ASN: Juan Pablo Torres Seeing Motion at Sporting Lokeren

Sportking Lokeren defensive midfielder Juan Pablo Torres is the most recent American teenager incomes first-team minutes in Europe. The Georgia native spoke with ASN about his transfer to Belgium.

BY

Brian Sciaretta

Posted
December 06, 2017
6:00 PM

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AS THE DUST slowly begins to settle from the nationwide workforce’s disappointing elimination from the 2018 World Cup, one of many extra constructive storylines is the rise of a promising technology of American gamers breaking by at younger ages.

By now, followers know many of the prime gamers within the subsequent technology, like Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, Jonathan Gonzalez, and Zack Steffen.

Past even these gamers, much more American gamers are discovering their approach into first-team soccer each domestically and overseas. One such participant is midfielder Juan Pablo Torres who’s now surfacing at Sporting Lokeren of Belgium’s prime flight.

Torres, 18, is a local of Lilburn, Ga., and grew up in a bilingual family because the son of two Colombian immigrants. He joined Lokeren after a profitable trial earlier this yr and in current weeks he started to make the bench frequently.

On November 19 he made his first begin in a loss to Gent and head coach Peter Maes has publicly hinted that Torres’ time is coming.

“This season I am just trying to be as patient as possible,” Torres informed American Soccer Now from Belgium, “It is my first season. For me, any minutes I get is a bonus this season. I am training hard every day and if the minutes come, they come. But I will always work to play as much as possible. Getting my first start was amazing and it was a day I’ll never forget.”

Like many American gamers of his age group, Torres excelled on the youth ranges. He started taking part in for native golf equipment beginning with Georgia Soccer adopted by Gwinnett Soccer Affiliation. His breakthrough got here on the academy degree whereas at Georgia United who he says “helped me become the player I am today.” He spent his remaining yr within the U.S. with the Harmony Hearth however at the moment he needed to decide on his future.

He had gives from faculty and regarded it attributable to his household’s heavy precedence on training which stemmed from his mom’s job as a college instructor. However discussions with faculty by no means progressed very far and he signed a cope with Adidas that eradicated his eligibility. Whereas Atlanta United was simply beginning up near dwelling, Torres all the time had a need to go overseas as shortly as attainable.

“MLS is a great league and a great place for players to start but I always wanted to play in Europe from when I was a little kid,” Torres mentioned. “That is the place I wished to play and develop. The trainings are very intense. It is a model new atmosphere and you must be taught to adapt. I felt like I needed to virtually perform a little little bit of catchup. The youngsters right here and the youth right here develop sure issues at a really younger age that I wasn’t essentially taught in America.

“In some little areas I needed to catch up and be taught however you must do it in as fast of a time as attainable—tactical issues but additionally off-field issues like consuming correctly.”

The trial with Lokeren was organized by his agent and from there he earned a contract and has been progressing with the membership shortly the primary half of the season. As a participant, he strongly prefers the No. 6 place within the defensive midfield.

Past Lokeren, Torres has worldwide ambitions. He has been part of the youth nationwide workforce set-up because the U-14 degree and is aware of most of the gamers of his technology effectively. In October he was a part of the U-18 nationwide workforce’s event in Spain and in 2018 he’s anticipated to be a part of the U-20 workforce because it builds towards the 2019 U-20 World Cup.

“He’s tough on the tackle, he reads the game well, and he is simple and doesn’t complicate things,” U.S. U-18 head coach Omid Namzi mentioned. “That’s what you need out of your No. 6. Along with his passing he is superb each in his quick vary and lengthy vary. He is an entire participant and what he is added is his skill to play the ball ahead. That has actually helped him get to the following degree.

“I think being in an environment where he trains everyday with professionals at a high level has taught him to play forward a little bit more as opposed to backward and sideways,” Namazi continued. “I think that is one thing we emphasized with him in the camp before Spain. We feel that when he went to [Lokeren] that is something that their coaching staff also pointed out to him. Now he’s looking to play the ball forward. Just overall his game has elevated to the next level.”

Lokeren is effectively conscious that competitors within the midfield is hard inside U.S. Soccer on the youth ranges. For the U-20 workforce he might be vying for time with Tyler Adams and Jonathan Gonzalez. For the 2020 U-23 Olympic workforce, further competitors awaits with Weston McKennie and Keaton Parks additionally possible within the combine. However Torres is fast to level out that “with the national team, it’s always going to be competitive. Good competition always brings out the best in me. You don’t want it to be too easy or else you’re too relaxed.”

Whatever the competitors, Torres considers these gamers amongst his closest buddies and leans on them rather a lot in his skilled profession.

“We’re all very close and my age group is a great group of guys,” Torres mentioned. “Jonathan Gonzalez, Jose Carranza, Nick Taitague, these are guys I’ve known since I was around 13. We’ve been through a lot of camps—difficult times and great times. These are guys I am very close with. Nick is only a two-hour drive away. It’s important the Americans in Europe to stay close and well connected with each other because it’s important to know where you came from.”

“You almost share the same kind of connection because if you’re playing on a foreign team you have guys from Belgium, Germany, Spain, or wherever,” Torres added. “But they don’t really understand your American culture and where you grew up. It’s nice to have that connection with those guys.”

However that connection is simply galvanized with the tough state of the nationwide workforce which has no coach, no technical director, and no aggressive video games on the horizon. Ultimately this may change and the following coach should choose up the items and transfer ahead. However with the U.S. workforce lacking out on its first World Cup since 1986, Torres sees and alternative and is aware of that he together with the opposite gamers of his technology might be prepared.