Brooklyn FC head coach Marlon LeBland (Photo courtesy of: Brooklyn FC)
Brooklyn FC Men’s is set to kick off its inaugural season in the United Soccer League Championship on Sunday against Indy Eleven at Maimonides Park in Coney Island at 3 P.M. ET.
They will be the third men’s team, and the fifth professional side, to play in the Five Boroughs after MLS sides New York City FC and Red Bull New York, as well as NWSL champions Gotham FC and Brooklyn FC’s women’s team, who have played in the USL Gainsbridge Super League for the past two seasons.
Head coach Marlon LeBlanc leads the side into a historic season for the borough and has built the side from the ground up alongside general manager Brian McBride. They have added 25 names to their roster, not least former New York City FC winger Tommy McNamara, USL League One Championship player of the year and golden boot winner Juan Carlos “J.C.” Obregón, and former Liverpool FC academy talent Ryan McLaughlin.
“It’s been an ambition of mine to make sure that our locker room is connected, it’s tight, that they’re together, and that we have a little bit more of a unique feel compared to maybe some other USL teams,” LeBlanc told amNY. “The team part remains special and remains at the forefront.”
The former Philadelphia Union II and U.S. Men’s National Team Under-18s manager emphasized a “humility and a servant attitude” that would unite the team of 15 nationalities with playing experience ranging from the Canadian Premier League to Ykkösliiga, Finland’s second division.
LeBlanc and his men have set out on a warpath to ensure their first season is a successful one. LeBlanc and McBride have been intentional about recruiting, making sure they have the right characters in the dressing room to unite the team and make sure high standards remain, and the mentality is solely focused on the next match.
“I know we play Detroit next only because our operations guy talked to me about the flights, but I couldn’t tell you we play after that,” LeBlanc said. “ I live today…I’ve learned that right now is the time to live it and to put everything into this moment. You’re not guaranteed tomorrow, and you can’t do anything about yesterday. For me, Indy Eleven is the biggest game of the year for now.”
McNamara is the oldest in the squad at 35 years old and is expected to lead the squad. He has had conversations with LeBlanc about squad building and has been at the beginning of a new club before, when he joined NYCFC in 2015, City’s inaugural season. He mentioned it was interesting being “on the other side of things,” but knows what it takes to acclimate to a team and a new environment quickly.
“Part of what attracted me to being here is using my experience to kind of help the group…it’s the intentionality of trying to make sure that everybody is connected, and connecting the group,” McNamara told amNY. “That’s something that I’ve tried to keep in my mind, and just trying to learn about people, about their families, about their upbringing, about what brought them to Brooklyn, and what their story was before coming here. And then I think just trying to be an example in how I conduct myself and hold myself to a standard, trying to use that to hopefully be a reference point for the group.
“I got to learn a lot from that as a younger player,” McNamara said of his experience at the City Football Group side.
Brooklyn FC will be the second team in NYC to be playing in a baseball stadium — something McNamara is all too familiar with — but LeBlanc guarantees Maimonides Park’s pitch is “bigger than Yankee Stadium’s dimensions.”
Brooklyn-native Obregón knows this is a “special and unique opportunity” to represent his hometown team and is in a fine vein of form to ensure Brooklyn FC is well within contention with promotion and relegation rolls around in 2028, especially as the USL will add its first division league — the USL Premier — at the same time.
“I’m experienced enough and played in different levels where the game has slowed down now,” Obregón said. “For me, scoring goals has been like repetition and building good habits in training.”
The 28-year-old former Westchester SC striker is expected to lead the line for Brooklyn FC and will be the talisman who spearheads their season. However, the goal-scoring burden doesn’t just rely on him, with 26-year-old Shaan Hundal expected to pick it up with 20 goals in the Canadian Premier League and 15 goals in the USL Championship previously.
Whilst the team’s aspiration is to win it all in its first year — as is any sports organization’s — LeBlanc wants to build a team first, before challenging for a title.
“We want to be playing and winning the final, there’s no doubt about that,” LeBlanc said. “Obviously, that’s an easy way to say success…But I think it’s really establishing this club in arguably the hardest market in the country, maybe even around the planet. This isn’t about a one-year thing for me, this is about a longevity thing.”
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