As the referee performs his final checks before blowing his whistle, Alfredo Morales says a little prayer.
“Just to be thankful to be in this moment, in this game, and to have the chance to play in a city like New York, for a great club, in a Champions League semifinal,” he said. “I try to remember where I'm from and where I'm at, and this is not something you can take for granted.”
The midfielder joined New York City Football Club this time last year after well over a decade in Germany’s top two divisions with the likes of Fortuna Düsseldorf and Ingolstadt. Then a month from his 31st birthday, it was a bold decision to relocate his career and his family half way across the world.
“When I started to talk with David Lee and this whole thing came up I was so excited,” he explained. “I wanted to come here to help and lead and support and make everybody around me better so we can win something. I was in Germany, my whole life. I played in the Bundesliga, but my goal was to stay in the league. It's not that I played for the German championship.”
Morales described his game in Germany as ‘run, tackle, get up, run tackle, get up’. Those same qualities crossed over the Atlantic with him, but in Bronx Blue they fuel an engine room aspiring to be the best in Major League Soccer and Concacaf Champions League. NYCFC find themselves 3-1 down from their first leg against Seattle Sounders, but as head coach Ronny Deila emphatically stated after the game ‘Nothing Is Over’.
“I think NYCFC has the chance to win, and with the potential on this team to dominate this league,” he said. “Like in England, Germany, Spain, there are teams that it’s clear they will play for the championship. In MLS, It's more everybody is on the same level. I feel that at NYCFC, we have the chance to build something that can be better.”
The pressure to win and advance that the Champions League presents is something Morales is embracing. It is through that experience characters are tested and forged.
“If you feel like you have something to lose, it's easy to hide,” he said. “It's easy to be like, ‘I don't want the ball, I'm not so confident in myself, I don't believe in my qualities or abilities,' it's very easy to go in this direction. I'm trying to tell everybody that these are the moments that matter, where you have to push still. I'm also sometimes frustrated or nervous or not having my best game or whatever, but you have to believe in yourself and have confidence.”
It's that undercurrent of self-confidence that helped take Morales from the streets of Berlin to the Bundesliga and the United States Men’s National Team. A boyhood Hertha Berlin fan, Morales started out in the stands alongside his friends at the Olympiastadion. A smile creeps across his face when he talks about those same friends - still following Hertha as fans both home and away.
“It’s a little bit too much,” he said laughing. “I don't want to travel everywhere, but what I like is the passion - they really live this and when I feel like I'm the same.”
While they’d all have loved to don Hertha's blue and white jersey, Alfredo was the chosen one. The journey of an aspiring soccer player requires a multitude of qualities, not least of all determination.
In trying to find the genesis of Morales’ drive the 31-year-old reveals a central thread to the tapestry that is his personal development.
“I was always like this, I always had this drive,” he said. “I'm very proud of it, to be honest. I had to work hard and learn a lot because my drive - especially when I was younger - was a little bit too much sometimes. I was a little too emotional and this was positive sometimes and sometimes negative."
It is now that the passion in Morales' voice begins to increase.
“For me, it's just, we have the game, we have 90 minutes and you have to bring everything to the table - bring whatever emotions you have – just go," he said. "I think every game in the playoffs I started cramping after like 60 minutes, 65 minutes maybe. But what am I supposed to do? Tell the coach I need to come out? I want to play the extra time against New England Revolution. It’s just your mentality, your mindset. Are you able to suffer and stay focused, stay concentrated and do your job?”
When a player demands such focus it is understandable that they may seek to block out anything outside of the field of play. Morales is different, however. Where once he was a fan cheering on, now he takes energy from the crowd.
“This is why I play,” he said. “For me, this is everything to be honest. This gives me special excitement. For example, when we play away and the crowd is on fire and everybody is booing me - I love this stuff. I get better when this stuff happens. It’s the same thing at home when the fans are there. We have amazing game in front of us now. We have to push, we have to attack, we have to win, and with the fans behind us, a loud atmosphere, it is going to be sick. This is why I love this game and why I play because I just want to feel the passion, the emotions. I think this game on Wednesday, it’s gonna be tough, but we're totally capable of winning.”
Those moments are also what ties Morales to home. His passion has taken him to many places, and through many challenges. Wednesday’s game against Seattle is just the next on that list.
“We have an amazing team,” he said. “So talented and so much quality. I think it's just a matter of time. And it's going to be time on Wednesday.”
You can purchase tickets to Wednesday's game here.
