Those who watched the Red Bulls demolish the New England Revolution, 4-1, Saturday night at Red Bull Arena cheered wildly as Anthony Wallace’s goal capped the team’s most complete victory of the season.
Little did they know just what that goal meant to Wallace, or the journey he has been on since his career began with such promise.
“I got a lot of ‘great goals’ and ‘good jobs’ and ‘nice goals’, the modest Wallace said about the reaction he received from friends and family about his first career Major League Soccer goal. “But it took a big deflection – twice. But the team put forth such a great effort, the rest was already taken care of. At the end of the day, the three points is all that matters.”
Okay, so there was a bit of luck involved. In the 56th minute, Lloyd Sam’s cross from the right was headed away by a defender. Dax McCarty settled the ball at the top of the box but had no lane to shoot, so he played the ball back at Wallace, who had moved forward from his left back position. Wallace drove a left-footed shot that deflected off the legs of the Revolution’s Chris Tierney and Jose Goncalves and zipped into the lower left corner of the net.
But the announcement of the goal didn’t come right away. Play resumed as officials discussed whether or not it would be an own goal. After a few moments the announcement was made. The goal was his.
“I wasn’t even listening for it, to tell you the truth,” Wallace said. “I didn’t care either way as long as we got the result.”
That shining moment came at the end of a long road that started with great fanfare but was interrupted by injury and poor timing.
Born in Brooklyn, Wallace and his family moved to St. Petersburg, Fla., when he was 2 and he started playing organized soccer at 4 years old. By the time he was 15 he was a member of U.S. Soccer’s Residency Program in Bradenton, Fla. His teammates over the next few years included Freddy Adu, Michael Bradley, Danny Szetela, Dax McCarty, Sal Zizzo, Robbie Rogers, Tony Beltran, Chris Seitz and Jozy Altidore.
One of the most experienced youth internationals in U.S. history, Wallace was a member of the Under-17 team from 2004-06 and the Under-20 team from 2006-09. In 2007, he started four of five games as the Americans reached the quarterfinals of the U-20 World Cup.
He played one season for the University of South Florida in 2006, starting all 19 games as a defensive midfielder, before being drafted by FC Dallas with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft as a Generation adidas player. The future seemed limitless.
“I was very young at the time. I was ready to come in and learn,” Wallace said. “I wasn’t expecting to start or even get much playing time off the bat, which was the case. I only played in one first-team game my first year. The first few years of my career were a big learning experience for me, but that’s what molded me into the player I am today.”
But Wallace missed time with FC Dallas while playing for youth national teams and made just 11 starts for the club in three-and-a-half seasons. He was traded in July 2010 to Colorado, where he was the starting left back for a Rapids team that won MLS Cup. The victory in the final came against FC Dallas, his former club.
“Towards the end, right before I got traded to Colorado, we had a coaching change and things weren’t really going in my direction, so it was good to get a change of scenery,” Wallace said. “It was great in Colorado. Going from Dallas and not playing at all, to Colorado and starting every game, and at the end of it, winning MLS Cup against my old team was the sweetest thing.”
Wallace’s play earned him a call-up to the senior national team, then coached by Bob Bradley, and he earned his only cap in January, 2011 in a 1-1 tie with Chile.
“That was a great feeling,” Wallace said. “But ever since then I went through those injury spells and just fell off the radar. The next thing you know they were long-term injuries. But I was able to bounce back from both of those and things are good now.”
He missed the second half of the 2011 season with a knee injury, and a torn Achilles tendon sidelined Wallace for the entire 2012 season. By 2013, he was only able to make six appearances – all as a substitute – and he soon found himself out of the league.
He went home and played for the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American Soccer League last season and was ready to play again this year when his agent got a call from the Red Bulls, who were playing a preseason game in Orlando. He impressed the coaches and he made the club.
Though he didn’t play right away, sitting behind Kemar Lawrence and Roy Miller at left back, Wallace patiently waited for his opportunity. That came when Lawrence, Miller and Karl Ouimette were called by their respective national teams for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. That led to more playing time and that thrilling moment against the Revolution.
“He was great. He stepped up and was confident. He understood his role,” Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch said. “It’s a credit to (Red Bulls II coach) John Wolyniec and USL-Pro. It’s a credit to Anthony and the way he has trained and kept himself mentally engaged knowing that this point was going to come, and it was important for him to step up and perform well. He played very well and in training he has a lot of confidence. He knows that he fits well into the group.”
And that’s all Wallace could ask.
“I’ve had the same conversation with Jesse on a few occasions,” he said. “Basically, whenever my number is called I need to be prepared and be ready. On my end, that’s all I could do, be physically prepared, mentally prepared and just wait for my chance.
“I’ve been around for quite a few years now so you never know when it could come. The way things were going in the beginning it didn’t look like those chances will come, but at the end of the day you never know, so on my end, I just had to be ready.”
And he was.
“I’m really happy for Wally,” McCarty said. “He was obviously signed for a reason because the coaching staff saw something in him, that he was a guy that could get the job done. He’s a very good player. We knew we would be missing Roy and most likely Kemar for the Gold Cup, and we signed Wally with every intention of having him step up and play and make sure that he gets the job done. I couldn’t be more proud of him for his performance.”
