LIFE'S A BEACH FOR YURI MORALES Ex-UMass star leads US in FIFA event
By Adam Vose-O'Neal, New England Soccer News correspondent
Performance, luck, and most important of all, persistence. This is how Yuri Morales, former University of Massachusetts star and current member of the U.S. Beach Soccer team, explains his success.
“Basically I've been cut from teams and told I'm not good enough my whole life,” Morales said from Pau Grande, Brazil, in an interview conducted via the Internet. “I think it just makes me want it more.”
Since Sept. 25, Morales has been in Brazil training for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup to be held at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. The tournament will run from November 2-12, the US opening against Japan Friday morning.
Morales was recommended for the U.S. squad by Ronnie Silva, a member of the team. Morales and Silva grew up together in Santa Cruz, Calif., and this past summer, they played alongside one another for the Portland Timbers in the A League.
In the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying tournament in Costa Rica, Morales made good on his friend’s endorsement by scoring a team-high five goals in four games to help the U.S. secure a trip to Rio de Janeiro. The five goals tied him for second top scorer in the regional qualifiers. What is more impressive is that before last month Morales had never played an organized beach soccer match. He admitted he was a little nervous, but then added that the game seemed to suit him.
“I’m a striker,” Morales said. “Get the ball and score.
“I definitely surprised myself with my play. But I wouldn't say I played as well as I could. I still have a lot to learn about beach soccer. I scored some important goals, but I think the more experienced players on the team played better and more consistently than me. Technically I am fine. I just need time to adjust to the game and the way the ball moves in the sand.”
Beach soccer and field soccer and are two distinct games. Beach soccer is played five-on-five (including keepers). The games are played in sand and no one wears shoes or shin guards. In addition, the playing field is small enough that you can shoot from anywhere.
“It is very difficult to defend because there is almost no contact allowed,” said Morales. “And it is hard to get good footing in the sand. But on the flipside, it is almost impossible to dribble. You have to lift the ball or it will die. So a lot of the game is in the air. The keepers are also very important because most of the plays start by passing the ball back to the keeper while a forward makes a run. Then the keeper will throw it to the forward.”
The injuries are different as well.
“It is much easier to hurt your toes and feet,” said Morales. “I kicked the sand and hurt my big toe pretty bad in Costa Rica. Wow, it hurt! It still isn’t 100 percent.”
While Morales prefers playing on grass and says that field soccer is his priority, he admits that beach soccer is lots of fun. Presently he is getting excited for the Beach Soccer World Cup, in part, because he is not quite sure what to expect. He knows the tournament will get plenty of national attention, but he is not sure how much international draw it will have.
“It feels great to put on the red, white and blue jersey and represent my country,” said Morales. “I don’t think I'll really know how big this thing is until I actually get [to the stadium] and feel the media.”
In the group stage of the 16-team tournament, Morales and the U.S. will face Japan, Poland, and perennial favorite Brazil, which has dominated international beach soccer since its inception, winning 9 of the 11 World Cups. The U.S. is slated to play its first game against Japan on November 3 at 9:40 a.m.
Coast to Coast
Here is a question that Morales has heard more than once: “So, how did you get a name like Yuri Morales?”
He is not the kind of guy that is bothered by the query, but rather seems to enjoy the opportunity to provide a synopsis of his heritage. His mother, Helen Nunberg, as the story goes, is a Polish Jew who grew up in New York City. Her parents were Holocaust survivors. His father, Raul Morales, is Puerto Rican, Spanish, and Venezuelan. He grew up in a working class neighborhood in East Los Angeles; his family were devout Seventh Day Adventists.
“We celebrated Hanukkah and Christmas,” Morales said. “The best of both worlds. We embraced both religions, mostly the social sides. I like the traditions of both. I like how it brings family and friends together.”
Morales was born on Sept. 30, 1981, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where his mother was completing her medical school residency in the Army. The family moved to Santa Cruz when Morales was 18 months old. In March of 1987, Morales’ sister, Leah, was born.
His mother currently practices general medicine in Santa Cruz. His father is a real estate developer and manager in Oroville, Calif.
While neither of the parents played soccer, the sport pulses through the veins of their children.
Yuri used one word to describe his sister: “Baller.”
After being crowned league MVP both her junior and senior years at Harbor High School, Leah now plays for NCAA Division 1 California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. She is a sophomore midfielder, and has been a starter since her freshman year.
Yuri started playing organized soccer when he was five. When he was nine, he made the under-12 traveling team, and already had a knack for scoring goals.
At Harbor High, to his surprise, he was cut from the varsity both his freshman and sophomore years. As a sophomore, he scored dozens of goals for the junior varsity and for his club team, but the varsity coach either did not notice or did not seem to care. Morales made the team his junior year, but rode the bench for two reasons: his coach ascribed to the sports tradition of seniority, and he thought Morales was too small.
“I knew I was good enough,” Morales said. “I thought I was better than the other strikers but [the coach] played seniors. I just had to wait for my chance. And that’s what I did.”
He finally got his chance as a senior, and he did not disappoint. He led the league in scoring by tallying 25 goals and 6 assists (56 points) and was named league MVP.
