Las Vegas teen Chavarria wins search contest
- by Soccer America , May 19, 2014
Chavarria, who was discovered during the LA Galaxy trials, has been invited to join one of the club’s academy teams.
“Despite is young age, Chavarria proved to be very technical,” said Sueno MLS mentor Carlos Valderrama in a statement. “He is a player with the ability to challenge his opponent when he doesn’t have ball possession; who has good positioning and knows how to read the play.”
Steven Manuel Ortiz, a 14 year-old goalkeeper from Linden, New Jersey, won the El Portero Allstate award as the top goalkeeper. He is the youngest goalkeeper to win this award and has been invited to join one of New York Red Bulls Academy teams, where he was initially discovered at the local tryouts.
“Ortiz has all the skills a goalkeeper needs," said former Mexico international goalkeeper Martin Zuniga, who worked with the goalies. "He is quick and agile but also has a great command of the field and is very knowledgeable of the game. A goalkeeper needs to do more than just defend, he has to be the first one to attack and is the last line of defense, and he is very good at both."
The two winners were picked from among the 18 national finalists who took part in regional showcases in New York, Denver and Los Angeles.
