Eric Lichaj had 10 different head coaches when he played for Nottingham Forest for five seasons in 2013-18. And that was just a third of the Illinois product’s pro club career.
When Lichaj made his English Premier League debut in 2010 with Aston Villa, it came under Gerard Houllier, the former France and Liverpool boss.
With the U.S. national team, Lichaj played for Bob Bradley, Jurgen Klinsmann, Bruce Arena and Dave Sarachan.
Now Lichaj is a coach. And he’s been back in the USA, working with young players in the FC Cincinnati academy since March 2022.
“Some people think coaching is just X’s and O’s,” he says. “But you gotta care. If you don’t care, then it will show up in everything about how you coach. I’m very happy with what I’m doing and hopefully I’m helping out the kids who have been entrusted with me.”
SOCCER AMERICA: What brought you to FC Cincinnati?
ERIC LICHAJ: When I retired about three years ago now, I went into an assistant role at my old club, Nottingham Forest.
But my background is: I was developed here in the U.S. and I wanted to be a part of the infrastructure here in the U.S. I want to see better U.S. players.
Cincinnati was one of the clubs that sparked my interest because of their potential and the academy was new, about two and a half years old. I thought, I’m kind of in that same position as a coach, learning and growing.
SA: When did you first become interested in coaching?
ERIC LICHAJ: I was exposed to it from a very young age because when I first went to Aston Villa in England, at age 18, there was a requirement for scholar kids to take a level two coaching course.
I didn’t really think about it seriously probably until about [10 years later]. Two or three years into being at Nottingham Forest there was an influx of younger kids coming through and I saw how some of the senior players were treating some of the younger guys.
SA: How were they being treated?
ERIC LICHAJ: It’s a hard environment, just put it that way. …
Especially at the level I was playing at [English Championship League], if you’re not starting a game, you lose out [financially].
Depending on what’s in your contract, that can range from like 500 pounds ($700) to 5,000 pounds ($7,000) if you don’t start a game. And then if you don’t win a game, that’s more money that you’re not getting.
When you’ve got guys with two or three children, a wife, mortgages to pay, if somebody who’s 17, 18 years old is taking a 30-year-old’s spot, they’re going to do stuff to try to get their spot back. Just put it like that. … It’s tough seeing.
Lichaj first left his Illinois home at age 14 to join the U.S. Soccer U-17 Bradenton Residency Program. After a season at the University of North Carolina, during which he played only one game because he suffered a broken foot, Lichaj signed with Aston Villa. “I had been on trials before,” he said. “I think I failed about seven or eight times. When I got fit again, I had a trial at Aston Villa and they were the one that finally picked me up.”
SA: Were you empathetic to young players at Nottingham Forest because you recalled when you were breaking in?
ERIC LICHAJ: It was my experience when I first went to England, plus my first three to four months when I moved to Bradenton. I was one of the youngest players when I first arrived, so I was the one who would get a little bit of the heat, basically.
Then going over to England … As a generalization, American soccer is not rated high, although it’s gotten better in recent years. Now we go back 16 years, and I show up. … just even how I dressed and everything, I was in the firing line, just put it that way.
I say this to the players now: You’re going to have to go through a tough time and you have to come out the other side of it. That was my tough time that I got through.
I dealt with it in my own ways, but it’s hard enough to earn a start, and then to maintain a spot in the starting 11 at a professional club.
SA: Was there a turning point for you between your first year in England and the progress you made to the reserve team and to the Premier League?
ERIC LICHAJ: That first year was really difficult. I wasn’t playing at all. I was hot garbage. But I remember coming back for a Christmas break and seeing all my friends. And thinking about what I wanted to achieve. And I switched it on.
That next summer, every single day I was doing something to make myself a little bit better. I worked out and worked on various parts of my game. Because when I first went, I didn’t comprehend fitness levels and what it actually meant to maintain intensity every single day.
Lichaj started getting consistent playing time with the Aston Villa reserve team, and loan stints with fourth-tier Lincoln City and third-tier Leyton Orient led to his Premier League debut during the 2010-11 season. After a loan to second-tier Leeds United, he returned to Aston Villa for two Premier League seasons. His next five seasons with Nottingham Forest and two with Hull City were in the Championship League. Lichaj, an outside back, scored two goals in Forest’s 4-2 win over Arsenal in the 2018 FA Cup third round.
