Second year MLS midfielder Thomas McNamara couldn't be happier to be back home in the New York area.
After a promising start to his rookie season with Chivas USA was cut short by injury, the West Nyack native and star of the NYCFC Holiday Video is thrilled to start anew with his teammates in New York City.
McNamara explained: "It's nice. I kind of look at it as a little bonus to everything else that's going on. From a soccer pespective, this is a great place to be, especially for a young player in my position that's still trying to get more experience from all soccer areas. This is a great place for me, and it's also the added bonus that I get to be home and be around family and friends that can come to games and watch me do what I love to do."
It's been a long road back to soccer for the 23-year old McNamara, who had a great start to his rookie year in California before tearing his right ACL and medial meniscus in the sixth game of the season.
McNamara said: "I feel good right now. It's been a long process. I've worked with some great people and I'm continuing to do so, and I feel good right now and am looking forward to the pre-season."
"From what I've seen looking in and just watching MLS games for the past few years, Coach Kreis is a very well respected coach. His players love to play for him. He was very successful at Real Salt Lake and he created a very strong soccer culture there, so I'm very much looking forward to getting the opportunity to work under him and learn from him and his staff."
On the build out of the roster, McNamara said: "What stands out is that we have a good mix of experienced, talented veterans from the league and a few yougner players that have only been in the league for a short time but have also shown a lot of promise. I think it's a good mix between the two of those - in addition to the international stars - and I think for me personally it's amazing to be on the same team as players that have MLS experience and have been successful in this league. It's just another opportunity for me to improve and learn from them."
"I'm going to work as hard as I can to try and make this team successful in whatever way that I can. That's definitely something that's going to be a part of my game from the get go. Otherwise I'm going to be myself and play and try to entertain, but the most important thing is that we've all been brought in here to get results and be successful from the start of this new project."
"To the Founding Memebers that have already brought season tickets, we want to thank you and we are really excited to get to play in front of you guys. For me it's a really cool new project in the New York area, and I'm very excited to be a part of it from Day 1 and I'm looking forward to the growth of it."
While his career in MLS has only featured a handful of competitive appearances thus far, McNamara made an impact with his play, and his hairstyle, in thast short time on the field.
On whether the mullet will be making an appearance at Yankee Stadium, Mcnamara had this to say:
"(Laughs) We're going to have to wait and see I guess. I can't give anything away right now."
Stay tuned.
