Although he is half a world away, Danleigh Borman can feel the excitement in his native South Africa as the continent's first World Cup is a little more than one year away.
"It's crazy right now and it's a year away," the Red Bulls left-sided midfielder/defender said. "They have the countdown already. I'm sure it's going to be an unbelievable experience."
Borman wants nothing more than to be able to be there and there's an outside chance he could play for Bafana Bafana. Although he said he's not heard from South Africa coach Joel Santana and he's not been part of his country's youth national teams, Borman is on the radar.
"I'm sure it's going to be amazing," he said. "I'm really trying my best to get into the team, but they have to call me up obviously."
On the soccer fields of Cape Town, the Borman name is legendary. There was Daniel "Dot" Borman, who starred for clubs like Cape Town Spurs and Santos. Then there was Randall, who played for the South African under-23 national team. A spot on the full national team would put Danleigh out of his father's and cousin's shadows.
Borman is a long shot, but he's increased his chances by becoming a more versatile player. That's also allowed him more playing time with the New York Red Bulls. In the preseason, Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio met with Borman and discussed the idea of him playing left back. A natural attacking player, Borman, who had two goals in 15 appearances last year, gave it a try.
With Alfredo Pacheco away with the El Salvador national team, Borman is Osorio's first choice at left back for Sunday's critical Eastern Conference clash against the New England Revolution.
"He's a genuine guy. There are some guys who don't take pride in defending and I think he does," Osorio said. "He might not be the best defender in the world, but he'll certainly put the effort in to contain people and defend even when he was our wide midfielder. I think his ability 1-v-1 made me believe he could defend and he could be helpful. He's quick, he has a good left foot and he's aggressive enough to be a defender."
Borman still has the ability to get forward and nearly scored the Red Bulls' first road goal of the year Thursday night at RFK Stadium, but his first touch escaped him and the ball got caught up in his feet as D.C. United goalkeeper Josh Wicks leapt in to it.
That was one of the Red Bulls' best scoring chances in a 2-0 loss to D.C. United, which increased the team's winless streak to 18 consecutive regular season road games, one shy of tying the Major League Soccer record. Making matters worse, they have six of their next eight games away from Giants Stadium.
The same frustrating scenario seemingly plays out each game for the Red Bulls -- they play well enough to win, fail to finish a few scoring chances and are victimized by one defensive miscue.
"It seems that every week the opponent's goalkeeper is the best player," Osorio said Thursday night.
Gillette Stadium has been a particularly cruel venue over the years for the Red Bulls, who are 0-8-3 in their last 11 games in Foxborough, Mass. Winless in its last four games, New York is already seven points out of a playoff spot and four points alone in the Eastern Conference basement.
"It is frustrating because we are playing good soccer," Borman said. "We are passing the ball around, we are getting opportunities to score, we're not allowing teams score a lot of goals, it's close games every game except the first one in Seattle. It's time for us to finish it. We need that extra bit of belief to do the job."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