Because he had accumulated only one year of significant varsity stats, Morales was not recruited by any colleges. Undeterred, he wanted to play Division 1 soccer.
“I was very close to going to UC Santa Barbara,” he said. “But all my high school friends were going there and I wanted to do something really different. I thought New England was about as different from California as it gets, so I went for it.”
He arrived at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst over the summer of 1999 because his parents had persuaded him to sign up for a summer session. In addition to classes, he attended a summer soccer camp run by Sam Koch, the men’s soccer coach. Koch liked Morales’ game and invited him to his team’s preseason, where Morales continued to impress and made the team as a walk-on.
Over four years at UMass, the team posted a record of 52-25-5, the best four-year stretch in school history. During that time, the team won three regular-season Atlantic 10 Conference titles, one Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament, and, in 2001, appeared in the NCAA Tournament for the first time. The team made headlines by knocking off the 2000 national runners-up, Creighton, in the first round before falling to St. John’s.
Morales played in 60 games for UMass, scoring 16 goals and tallying a school-record 28 assists. His 60 points ranks him 11th on the school’s all-time scoring list.
“[At UMass] I learned the importance of strength and fitness,” said Morales. “I also learned how to play, maybe not beautiful, but effective soccer. I learned how working together to accomplish goals is the only way to achieve them. And I learned a lot of professionalism. I think these things are very important in NCAA soccer because most of the players and teams are [at the same skill level]. The only thing that separates them are focus as a group and playing smart, effective soccer.”
One-Way Ticket
By the time he graduated from UMass in June of 2003 with a degree in Sports Management, Morales had made a decision: he wanted to be a professional soccer player.
“I tend to take things one step at a time,” he said. “My first goal after high school was to play Division 1 NCAA soccer. Then the goal was to be successful there. After that I just loved playing so much I didn’t want to stop.”
In characterizing the past three years of his life, Morales called himself a “rolling stone for sure.”
Right out of school, he started playing for amateur clubs in California. Then he spent the winter of 2004 in Brazil playing for Artsul Futebol Clube, a third Division club in Rio de Janeiro. He returned to the U.S., wanting to play at a higher level and hoping to catch on in Major League Soccer or A League. He tried out for the Syracuse Salty Dogs and the Virginia Beach Mariners (A League clubs), but got cut from both. He settled for more amateur soccer until June 2004, when he left for Europe.
“I went to Europe on a one way ticket with no real contacts,” he said. “I had a train pass and my soccer boots. That was it.”
Morales’ first item of business upon arriving was to find a job. He emailed 300 soccer teams in Germany, Denmark and Sweden. He received three replies. A fourth Division club in Bielefeld, Germany, was interested, and they invited him for a two-week trial. He scored two goals in a trial match, but was then cut. From there he went to a second Division team in northern Denmark, but after one week the club declared bankruptcy. The coach, however, liked Morales’ game and recommended him to Viborg FF of the Danish Super League. In his first trial match with the club, he scored four goals. After a month, during which he played in 15 trial matches and scored 18 goals, they offered him a contract.
This was a pivotal moment for Morales. He was now making a living playing professional soccer, and he was struck by a swelling feeling of accomplishment.
“It was a wild ride,” he said. “And I feel lucky and proud that I made something from nothing. [It was] dumb persistence. I was blind with determination. I was on a mission for sure.”
When his contract with Viborg FF expired after the season, Morales, with the help of an agent, signed with Olstykke FC, a Danish First Division club in Copenhagen. He played there for a year-and-a-half, during which he was frustrated by limited playing time and a knee injury that required surgery, which was performed in September 2005.
“After the injury, surgery and recovery, [my agent] didn't want to stick his neck out for me,” said Morales. “So now I do everything myself. I have connections and I use my connections to get in the door. I think it’s best to have an agent. But you need an agent who believes in you and is willing to put his name on the line. If your agent won’t risk his name to recommend you, he's not your agent.”
Morales played outside midfielder for Olstykke FC. While it was not an entirely new position for him (he took on an attacking midfield role at UMass), he says he is most comfortable in front of the goal.
“I think it is good that I can play lots of positions in different systems,” he said. “I think that is an attractive trait of my game. However, I am a goal-scorer. I want to be considered a striker first. But if a coach thinks I would make a good outside midfielder or attacking midfielder because of my dribbling and passing abilities, I will do my best in the midfield.”
After two years in Europe, Morales realized that he missed home and his family too much to stay any longer. He returned to the U.S. this past summer and had a two-week trial with D.C. United of the MLS. He was cut. Then he signed with the Portland Timbers.
While it was a trying journey at times, he says that playing in Europe was fundamental to his growth as a soccer player.
“They play very tactical soccer in Denmark,” he said. “Very structured. I think I improved in every aspect of my game. Training with players who are as good or better than me really pushed me to be on my game everyday. As a pro, you always have to be focused and sharp.”
Next season, Morales hopes to play in the MLS. If he makes it, perhaps he could visit his family on long weekends and holidays, something that was not feasible in Europe.
But for now, he is only concerned with having fun in the Copacabana sun and representing his country as best he can with his feet.