SA: Some of your stats from playing in England are pretty amazing: You had a run of averaging 40 matches per season over six straight years. What was the key to you having such a long career in English pro soccer?
ERIC LICHAJ: I think what helped me the most is my work ethic. I had a never-give-up kind of mentality, which resonated well with the English fans, I would say.
I just cared. I loved playing. And I think I bring that into how I coach as well.
I cared about performing at the highest level the best I could. I think that helped me have a longevity to stay over there that long. There were always some offers to come back to the MLS, but it was always on half of what I was earning.
- Eric Lichaj: Pro games in England
257 English Championship
32 Premier League
23 Premier Reserve League
16 League Cup
12 FA Cup
9 League One
6 League Two
Lichaj finished his playing career with Turkish Süper Lig club Fatih Karagumruk in 2020.
SA: You attended U.S. Soccer’s Bradenton Residency, which launched in 1999 with players including Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley. Christian Pulisic attended in 2013-14, along with Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams. It was meant to exist until it was no longer necessary because pro clubs would provide such an environment for players all over the country. U.S. Soccer closed the Bradenton Residency in 2017. Its final group included Josh Sargent. Besides the MLS Next league component, how does the academy setup in Cincinnati compare with what you experienced at Bradenton?
ERIC LICHAJ: The structure is quite similar. We train a minimum four times a week, sometimes five, and a game on the weekend. A fairly similar setup to what I was getting at that age, when I was like 14, 15. I was getting exposed to weight training and injury prevention. We had a mental coach when I was at Bradenton and we have a mental coach now here at FC Cincinnati. I would say the facilities, the infrastructure and the staffing are similar.
I didn’t really think about it when I was growing up. I just wanted to play. But thinking back on it now, it really, really helped me out. You might interview somebody in the same class as me and they’ll say it didn’t work out for them for whatever reason. But it pushed me or I wouldn’t be talking to you now.
SA: How did you end up taking the U-19s when you first arrived at Cincinnati?
ERIC LICHAJ: I was just attracted to coaching the next generation and when I first came here, the 19s position was open. Then after a year, the academy director wanted me to be a part of the pro-player pathway [MLS Next to MLS Next Pro to MLS] and put me in charge of the U-15s, which play against tougher opposition against the MLS teams.
I was a little bit wary because I was always used to coaching a little bit older players. They’re different but the same. You have to strip back your coaching a little bit more. What I’m saying to a 15-year-old will drastically differ to what I’m saying to an 18-year-old. Because they’re in a crucial development stage right now. But the team has progressed very well. …
Since I arrived, the first team has won the Supporters’ Shield. That’s really good because it pushes the younger guys to be even more motivated.
There are a couple homegrown players who have come through. So there’s a good little pipeline here in Cincinnati. I’m thankful for the opportunity that I’ve been given to be helping out with the next generation of youth players here in Cincinnati.
SA: You had a lot of coaches during your career and I imagine they influenced how you coach. Can you share a coaching quality that you especially appreciated?
ERIC LICHAJ: The one thing that I learned that I’ve tried to do as much as I can is: honesty.
From a player’s perspective, I would rather somebody say, “Eric, this is the situation. This is where you stand. We see you as second, third choice. It’s going to be tough for you to get minutes.”
As a senior pro, I would rather be told straight forward, whether you need to put in the extra work, or if it’s time to change clubs.
Obviously there are differences at the youth level. No one is a fortune teller, especially at my age group, who can know whether certain players will make it. With 14-, 15-year-olds you try to give opportunities to all the players. But honesty is important.
SA: Do you have an example of how a coach acted toward you that influenced you on how not to be as coach?
ERIC LICHAJ: When I went to my end-of-season meeting with my college coach, I told him I’m not returning. I’m going to Aston Villa. I’m going to be in their Premier League academy. And he goes, “How can you do this to me? Now I don’t have a right back for next season!”
I went into the meeting thinking he was gonna be like, “Well done. That’s awesome. All the best.” I was one of the only players at the time going over to England to pursue a career. And the coach is telling me that he’s upset because he doesn’t have a right back.
