It wasn’t long ago that Miguel Ibarra was seriously considering retirement.
The MLS offers had dried up. His days in Liga MX, the top league of Mexican soccer, were five years in the rearview mirror. His three caps on the U.S. national team were closer to the era of Landon Donovan, his current head coach, than the likes of Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie, who are the new faces of a soccer generation.
Ibarra was ready to move on, proud of a distinguished career but understanding soccer is finite. That’s until Ricardo Campos, general manager of the San Diego Loyal USL team, called with a last-minute pitch. He asked Ibarra to hang in just a little bit longer, play a season for the Loyal, and maybe revitalize his career at the age of 31.
“It saved me,” Ibarra said. “This is the organization that gave me that opportunity again and that love (for) soccer again.”
From Ibarra’s perspective, g with Loyal has breathed extra oxygen into a career that was on fumes. He has started six games, scored a goal and chipped in an assist through the first third of the season.
But from the Loyal’s perspective, Ibarra’s journey is more case study than comeback story. It provides a glimpse into how the Loyal, in their second year of existence, want to find their niche in roster construction.
The older journeyman, who for whatever reason has been chewed up by the top leagues in America and elsewhere, who is close to hanging it up, is the perfect target to add to the roster. Those players tend to be cheaper, but still have the experience and technical skill to be productive. There is risk involved, sure, but the reward for even a couple older players hitting is worth it.
“Everyone has budgets, even Manchester City has budgets,” Campos said, aware of the financial burdens of a team in the second-tier division of American soccer. The Loyal’s main source of revenue is from fan attendance, which was near zero last year due to the pandemic.
“We want to build a championship team every year in the USL. (Finding older players) allows us to do that. … You see it in a player like Miguel where you are able to get a player that is potentially a little beyond our league.”
The investment in finding hidden older players, like Ibarra, has helped propel the Loyal into relevance in 2021. The team is near the top of the table in the Pacific Division this season and is just one win away from meeting its 2020 win total. The Loyal have done it with a core group of players over the age of 30.
The directive in the offseason was to find the players nobody seemed to want anymore. Find the talent where there was no demand.
The team signed Corey Hertzog, a 31-year-old from the defunct USL team in Reno that went under financially because of COVID-19. He fit the mold of a former MLS star on the last legs of his career. He has contributed two goals and eight starts this year. He’s now back in soccer circles with a chance to extend his career.
They also signed Jack Blake, a former Minnesota MLS star in 2016, who is now one of their leading goal scorers.
And of course they signed Ibarra, who had a 14-year professional career that spanned from Club Leon in Mexico to Minnesota and Seattle in MLS.
“It’s the Rubio Rubin model,” Campos said, referencing the Loyal’s star player from a year ago who is now in MLS. Rubin was out of offers from bigger clubs, came to the Loyal to get back on the radar in 2020, and has since become a key player for Real Salt Lake.
Most credit Sal Zizzo for being the trailblazer for this trend. He is a 34-year-old defender who was in retirement for two years before ing the team. When Donovan called him to ask if he would come out of retirement, after playing in MLS and the German Bundesliga, he jumped at the chance.
In 2020 he started nine of 10 games.
As for how the team finds these players, it’s a mix of old connections and scouting. Donovan, from his playing days, has found some because he was teammates with them (like Ibarra). Others Campos knew from his time at the New York Red Bulls and his deep connections to Liga MX teams.
Notably, eight players on the roster have logged significant MLS minutes. Several more, like Hertzog, are former top MLS draft picks. Others have come from top-flight leagues in Norway, Mexico and the like.
“We have a lot of older guys with experience helping the team along,” Ibarra said. “Absolutely, it’s why we have been successful.”
Saturday will be a chance to reflect on this model. The Loyal will play Club Tijuana Xolos of Liga MX in a friendly. Many of the Loyal players have played in Liga MX earlier in their careers. Alejandro Guido, a 27-year-old midfielder, actually used to play for the Xolos.
It will be another reminder that the Loyal are now a team led by formerly great players who are now trying for a second or third act. And in the USL, that might just be the best model.
“It will be a moment to reflect for sure on how far we have come,” Campos said. “(Liga MX and the Xolos) help us identify players. We train with them. We will all eat together after the game. It’s a friendly relationship.
“Everyone wants to talk about youth. But you have to have experience to balance it out. Miguel is a reflection of that.”
