It’s no surprise that Austin FC’s first appearance in a major final – and the club’s emergence as a contender generally – coincides with the arrival of Ilie Sanchez.
He’s elegance personified in the deep-lying midfield role. Off the field, Sanchez is soft-spoken and modest, eager to touch on concepts larger than the individual. When he speaks of “journeys” how the current iteration of Austin FC is “developing organically” and "experiencing an evolution,” it’s with a gravitas few in Major League Soccer can match.
When Austin FC’s captain speaks, people listen.
“We haven’t done anything yet,” he told ussoccer.com, words tinted around the edges with his native Catalan and oozing, always, a kind of rare wisdom. “We will know more in a few weeks what we’ve done. We know we have a Final at home, which is an incredible experience to have – for the fans, the owners, for the staff and everyone who has built this club from scratch.”
Sanchez is a soccer mystic. He’s interested in the nuts and bolts of the game, yes, but also in the idea of some greater design. It’s no surprise. At La Masia, the loom where FC Barcelona’s young talent is woven and where Austin FC’s 34-year-old midfielder studied among the masters, you learn big lessons early.
Deep Barcelona Roots to one of MLS’ Finest
“You learn that the people who do the work of the club – trainers to the staff around the stadium, everyone, how much they all matter,” said Sanchez, in his first year as captain of the five-year-old MLS club Austin FC – decades removed from his early days at Barcelona’s famed youth academy. “A lot was familiar to me already because Barcelona was my home, and I grew up learning lessons about the club.
“Barça was part of my identity and my culture,” he said in an almost-reverent hush about the club where he learned his craft from the age of seven to nine, before returning to play for Barcelona B between 2009 and 2014. “It’s part of who I am.”
Ilie was born in Barcelona, the capital of Spain’s Catalonia region, to a family steeped in the club’s traditions. His parents were club members. His grandfather was the academy director of La Masia. Ilie’s blood was tinted blaugrana from his time in the womb. And, as a wide-eyed local, he was surrounded by academy mates from all over the world. They lived their lives at La Masia’s stone farmhouse, behind its centuries-old wooden doors, learning the lessons passed on like a magic scroll from the times of László Kubala in the 1960s to Johan Cruyff, up to the glory days of Pep Guardiola and Lamine Yamal today.
Life Lessons On and Off the Field
It’s hard, as Americans, to understand the value of Barcelona FC to the Catalan people of Spain. More than a Club is more than a slogan. It’s a measure of “values and manners, the product of specific education on and off the field,” according to Sanchez. He’ll not brag about the many times he was called into Guardiola’s training sessions, or having played, as a young apprentice, on those training pitches with all-time game-changers like Neymar, Andres Iniesta and Xavi, Carles Puyol and, yes, Messi too.
Sanchez takes his time to make sure he gets his point across properly. He has a near-perfect command of English, his third language behind Spanish and Catalan. Each syllable is pronounced with care.
