I thinks its fair to say NYCFC have one of the most underrated academies in Major League Soccer.
Despite being less than a decade old, the blue side of New York has already churned out an impressive core of talent - all boasting unique skillsets, and blazing different paths to their current successes.
NYCFC's 18/19 Academy Team celebrating their U.S. Soccer DA Championship (Via NYCFC.com)
Gio Reyna is so talented that USMNT Twitter damn near exploded when he didn’t regularly feature at the World Cup, Joe Scally has played seemingly every minute of every game for the last two seasons at ‘Glabach, James Sands has taken the captain’s armband for his boyhood club, and Tayvon Gray basically strapped every left winger in the Eastern Conference en route to an MLS Cup victory in 2021.
And this season, we’ve seen the true emergence of another homegrown talent flashing their potential: Justin Haak.
Justin Haak (Via Katie Cahalin)
He’s breached the 1,000 minute mark in 2023 for the first time in his NYCFC career, scored twice (yes I’m counting the Atlas one - sue me), and has proven effective for Nick Cushing’s side both in the midfield and at center back.
In my eyes, Justin has “cult-hero” written all over him. Because beyond his burgeoning on-field performance, physical prowess, and tangible potential lies a true New Yorker.
So, I sat down with the man himself, Justin Haak, to chat about his soccer roots, his journey to NYCFC’s first team, and his relationship with the city itself.
Justin's Soccer Roots
“I probably started around six or seven years old” Justin said, over a zoom call that I still can’t believe he actually joined.
“When I was in elementary school, I would say I was very lucky because there was a good group of us that would play soccer every recess period. That was kind of like pickup for me when I was really young”.
Haak, unsurprisingly, played a ton of soccer from a very young age, and his background is one that’ll probably be familiar to anyone who played youth soccer in the area.
Justin Haak playing for Met Oval (Via Justin Haak on Instagram)
“My first team was Chelsea Piers. My dad would coach there, and I would play with all the ages groups - from U8 to U12”, he said. “On the weekends I’d play like 5 or 6 games. Sometimes I’d play a game with the U10 team, then take the train to go play with the U12 team afterwards.”
Chelsea Piers served as a stepping stone to Justin’s next destination, Metropolitan Oval Academy. “Met Oval”, as it’s known, is one of the most competitive youth organizations in the country, and is a staple of the New York soccer scene.
If you were good at that age, maybe you’d play for your local club team. But if you were different, you’d play for a team like Met Oval. And, if you were the best of the best in the Met Oval world, that’s when NYCFC would come calling.
NYCFC Academy Days
Haak recalled, “When I joined Met Oval, there was no NYCFC at the time. But when I was about 12 or 13 years old, that’s when they announced they were going to do the [NYCFC] academy.”
He continued, “One year before the academy started, they started doing ID Centers … they invited guys from Met Oval, Gottschee, and some others … and once or twice a month they’d do a training center to get an idea of the kids in the area.”
As you probably could’ve guessed, Haak caught the eye of the coaches and staff at these ID centers, and soon enough he was repping NYCFC’s academy at just 14 years of age.
A young Justin Haak in training (Via Soccer Today)
But while playing for your local MLS club’s academy team sounds like every kids dream, it doesn’t come without sacrifice. Training four days a week, and usually all the way out at St. John’s University in Queens, it was a hell of a commute from the High School of Environmental Studies where Justin attended classes at the time.
To ensure he wasn’t late to practice, Haak would schedule his free period and his lunch period as the last two blocks of the day, recalling that he’d leave school around 1:30 or 2:00 in the afternoon to make it on time.
But Justin wasn’t alone in these efforts, as he had a handful of teammates that would help him out along the way. From sharing rides to and from practice, to bettering each other on the field, to keeping each other company on away days, Haak was quick to shout out his academy teammates.
Justin Haak and his fellow academy graduates, James Sands, Joe Scally, and Tayvon Gray (Via NYCFC Youth on Twitter)
When I asked about fellow homegrowns like James Sands, Tayvon Gray, and Andres Jasson, Justin offered, “Those guys right now … I’d definitely consider them my brothers”, as he reminisced playing with James and Tayvon in particular since he was only about 10 years old.
“We really pushed each other every single day” Justin rounded out, “It helped us get better and better all the time, and that’s why we have a lot of guys being so successful now.”
And that group of academy kids leaning on one and other paid dividends towards their common goal of living kid's dream - playing professionally.
The Call to the First Team
“I actually remember the very first time”, Haak happily recalled when I asked about his experiences with the first team, “It was an international break, and a few first team guys were away on international duty, so they sent a few of us an email … I remember we were texting each other being like, ‘this is so cool.’”
