Victor Pineda Returns Home With Something To Prove
For Victor Pineda, Wednesday represents more than just an opportunity to play in the quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. It’s a chance to play in front of family and friends and against his former club, the Chicago Fire.
Pineda also heads back to Chicago, with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, with something to prove.
“It’s an opportunity to prove myself again,” Pineda told NASL.com. “I was there for four years and probably didn’t get the games and minutes I had hoped for. I think if I do get the chance on Wednesday, it’s a little motivation for me to show they were wrong in their decision or I’ve improved since my years there.
“It’s definitely something I’ve been looking forward to – getting a chance to play in Toyota Park again. I think it will be an interesting experience for me. It’s a big opportunity for the Strikers. For myself, it will be special to play against them in front of my friends and my family. It will definitely have a lot of meaning to me.”
Pineda, a Bolingbrook, Ill., native, was the Fire’s first homegrown signing in 2010 as a 17-year-old. He ultimately only played four times with the Major League Soccer (MLS) side before a loan spell then permanent move to Indy Eleven before joining the Strikers ahead of the 2016 NASL season.
While the Strikers are to play in the quarterfinals for the first time, Pineda has witnessed the Fire’s reputation as one of the best clubs in the competition first hand. Chicago has won the Cup four times and reached the final once during Pineda’s stay with the club. That history would make knocking out the Fire even more meaningful.
“In my time in Chicago, we reached the final but lost to Seattle,” Pineda said. “It shows, when I was there, they took the games very serious no matter who the opponent. We’d always have a good team and try to take it serious no matter how good or bad we were doing in the league. That’s something you have to respect about Chicago and beating them would mean so much more because of it.”
With a win, the Strikers would reach the semifinals for the first time as a club. To achieve its deepest run in club history Fort Lauderdale has shown plenty of fight and character. The Strikers have won two penalty shootouts and found a game-winner in the 120th minute, by PC, in another. Fort Lauderdale defeated both MLS opponents it has faced so far – D.C. United and Orlando City SC.
“It’s huge because all the credit goes to the staff and the players,” Pineda said. “We’ve been out here since January 4 – probably the team that started the year first out of all the leagues – and it shows.
“The team seems to be growing. No matter who comes in, they are ready to perform.”
Pineda, 23, won’t get to face many of his former teammates in Chicago, but will have a chance to beat one of his mentors who is now a coach with the Fire.
“I feel like a lot of the team with the Fire is no longer the guys I played with,” he said. “In that way it’s probably not as emotional as it would have been last year or the year before that. Logan Pause, who is now an assistant on the staff, I grew up playing with him. He was a big person, and he showed me how to try to be a leader.”
When the whistle blows to start the game, though, for Pineda and his Strikers’ teammate the mindset is simple.
“Stick to our game,” he said.
