Joe Scally made his Major League Soccer debut for New York City FC last night in the 2-0 win over New England Revolution. The 17-year-old’s debut moment came as he entered the match on 87’ replacing Anton Tinnerholm on the pitch at Gillette Stadium.
“Just hearing my name get called in alongside Nico [Acevedo] is definitely an experience I have been waiting for for the past two and a half years,” he reflected, “I remember each part of it. Just memorable touches and everything like that. It was definitely an experience I won't forget.”
In March 2018, Joe Scally signed his first professional contract New York City FC, becoming City’s second-ever Homegrown Player. Scally followed James Sands in graduating from the Academy to the first-team – a path since walked by Justin Haak and Tayvon Gray.
A hip injury put Scally out of action for a large portion of the 2019 MLS season, but he remained focused and kept working for when his time would come.
He remembered: “Of course with the injury it was a setback. It was all a waiting game. I was patient and I kept my mindset right focus on the things I needed to work on and it all led up to today and I won't forget this day.”
While this was an important milestone for the now 17-year-old defender, he was quick to shift his focus to the team and how he plans to make an impact during his final months wearing City Blue. “The next three months of course, I have my eyes set on one thing, which is helping the team as much as I can win our first silverware,” Scally said, “So that is my main focus in these next three months and I'm going to do everything I can to make that happen.”
During his time with the Academy, Joe often played three years above his age group. The defender helped the NYCFC Academy win multiple trophies during his time in the youth ranks. Scally won the 2017 Generation adidas Cup and the 2018 U.S. Soccer Development Academy National Championship with NYCFC’s Academy and was part of the U-19s impressive showing at the 2019 Dallas Cup.
Last November, it was announced that the Club had reached an agreement with German side Borussia Mönchengladbach to transfer the Long Island native to the Bundesliga side in January 2021.
However, the Long Island native is just focusing on taking one day, one game and one training session at a time until then.
He added: “Every day I practice, I take it all as a game. Like it's the last time I stepped out on the field. I just go into it looking that way and work on things that I need to improve on. I do it all in training just so even if anything does happen on the field, I'm ready to go in and do the same thing and help team as much as I can.”