Thinking about how I felt after the meeting, now that I’m coaching, I don’t want any kid to ever feel that way.
I just want the best for all the players, whether it’s them making it to the professional teams, all the way to the national team, or whether it’s getting scholarships for college or playing in any capacity. I’m trying to push them and give them the tools to make them successful regardless of whatever level they’re at.
SA: When I spoke about coaching to Tim Ream, who’s also spent a lot of time in the English pro game as you, he said he experienced a fair amount of the marine sergeant-type coaches who shouted a lot at players. What was your experience and take on that sort of coaching?
ERIC LICHAJ: It’s a tough one for me. One of the coaches who had the biggest influence on me was Aston Villa’s reserve team coach Kevin MacDonald. He got done for bullying. I don’t know the whole ins and outs of it. I didn’t follow it. I just heard about it.
[Editor’s note: In 2017, a Premier League investigation found evidence of MacDonald bullying a young player in 2015-16, but Aston Villa kept MacDonald on as U-23 coach. Former Aston Villa player Gareth Farrelly, who had become a lawyer, came forward with the allegations of being bullied by MacDonald in the mid-1990s after reading about the 2017 investigation. After further investigation, MacDonald was suspended in 2018 and dismissed in 2019. Lichaj was not at Aston Villa during the years of the allegations.]
SA: What were your experiences being coached by Kevin MacDonald?
ERIC LICHAJ: You could probably say he was more military-like. But if it wasn’t for him, I would probably not have become a national team player. His standard was high for the whole team and everybody. When he was a coach on the field, it was almost like he was playing, with the intensity that needs to be shown every single moment you’re on the grass.
It was very, very hard to please him. And I did not get it for like a year and a half, two years. I don’t remember the exact moment. I think we were at a hotel and it clicked that he actually cares.
SA: What’s your approach on encouraging the right level of intensity?
ERIC LICHAJ: You have to be careful and not just shout to shout. If I go a little bit hard on the players, I try to always tell them why I’m doing it and the reasoning behind it.
Players have to figure out how to solve problems on the field, but there are some times at different moments when intensity needs to come from the coach.
If the level of intensity is not there in training, then I might elevate it a little bit. But not say harsh things. Not shouting just to shout.
SA: Do you consider the individual in how you communicate?
ERIC LICHAJ: One hundred percent. There are certain players that I’m probably a little bit harder on because I know they could handle it. And there are some players that I almost don’t say anything to, who I would always speak to in private because I know that they would take it personally and emotionally.
There will be times when something’s said and they’re going to have to handle it, eventually, but they’re still at a young age where that’s not necessary right now.
SA: When I was tracking you down for the interview, I connected with someone who at the 2024 Generation adidas Cup [where FC Cincinnati’s U-15 and U-17s reached the championship bracket] spoke with some your players, who told them they really enjoyed playing for you …
ERIC LICHAJ: I’m glad they said that, because I never get feedback from them. …
Their love for the game is there. Everyone wants to be a professional, get their last name on the back of the shirt, playing in front of a big, massive crowd. But at the end of the day, it’s still a game and I just want to inject the passion that I have for soccer into the next generation.
We’ll get some guys to play here at FC Cincinnati and maybe for their national teams. Regardless of whatever happens, hopefully they pursue soccer for as long as they can and play for as long as they can.
Great story. Lot of good info here – on Eric Lichaj. We need more like him to be part of our MLS clubs. Couple of questions I would have liked you to ask… (1) Who / What would you say were the key influences in your youth that got you to Brandenton? (2) The pull of college for U19 players is unique in our American context, many foreign players in the league and in youth academies are surprised when top prospects opt for college. How do you see this dynamic and in your experience, how do you guide the
players/families?
“And there are some players that I almost don’t say anything to, who I would always speak to in private”. He learned this the hard way as a player, so can pass this on as a coach. Not all young boys respond well to screamers but most coaches never played professionally so don’t know this simple fact or don’t care. It’s no wonder that almost all the boys our kids played with throughout club soccer no longer play as adults. And to me that’s proof our system is still failing. There is little pure love of the game left once they age out and that’s pay-to-plays biggest failure, in my opinion.