Soccer | Former Akron player on a roll with Timbers
Nov 29, 2015 at 12:01 AM Nov 29, 2015 at 9:55 AM
PORTLAND, Ore.- Things could hardly be better for Darlington Nagbe. The 25-year-old midfielder became an American citizen in September, just returned from his first call-up with the U.S. national team and his Portland Timbers are one game away from playing for the MLS Cup. To top it off, Nagbe and his wife are expecting a son next month.
PORTLAND, Ore.� Things could hardly be better for Darlington Nagbe.
The 25-year-old midfielder became an American citizen in September, just returned from his first call-up with the U.S. national team and his Portland Timbers are one game away from playing for the MLS Cup. To top it off, Nagbe and his wife are expecting a son next month.
The magnitude of it all dawned on him when the former University of Akron player made his national team debut in a World Cup qualifying match against St. Vincent and the Grenadines in St. Louis two weeks ago, entering in the 64th minute.
�Just the whole process. Getting citizenship, and my family and everything like that,� he said of his thoughts at that moment. �Finally getting a chance to wear the colors. It was exciting.�
Nagbe was born in Liberia and his father played for that country�s national team. But civil war prompted his mother, Somah, to flee the country when Darlington was just a few months old. Joseph Nagbe, who was playing professionally in France at the time, found the family in a refugee camp in Sierra Leone.
The family settled in Ohio when Darlington was 11, and Nagbe became a top youth player. When he was 15, he caught the eye of Akron coach Caleb Porter. Nagbe won the Hermann Award as the nation�s top college player as a junior with the Zips.
�Going to the University of Akron was a new experience for me. I didn�t deal well with new environments, but (Porter) made it comfortable for me,� Nagbe said. �He was a guy I could go to, and still go to, for advice about anything, whether it�s family or soccer or anything.�
Nagbe was drafted by the expansion Portland Timbers in 2011 and was reunited with Porter when he became Timbers coach the next year.
Portland, the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, opened the conference finals with a 3-1 home victory over FC Dallas last Sunday. The second leg is tonight in Frisco, Texas.