When Houston Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle and general manager Matt Jordan joined the club last winter and took stock of the organization, their conversation with director of youth development James Clarkson about the Dynamo Academy yielded one name right off the bat.
“The first chat I had with James when I came over he told me he felt he had a very good young player within his team, obviously Christian [Lucatero],” Coyle said. “I actually watched him on my first trip. He’s a natural talent, very balanced, quick feet and has got huge, huge potential.”
Lucatero built on that first impression throughout the rest of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy season, where he scored 26 goals in 27 games, and a summer training with the first team to earn a professional contract.
“It’s something I’ve worked for for a really long time,” Lucatero told HoustonDynamo.com. “I’ve been with the Academy for five years and ever since you get in the Academy that’s your main goal, to get to the first team, so it’s really a dream come true to finally get there and I’m going to keep working hard to make the first team.”
A left-footed attacking midfielder, Lucatero finished his Academy career as one of the most accomplished players in the program’s history. The 18-year-old was honored as the USSDA Central Conference Player of the Year this season and named the Dynamo Academy Player of the Year in 2013 and Players’ Player of the Year in 2014.
As a dual national, Lucatero has been called into youth national team camps for both the United States and Mexico but hasn’t declared a preference for either side as of yet: “I’m keeping doors open, but I love both national teams. Hopefully I’ll be one of the players for one of them at some point.”
Despite all the goals and accolades, Lucatero continued to push himself higher. Being the best Academy player wasn’t the end game—earning a professional contract was the next step and what he continually strived for, stepping away from a commitment to play college soccer at Oregon State University to pursue the goal of playing for his hometown club.
“To his credit, the fact that he was able to do what he did [with the Academy] on a consistent basis shows a good determination to want to get better,” Clarkson said. “He could have easily have taken it much easier and still got through games and still been the best player on the field, but he really pushed himself. He was always at training, always worked hard, he really bought into the team, team work ethic and commitment.
“He knows what he wants and he knows what it’s going to take to get it. I think that that determination has never really changed, he’s always had that and that’s what’s separated him from the rest.”
That mentality that set Lucatero apart at the Academy level still hasn’t changed now that he has a contract under his belt. The Pasadena native knows that he has to keep the same determination and work ethic in order to become successful at the next level, a lesson he’s learned from sharing the locker room with professionals while training with the senior squad.
“From going U-18 to an actual professional, you have to do things like eat properly and do everything properly,” Lucatero said. “When you’re with the U-18s you can slack off a little bit, but when you’re a professional everything has to be good or else you can’t perform, and you have to perform to stay at the top level.”
Aiding in that transition from youth to professional is the new option of loaning players out to the new Rio Grande Valley USL affiliate next year. There’s no guarantee Lucatero will go to RGV next season, but the option is there if needed for him and other young players making the leap.
“It’ll be a critical piece to bridge the huge gap between the U-18 and the first team level,” Jordan said of the new USL club. “We feel that the Rio Grande Valley initiative provides real games, real pressure and we believe that’s the best way of developing, by playing real games and needing to perform under pressure.”
Lucatero’s signing and the signing of fellow Academy midfielder Memo Rodriguez last winter provide clear examples of the staff’s commitment to developing youth talent, as well as being an inspiration and example to current Academy players that their dreams of donning the orange jersey as a professional are attainable.
It’s the same dream Lucatero had growing up going to Dynamo games, now one step closer to making it a reality: “When you go to the stadium you’re a fan, obviously, but you’re always thinking ‘hopefully one day I’ll be down there, and the fans will be cheering for me.”
