At Gillette Stadium, Cincinnati FC player Greg Garza recalled the good times he spent in Portugal

A native of Grapevine, Texas, Greg Garza spent nearly five years of his youth playing in Portugal, was a two-time national champion with Sporting CP’s junior team and began his professional career at Estoril Praia. But the lack of opportunities led him to Mexico, where he played for several seasons with Tijuana. Then in December of 2016, Garza returned home, to sign for Atlanta United, the team he helped to the Major League Soccer title in 2018.

Although Garza started at left back in all five of Atlanta’s postseason games, the club traded him to expansion side Cincinatti FC last December. On Sunday, he came to Gillette Stadium and helped his new team surprise the New England Revolution, 2-0. After the game, he kindly agreed to speak with us, in perfect Portuguese, and fondly recalled the almost five years that he spent in Portugal, a country where he intends to return after he finishes his career.

Interestingly his first experience abroad occurred when Garza was only 12 years old. As he explained in a recent interview, at the time he was coached by a mentor who had coached at São Paulo so he, accompanied by his mother, went to Brazil because back then he already had the dream of becoming a professional soccer player.

A few years later he returned to the United States and went to play for the Dallas Texans. At the time, Garza was called up to the U.S. National team that played in the U-17 World Cup in South Korea in 2007, where he drew the attention of scouts from some of Portugal’s top teams. As a result he was invited to come to Sporting on trial and wound up staying.   

O Jornal – You spent some of your academy years in Portugal. In terms of your career was that stay in Portugal important?

GG – “Yes and also in terms of my personal life, it is a very beautiful place and occupies a very special space in my heart. When it’s all over, I’m going to finish my career in Portugal, if God willing, in Lisbon.”

O Jornal – From your time at the Sporting Academy, are there any former teammates that the public might know?

GG – “Yes, of course. Cedric Soares (currently with Inter Milan), Nuno Reis (Bulgarian club PFC Levski Sofia). There were a few, Renato Neto, who is with Gent (Belgium). The football world is small. There are several players here in Cincinnati who played with friends of mine who were with me at Sporting.”

Greg Garza has 10 caps for the United States, most coming between 2014 and 2015, when he was with the team in the Gold Cup. In January he was once again called to camp to prepare for a friendly against Panama, but a quadriceps injury forced him to leave.

O Jornal – Do you still have hopes of being re-called? 

GG – “Yes, of course. This is something that’s always on your mind. I was not called up this time because I was injured, something that kept me out of the preseason. I couldn’t do the preseason with the Cincinnati team and that prevented me from making the national team. But little by little I’m returning to my normal level and, God willing, I will return to the national team.”

After the experience in Mexico, Greg Garza returned to United States and signed with Atlanta United, on December 11, 2016. Less than two years later the team won the title in a season in which they set a new attendance record in MLS, an average of more than 53,000 fans per game.        

O Jornal – It’s a new stadium, the atmosphere must have been spectacular.

GG – “I tell people that it will be hard to happen again. To be in the league just two years and be champion in the second year is a very rare thing. It was an incredible experience that I lived with my family in Atlanta and now I’m in another similar project, very similar as it pertains to starting a completely new project. It is 30 players who just met and now we have to grow so that, God willing, we can do the same thing that I did in Atlanta last year.”

 But, on December 11, Atlanta United decided to trade Greg Garza to Cincinnati FC, an expansion team that debuted this year in MLS. And so far the team appears ready to make a run at repeating Atlanta’s feat as they currently share first place in the Eastern Conference.       

O Jornal – on Sunday your team came to Foxboro missing several starters who were on international duty, but anyone watching the game would have thought that it was the Revolution who were playing shorthanded. How was that possible? 

GG – “Unfortunately, the Revolution are going through a very complicated moment. In this league, when your name is called, you always have to be ready to play, and I think all the players who were called upon had a very special day, and we also had a few who made their MLS debut (on Sunday). I’m very happy with the way things went and now we have to continue to grow a little more in each game and, God willing, when we’re in the playoffs we can look back at this game and remember.”

In closing, Greg Garza sent out a special greeting to our community because Portugal holds a very special place in his heart. His wife, Tauna, is Brazilian, and they got married in Portugal because the father-in-law, Santos, played at Sporting de Braga. 

In another interview in December, with ‘maisfutebol’, he had already explained that he loves Portugal because “it was the place where I arrived as a boy and I became a man. I’ll carry that memory for the rest of my life.”

As he also told us, “Lisbon is my favorite city. I will not trade anything for Lisbon and Portugal. I imagine myself after finishing my career here, eight or nine years from now, having a house in Cascais or in Estoril, or an apartment on Avenida da Liberdade. One of the best memories I have is waking up every morning, going out for a cup of espresso, reading the sports newspapers and standing there and watching people walk down the street. I can’t think of anything better.”

For those of us who were not aware of the career path of this 27 year old left defender, this conversation was a pleasant surprise. Although not born in Portugal, Greg Garza is truly one of our ambassadors in MLS.