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‘EVERYTHING IS PERFECT’ Solomon Asante is living an adventure in the Valley By Ethan Greni
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y all accounts, soccer, or football, is the world’s most popular sport. “The beautiful game” is played in nearly every country around the world and garners global audiences during events like the FIFA World Cup, the Olympics and the UEFA Champions League. The United States is another matter, however. In the United States, the four sports traditionally considered to be the “Big Four” are American football, baseball, basketball and hockey. Soccer is on the rise, with the country’s top professional league, Major League Soccer, continuously growing and expanding. But it still has a way to go before it turns the Big Four into the Big Five. Still, even if soccer remains an afterthought for the casual American sports fan, the United States has funds and resources devoted to the sport that some countries can’t compete with, so there are plenty of incentive for players from those countries to make their way here. Enter Solomon Asante, the 31-year-old captain of Phoenix Rising FC. He says growing up in the West African nation of Ghana made it difficult to advance to higher levels in soccer. “It wasn’t easy, because the infrastructure is not like here,” Asante says. “We were lacking a lot of things, (like) pitches, so it was a bit challenging.” Despite the obstacles in his way, he says he knew early on that he was a gifted player. He couldn’t have reached this point without help. “When I was a kid, I knew I had the talent, and I started working toward that talent because that was the only thing I knew how to do best,” Asante says. “I realized my talent, and I started working toward it, and then when I was going (through different levels), I came
across so many people, with the coaches and top-class players, and now I’m here with a family. So, yeah, everyone has helped me.” He says it was his former coach at Tout Puissant Mazembe, a professional club in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who persuaded him to come to the United States after he led Phoenix Rising. “I think 2014, ’15, ’16, I had a coach back home, one of the French-speaking countries, Congo DR, Patrice Carteron, he came here in 2017,” Asante says about the former Phoenix Rising coach. “So, he spoke to me. He told me to join him, and I think it was good opportunity. There was nothing more I could do there. I had to come here and get a new adventure.” Adventure is certainly a good way of describing Asante’s time in the Valley. In just three seasons, he has won two USL Championship MVP awards and reached the USL Championship Final twice. “Everything is perfect; everything is good so far,” Asante says. “They’ve taken me as one of their family. Everything is OK. They’ve taken very good care of me. The only thing I can do is pay them back, to try and get trophies and try and get awards for them.” He’s far from his family, so the opportunities to communicate with them are limited to late at night Phoenix time, when it is early morning in Ghana. “After practice now, when I go back to the apartment, I have to get some rest. Then, maybe around 10 p.m., I have to wake up and speak to the family back home,” Asante says. “So, I speak like four or five hours before I go back to sleep again.” While that may sound like a nightmare schedule for some, Asante says it doesn’t bother him. “No, I’m used to it, I’ve been doing this for a long time, so I’m used to it,” Asante says. After defeating El Paso Locomotive
