Meet Your Striker…Alecko Eskandarian Talks

There have been several new additions to the Chivas USA squad this season. The Offsides wants to meet all of them. So here is one of many introductions of new players. Alecko Eskandarian steps up first.

TO: Tell The Offsides about your history, starting at DC United.

AE: It was an awesome experience, I have nothing but good things to say about that. Coming out of UVA to get picked up number one at DC was cool, just because it was not too far from school, friends, and not too far from home. I was happy to end up in DC and it really became my second home. I was there for a little over four years and made a lot of friends, a lot of memories and we had some damn good teams so I’m glad we won a championship and got rewarded for that.

TO: At DC in your third year, you had a concussion. Tell us a little about that.

AE: The concussion was by far the most depressing time of my life. I had a bunch of concussions before, but I was usually back within a week, ten days. And then finally that last one, from the get go I knew something was wrong, and I ended up having a migraine every day for about ten months. It was definitely the hardest part of my life. To be honest, every day not being able to do what you love and just stuck being a couch potato. It was really frustrating but I just kept faith and I had a lot of people that were strong around me who kept me positive and I knew eventually I would come back.

TO: From there you were traded from DC to Toronto. You were doing well, a fan favorite. Was the trade expected?

AE: I made my comeback the following year and did well, was an All Star and all that stuff. I actually was playing with a torn meniscus the last two months of the season that I didn’t even know about till after the year. A lot of people don’t know that because we thought it was a hamstring thing and it was actually a torn meniscus. I played in the playoffs but would come out every game in the 60th minute because I couldn’t take the pain anymore after getting shots and things like that. Totally surprised in the off season I just got a call one day saying yeah, you’re being shipped out and it totally came as a surprise but the situation was kind of crazy (in DC). Peter Nowac had resigned and it wasn’t really him that pulled the strings so I really don’t have anyone to get upset with I guess besides the front office. From what I understand it was more of a business decision more than anything else and I kind of had a rude awakening. That is the harsh reality of pro sports. There is going to be decisions made based on business and money and things like that so it sucks. I definitely did not want to or ask to leave DC but that’s how it goes sometimes.

TO: So what was Canada like?

AE: I think mentally I was still affected that I was traded from DC but I was still looking forward to going to Toronto and having a fresh start. It sucked because I had to get surgery for my meniscus and so I missed pretty much all of my preseason and never really had a chance to fit or feel comfortable and obviously with the living situation, a lot of our guys were struggling to find apartments and stuff. They were just kind of strict out there with leases and things like that. It was a little bit of a circus but I gave it everything I had when I played and the fans there treated my great and I love my teammates but sure enough, that didn’t last too long either.

TO: Trader Mo they call him right?

AE: It was a circus with some of the things he was doing but that’s the path he chose to go with and all you can do is accept it. We had a lot of good players there and I’m happy to see a lot of the guys who got traded doing well, like Mulrooney, Nagamura, Conner Casey, all of these guys. I think we would have had a really good team had we all stayed but…

TO: Transitioning to Real Salt Lake. What was the situation like?

AE: I respect Jason Kries a lot. I think he gave up a lot to bring me in. Jeff Cunningham was the leading scorer of the league so many times and basically it was just a new group of players that Jason was on a mission to try to instill a new attitude in and so I was kind of the first change that he made to try and turn that franchise into a winning franchise. It wasn’t easy, and we had a lot of missing pieces to the puzzle but I think this year they will be good. I enjoyed my time at Salt Lake but losing out on playoffs is frustrating and playing on the turf is frustrating and after the season I became a free agent and decided that I didn’t want to play there.

TO: In your off season, you did some training overseas? Belgium? What was that experience like. Can you compare the play to MLS?

AE: It was awesome. I had a couple trials set up and my first stop was at Standard Liege in Belgium and my good friend Oguchi Onyewu plays out there too so it was great to play out there. Awesome experience, the soccer there is a different level. The best way I could describe it is, they play much better soccer but if they played against an MLS team, I really don’t know, I think we might win to be honest with you, so it’s just different. It was a great experience, loved it out there and I had to make a tough decision of whether I wanted to go out and play in Europe or sign here in MLS. Chivas made an interesting offer and I sat down with my family and decided what would be best for me.

TO: So that leads you to Chivas USA. Now that you are here with the team, how do you see yourself contributing?

AE: I think I’m just going to show up every day and work my hardest. Obviously right now it’s pretty frustrating for me that I haven’t been able to be out there every day with my injury (groin strain) and getting all that stuff sorted out but I think once I get healthy I’m going to do every thing I can to win games. Whether that means being dangerous up top or playing off of the forwards, or being a target guy. Whatever is asked of me I will do. I think probably the best quality I can bring is I will play to win, and I don’t think there is any teammate or coach that I played with or for that can deny that. I hate to lose and I play to win so I will do everything I can to be a starter and up to steam.

TO: You father, Andradik Eskandarian, NASL Cosmos, Iranian National Team. What type of influence has he been?

AE: He taught me everything I know, he’s been the biggest influence in my life and he taught me more about life than about soccer which is a great testament to him. They are still stuck in Jersey, in the cold so they are going to look forward to coming out whenever they get a chance.

TO: Do you have any personal goals for 2008?

AE: Yeah… I have a bunch. I’m going to keep them to myself.

Alecko seems to be a great addition to the squad. He will actively compete for a starting position up front. He wants to play and wants to play here.

He had been struggling with a left groin strain, but began to train with the team yesterday. Great timing because here comes the new season. I think the important question is can he play soccer better than miniature golf.

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