to tell me that I need to help out the young guys,” Kljestan said. “It’s just the thing I like to do.”
Yotún, accomplished in his own right, agrees.
“We’re professional soccer players. We understand the responsibility,” Yotún said. “Obviously the younger guys look up to the older ones, how we behave, what we do, how we train. You have to live up to that responsibility because the kids are always watching us.”
And although they’ve only taken the training pitch three times, Kljestan likes what he sees.
“All the younger guys, they seem very eager to learn and eager to train hard, which is the most important thing to me,” he said. “So far they have a great mentality and that’s a big first step.”
