SAN JOSE, Calif. -- When Ellis McLoughlin takes possession of the ball, fellow San Jose Earthquakes first-year attacker Matt Luzunaris takes notice.
“I love playing with Ellis,” Luzunaris said Tuesday, after McLoughlin set him up for the winning goal in San Jose’s 2-1 Reserve League victory against Vancouver. “He’s a playmaker. He’s one guy who, when he gets the ball, I know he’s going to do something with it. I’ve just got to make sure I’m in the right place at the right time.”
For his part, the 20-year-old McLoughlin, a former member of the US Under-17 national team, is hoping that San Jose is the right place and 2011 the right time to jump-start his career. It went stagnant in Germany, thanks in part to two torn ligaments in his left ankle that cost him most of 2009.
And it didn’t help that Lucien Favre, the coach who signed McLoughlin at Hertha Berlin, was fired in the meantime.
“I wanted to come back [to the US] for sure,” said McLoughlin, who trialed with Seattle last year but went back to Berlin to play out his deal. “Europe was cool, but I think for my development, being back here is way better. The league is getting stronger and stronger every year.
"I had opportunities to try out in the second and third league in Germany, but I decided to come back. Three years is long enough there when you’re not playing. I just had to change it up.”
[inline_node:331801]
McLoughlin made his MLS debut Saturday, coming on in the 71st minute and playing a wide forward on the right side as the Quakes pushed desperately for an equalizer in Real Salt Lake’s 1-0 victory. On Tuesday he split time on either side, playing wide on the left in the first half and on the right in the second, with Luzunaris as the target man in the middle.
McLoughlin keyed the goal-scoring sequence by making a perfectly timed overlapping run. Simon Dawkins rewarded that move with a through ball that nearly took McLoughlin to the endline. From there, he sent in a low, searching cross that Luzunaris redirected to the far post, eluding Vancouver goalkeeper Joe Cannon.
“I can use both feet, so either side works for me,” said McLoughlin, who is naturally left-footed. “But I think that cutting in from the right side into the left is my stronger side.”
Quakes assistant Mark Watson, who serves as the head man for the reserves game, said McLoughlin has impressed San Jose’s staff with his single-minded drive to put the ball in a dangerous position every time he touches it.
“Whether it’s him making a run and sliding someone in or him going straight to goal and having a shot, he wants to score,” Watson said. “He gets himself turned and he’s going towards goal, which we love.”
McLoughlin, who can also be used in the middle of the Quakes’ 4-3-3 formation, is still a work in progress when it comes to holding up the ball with his back to goal and making the right choice of whether to turn and attack or lay the ball off.
“I’m definitely a straightforward player,” McLoughlin said. “I like to attack. I like to take on players one-on-one. That’s my strength. That’s what I try to do. I’ll do it until it doesn’t work any more.”
Geoff Lepper covers the Earthquakes for MLSsoccer.com. He
can be reached at sanjosequakes@gmail.com.
On Twitter: @sjquakes
