San Jose Earthquakes’ rookie right back Nick Lima has had a dream start to his MLS career. Two games into the season and the 22-year-old has found the back of the net, placed in MLS Team of the Week, and penned himself into the Quakes record book.
After shutting down Ignacio Piatti (one of the top attackers in MLS) and holding him to only one shot; Lima delivered another emphatic performance against Vancouver Whitecaps. The Quakes’ second homegrown player in team’s history recorded (according to whoscored.com) 10 crosses, two interceptions, and completed 85% of his 72 passes against Vancouver. Most importantly, he became Quakes first homegrown player ever to score in league play.
With Lima’s immediate positive impact has come high praise from team captain and MLS fourth all-time leading scorer, Chris Wondolowski. The internationally capped forward confessed he is knee deep for the Nick Lima Hype Train.
Chris Wondolowski on rookie @nick__lima‘s fast start to the season: “I’m on the Nick Lima hype train right now. In fact, I’m driving it.”
— Robert Jonas (@robertjonas) March 12, 2017
Not only has the young fullback caught the eye of supporters and teammates, but of media as well. Lima recently appeared on podcast The SBI Show and had a segment dedicated to him on NBC Bay Area News at 6 conducted by Colin Resch. Surprised by the gradation in his tender career with the Quakes, as well as the media that follows, Lima vows to continue developing as a player.
“No, I mean, I knew guys come up and say, ‘there is media, you know, you do well there is media, and it comes with that territory,’ but I’m just trying to keep my head down and get to work everyday,” said Lima. “It’s fun you get to play soccer for a living and that’s what’s most important to me.”
Quakes’ defender Marvell Wynne’s injury was the opening door for the homegrown, for which, he has gone through and never looked back. Although the season is in its premature stages, Lima is poised to move forward with a learning attitude.
“Just every practice, everyday there is stuff to learn, you know as a new guy,” said Lima. “Hopefully get a lot of minutes and keep playing in games. I’m gonna have to continue to learn and grow every game, because other teams will obviously figure things out and if I don’t learn, it will be bad.”
