At just 19 years old, Ignacio Aliseda left Defensa y Justicia in his native Argentina for a chance to play with the Chicago Fire.
Aliseda saw the Fire as the perfect opportunity to expand his horizons. The Fire, too, saw Aliseda as promising, signing the attacker to a designated player contract in February 2020 — a high profile for a young player.
“For me, it was a good opportunity to leave the club where I was playing and try my football out in another place, another country, breathe in different areas and face different challenges,”Aliseda, who recently turned 21, told the Tribune. “I think that’s fundamental sometimes to always be challenging yourself. It’s fundamental for your growth.”
Aliseda, who plays as a winger and attacking midfielder, joined the Fire in early March 2020 and took part in only a handful of training sessions with his new team. He was an unused substitute in the Fire’s 1-1 draw with the New England Revolution.
Less than a week later, the world shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aliseda was forced into isolation in a foreign country in which he spoke little English and knew very few people. He said he learned more about himself with the extra time alone but also felt comforted by those back home.
“While we had that quarantine time, I think everyone feels kind of lonely,” he said. “But when I would speak with my family, I always felt like they were close to me.”
“Nacho,” as he’s called by teammates and relatives, comes from a big family: He has seven siblings and is close with about half of them as well as his mother, grandparents, uncles and aunts. Growing up in Buenos Aires, his family served as inspiration — his mom is his motivation who taught him about hard work, his sister preached persistence and never giving up, his brother hammered in the idea of discipline.
Aliseda said his mother, Lorena, is more than just his parent, she’s also a friend whom he can lean on during tough times such as the pandemic. He said he didn’t expect the pandemic to have the effect for as long as it did, but talking to his family kept him from boredom during stretches of the pandemic.
Fire coach Raphael Wicky can put himself in Aliseda’s shoes. Wicky is from Switzerland and played in his home country, Germany, Spain, and the United States so he knows what it’s like going to a foreign country and not knowing others.
But he also confided in his teammates and made friends through hangouts, a luxury Aliseda didn’t immediately have.
“When you go to a new country, you normally find really quickly some teammates you get along with,” Wicky told the Tribune. “That’s where you grab yourself in a foreign country and then say, ‘OK, these are my guys. I’m going to hang out with them. They’re going to make me feel comfortable. This is going to help me have a new home.’
“He was one of the guys that that was taken away from. That was very difficult, those first three months for him, he was 19 years old.”
Aliseda said his transition back to the field was tough at first. It also was difficult to train and play during quarantine without equipment. Unable to play outside and with no equipment — a far cry from growing up playing in the streets with friends — it took him some time to get back into his rhythm.
But he said his Fire coaches and teammates — especially Spanish-speaking ones — picked him up when he wasn’t feeling great heading into training.
After the MLS Is Back Tournament outside Orlando, Fla., in July — when he played just 60 minutes — Aliseda said something clicked in his head, and he was determined to play better.
In his first season, he scored a goal and added two assists, scoring in the Fire’s Soldier Field homecoming, but knows that as a DP he needs to produce more in his second season.
“My 2020 season wasn’t as good as I wanted,” Aliseda said during a conference call last month. “Maybe I had my expectations set too high. I had few goals and few assists, and it really just wasn’t the way I wanted it to be.
“But now … I have renewed energies and a renewed desire to improve, and I think we can see that with everyone where everyone has renewed desire to make the group better.”
Wicky said Aliseda showed flashes of the player he can be but needs more consistency.
“What I saw then was a guy who was willing to integrate into the team, who opened up himself and who showed good moments and a lot of potential,” Wicky said. “I expect from him this year to make the next step in his personal life and in the team and on the field.”
Aliseda returned home in November and said it was special for his mom, who was worried she wouldn’t even see her son again. He returned to Chicago — his second home — in February with a new mindset.
Aliseda played 25 minutes Saturday in the Fire’s 2-2 draw with the Revolution at Soldier Field.
He doesn’t feel pressure from others but has high expectations for himself — and he wants to be seen as a player who gives his all.
“Today, I feel renewed, refreshed, with the desire to give the best of myself,” Aliseda said. “I want everyone to see what I’m able to do, to see my football. Last season, I wasn’t really at 100%. And this season, I’ve made the decision to give the best of myself.
“I want to give everyone a good show and show what I can do.”
Tribune reporter Jeremy Mikula contributed.
