Here at Long Balls, our bag of writing tricks is pretty easy to haul around at the best of times, nevermind when we're on our patchy summer posting schedule. Therefore, when we went searching for a word to describe young Canadian Joseph DiChiara's rapid ascent through the ranks of Russian football, the first one we found was "meteoric."
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
The Toronto-area youth out of North York's Spartacus Soccer Club signed a pro contract with Russian Premier League side Krylya Sovetov in March. That is impressive, considering he is 19 years old. Starting with the youth team, he progressed in the span of four months to the reserve squad, to being an unused sub with the first team, to a substitute appearance with the first team last weekend, and then finally, his first start on Wednesday.
DiChiara, described as a defensive midfielder, played all 90 minutes in a 3-0 loss to Anzhi Makhachkala. That club is home to once-brilliant Brazilian fullback Roberto Carlos, who also did the full ninety.
The Russian Premier League is not England, Spain or Germany, but it's hardly a gig for stiffs either. It's UEFA's 7th ranked league, and anyone who follows European football will immediately recognize clubs such as Rubin Kazan, Zenit Saint Petersburg and CSKA Moscow.
One match does not mark the second coming of Claude Makélelé, but it's still remarkable that a kid developed in Toronto has made such fast progress in Russia. The fact Krylya Soveto is placed near the bottom of the table notwithstanding. An interesting interview with the president of Spartacus can be found
A hardworking Krylya Sovetov fan has been updating Canadian supporters on DiChiara’s progress over the past few months via online fanboards. To give a sense of how the he is coming along, here's some words originally written by one of the team’s coaches in Russian describing a seminal moment during DiChiara's time on the training pitch.
"As if animated golem suddenly danced on the football pitch - he showed everything: mobility, power, intellect."
Whew! Such words are enough to quicken anyone's pulse, nevermind the pulses of those who watched 270 minutes of Canada in the Gold Cup earlier this month. That side could certainly have used an animated golem or two in the middle of the field.
DiChiara has never represented Canada at any youth level, but some supporters have already sounded online rallying calls to get him into the senior setup for the first round of World Cup qualifying later this year. Assuming that is, he continues to get regular minutes in Russia.
What do you think? How does the potential of youth, regular action in the Russian Premier League and an extremely rapid learning curve compare with Canada’s established central midfielding suspects like Julian de Guzman, Patrice Bernier, Terry Dunfield, Will Johnson and Pedro Pacheco?
If DiChiara establishes himself in Russia, Long Balls wholeheartedly endorses seeing him suit up for Canada against anyone in Concacaf, be it Saint Lucia or Mexico.