All of these years later, Patrick Agyemang still can’t believe that he wasted his first U.S. men’s national team chance. It still bothers him, funnily enough. For a while, it looked like it would be his only opportunity to be on that field at that level, and it never happened because Agyemang totally blew it.
Years ago, the U.S. were set to play in Agyemang’s hometown of East Hartford and he was selected to be one of the local kids to walk the national team stars onto the field. This would be his big moment, he thought, his one and only chance to step onto the pitch alongside the best American soccer had to offer. He grew up dreaming of being on the field with those USMNT stars. This would be his big chance, and it would come at a stadium as close as could be.
There was only one problem, though: he was late getting his permission slip in. Opportunity gone. He could only watch on as others got that magic moment. His only chance had passed him by due to a stupid permission slip.
Kids from East Hartford don’t tend to make it onto the field with the USMNT twice in a lifetime. His path, he realized, would likely never lead him back to that level. It bothered him for years. But, at that moment, as he looked at the USMNT’s stars and thought about it more and more, one thought stuck out.
“All I could say to myself was ‘Man, I really want to be back there again someday’,” he tells GOAL.
Agyemang’s path, ultimately, did somehow lead him back, although not in a way that anyone could have imagined. It went from Division III Eastern Connecticut State all the way back to the USMNT, where he suddenly finds himself in contention for even more opportunities to step on that field. Agyemang might have blown his first impression with the USMNT, but he nailed his second all these years later, scoring two goals in January camp to announce to the world that he’d arrived.
His first came against Venezuela in his first USMNT start. Just 39 minutes in, Agyemang busted loose, beat his defender, and found the back of the net, achieving his childhood dream of both playing and scoring for the USMNT. Days later, inserted as a substitute against Costa Rica, Agyemang did it again, firing a shot with his weaker left foot to make it two in two.
Many will see it as a meteoric rise. Those that haven’t followed will believe Agyemang came out of nowhere. Just a year ago, he wasn’t even starting in MLS and, unless you followed Charlotte FC’s season closely, you probably hadn’t seen much of the striker. He’s easily noticeable once you do see him with his 6’4″ frame but, for many, this USMNT camp will be the first time they’ve seen what he can do.
In Agyemang’s mind, though, that rise wasn’t meteoric. It wasn’t rapid, although he can admit it was somewhat weird. It’s been a long time coming, though. He’s been dreaming about it since that fateful day in East Hartford, after all.
“No one sees how much I’ve sacrificed to put myself in position and, man when I got that shot, I said that I ain’t letting it go,” Agyemang says. “I don’t care who’s coming. You can bring anybody, but I’m going to fight for that spot. When they said that they were going to put me in these games, I said ‘Alright, ‘I’m going to run with it’. If I want to be the guy that puts myself in these positions, I have to take it.
“I have to take each day and each moment. I don’t want to crumble; I want to be the guy that steps up.”
Agyemang stepped up in January. He made it look easy. Getting there, though? Anything but.