And, once the organization felt the time was right, trainings with the first team turned into the real deal - a first team contract.
Justin Haak signs a first team contract (Via Soccer Today)
“I signed about halfway through senior year, so my attendance for that half was close to zero percent” Justin joked, before quickly confirming that he did, in fact, finish school through the flexibility and understating of his teachers.
Signing in 2019, Haak joined the likes of fellow academy graduates James Sands and Joe Scally, who were the only two homegrown players in club history to come before him. He was soon followed by the likes of fellow aforementioned academy standouts Tayvon Gray and Andres Jasson.
“Now that we’re all together, we have a great relationship in the first team." Justin said, "We’re always around each other in the facilities, talking to each other on away trips and during preseason … I think it helps us a lot to be more comfortable in the first team now.”
2023 Breakthrough
After a few years of finding his feet through fairly limited minutes in years passed, Haak’s role in this 2023 NYCFC squad cannot be overlooked.
Whether that be in his more natural position in the midfield, or in his more recent appearances at left-center back in a back-3, Justin has shown impressive poise for his age and relative first team experience - especially so for someone often playing on their weaker left side.
That adaptability has proved huge for Nick Cushing in his search for answers through heavily rotated squads in what’s been a difficult campaign for the club.
Justin Haak celebrates his first career goal (Via Katie Cahalin)
His “can do” attitude was exemplified back in June when, after a long stretch of starts at center back, I asked whether he was itching to get back to midfield, or if he thought he had a future at center back. His answer was a coaches dream:
“I definitely think center back is somewhere I could play. I think what I give the team with the ball helps us a lot when building out. If I can improve the defensive sides of my game, it’s definitely somewhere I could take the next steps at.”
However, just a few short weeks later, and right when I had convinced myself that Justin was going to stick to center back, Haak steamed forward from a midfield position and smashed home his first career goal for NYCFC, becoming the first homegrown player in club history to find the back of the net for the first team.
Adaptability at it’s finest.
On the city of New York
It’s no secret New York is a hotbed for soccer. From the fields of Pier 40 to Pier 5, to the screens of your local dive bar and the flags in your local pizza shop, you can feel the heartbeat of the beautiful game wherever you go.
“There’s just so many people in New York” Justin added on the topic, “New York is so big and diverse that you have a lot of people from different parts of the world - all different types of players.”
Justin Haak in Brooklyn's Maria Hernandez Park (Via NYCFC.com)
This is certainly seen at the grassroots level in the city, where players hailing from all sorts of backgrounds and cultures turn up to the park at any time to strut their stuff. The different kits and playing styles alone can tell that story in its own right, but that narrative continues up to the highest level of the game as well.
Looking at the backgrounds and playing styles of the aforementioned NYCFC homegrowns, you’ll find a subway mosaic of personality, culture, and play style. That mural only grows when you include other notable names from the city like Tim Weah, Yunus Musah, and Jonathan David.
New York-born USMNT Stars, Yunus Musah and Tim Weah (Via SBI Soccer)
Other than the fact that they're all from New York, the only true commonality between these players, their culture, and their playing styles appears to be the fact that they’re all entirely different.
But this communal, cultural appetite for the beautiful game in the Big Apple has always lacked one thing: a mecca.
And while that home for football in the five borough will have to wait until 2027 (when NYCFC's stadium is scheduled to open), it’s not without adequate anticipation or understanding of significance.
“I think the stadium is going to be massive”, Haak declared. “It’s the only thing that the club is really missing … finally having a home that you can come to consistently … it’s gonna be really big”
Justin continued, “Especially being in Queens right next to Flushing Park … already a lot of people are playing soccer there, so to have the stadium just a walking distance from that is going to be really big for the club.”
NYCFC's proposed stadium renderings (Via NYCFC.com)
And, like Haak said, the stadium really may be the last piece of the puzzle for not just NYCFC, but for the soccer culture of the city itself.
While NYCFC have built an impressive following within the five boroughs, it’s no secret that the majority of soccer fans in the city support clubs elsewhere. Whether that’s due to the nature of familial loyalty to foreign clubs, the perceived quality of MLS, or a mix of both is up for debate. Regardless, NYCFC are not yet the pinnacle of soccer fandom, culture, or tradition in this city.
But, having a homegrown player like Justin Haak, who was born the Manhattan, raised in Brooklyn, and professionally polished between The Bronx and Queens, playing in New York’s very own soccer stadium sounds like a damn good place to start.
For that reason, Justin Haak serves as a fitting symbol for what soccer means to the city now, and what it could mean for the world's game in the five boroughs moving forward.