By Mark Zeigler, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at 12:02 a.m.
Size: 6-1, 170
Born: March 18, 1976
Hometown: Escondido
High school: San Pasqual
Foreign clubs: Manchester United, England (1993-96); Borussia Dortmund, Germany (1996-2000); Fortuna Cologne, Germany (1998-99); Sporting Lisbon, Portugal (2000-01); Crystal Palace, England (2001-02); Birmingham City, England (2002-04)
MLS clubs: L.A. Galaxy (2004-05, 2009-10); Colorado Rapids (2005-08); San Jose Earthquakes (2008)
Olympics: Started all three games in 1996 for U.S., scoring in a 2-0 win against Tunisia
National team: 62 appearances from 1992 to 2004, 40 starts, nine goals, one assist. Most famous goal was a spectacular shot in a 3-0 win against Germany in 1999
Family: Married with two sons, 8 and 2
CARSON — Signed by Manchester United at age 16. Transferred to Germany’s Borussia Dortmund when he wasn’t granted a British work permit and won a UEFA Champions League title. Signed a big-money deal with legendary Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon. Later played three seasons in England.
Scored in an Olympics.
Made 62 appearances for the senior national team, beginning at age 18 and appearing at least once for the next 10 years as well.
And the most impressive part?
The résumé belongs to an American soccer player.
Maybe it’s because he never played in a World Cup, or because he left the States at age 16 and didn’t return to play professionally until he was 28. Or maybe it’s because he didn’t always get regular minutes at all those big European clubs and never quite lived up to the early hype. But whatever the reason, Escondido’s Jovan Kirovski remains the forgotten star of American soccer.
He is 34 now, a reserve for the Los Angeles Galaxy. He has played twice this season, once for six minutes and once for 22. A forward or attacking midfielder for his entire career, he played center back in practice the other day.
“I mean, I know I’m toward the end,” Kirovski was saying after a recent game in the hallway outside the Galaxy locker room at The Home Depot Center. “But I’m enjoying it. I still feel good. I feel I can perform at a good level and help the team, and as long as I can help the team, I’ll keep going.
“I’m not doing it to be a millionaire. I do it for the love of the game, really. I love being around the guys. I love playing every day.”
Here’s how much: His salary last season, according to MLS Players Union figures, was $80,000, a sliver of what he used to make.
Here’s how much: Six days a week, he makes the three-hour round trip from Escondido to The Home Depot Center in Carson.
This is Kirovski’s second stint with the Galaxy. He first signed with the club when he returned from Europe in 2004, followed by stops in Colorado and San Jose. He returned to the Galaxy last season, and openly admits that living in Escondido was important enough that he would have retired before playing elsewhere.
“If it wasn’t here, it was nowhere,” he says. “I don’t want to move.”
His career remains an enigma to many. He was part of a legendary Man United youth academy group that included David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and the Neville brothers. Steve Kelly, Giggs’ youth coach, told Sports Illustrated in 1995: “Jovan can make as much of an impact on world soccer as Giggs. In two years he’ll be a big name. I’d bet my life on him.”
Instead, he played only 20 times in four seasons at Dortmund, which he chose over Dutch power Ajax of Amsterdam, but also consider that he was in his early 20s and Dortmund was arguably the best club on the planet — winning the UEFA Champions League in 1997. Kirovski scored in a Champions League game and became the first (and only) American player to hoist the trophy.
Regrets?
“I have none,” says Kirovski, the son of Macedonian immigrants who was tutored in his youth by former Sockers star Steve Zungul. “I’ve been to some places where (American players) haven’t been. I’ve been able to play with some big clubs, and looking back maybe I didn’t get to play enough at certain clubs, but how do you turn that down?
“That’s what people always say: You didn’t get to play much. OK, but if you’re getting a four-year deal with (guaranteed) money at one of the biggest clubs in the world, how do you say no?”
The only real empty spot in an otherwise lengthy résumé is not playing in a World Cup, which probably would have happened in 1998 had he not had a falling-out with U.S. national coach Steve Sampson (“I was an idiot,” Kirovski says). But he seems at peace with that, just as he does with his diminished role with the Galaxy.
“The best thing about Jovan is he understands his role on the team,” Galaxy forward Landon Donovan says. “Eventually, he’s going to play and we’re going to need him, and we can count on him.”
In the meantime, Kirovski has his U.S. B coaching license and plans to complete his A license in December. Coaching, either at the professional or youth level, is something that interests him because, as he reasons, “I just think it would be a shame for me with where I’ve been, with my résumé, not to.”
But that’s when his playing career ends, and for now the forgotten star of American soccer still laces up the cleats and shoves the shin guards into his socks, playing six minutes here and 22 minutes there, making a three-hour round trip to practice each day, earning a salary that would have been an embarrassment a decade ago.
“He loves doing it,” Donovan says. “You can tell. Every day when we train, he’s excited to be out there. That’s pretty impressive for a guy his age. There are guys 10 years younger who don’t have that enthusiasm.”
