FRISCO, Texas — Amid the sea of youth on FC Dallas' roster is a new but familiar face to MLS: striker Maykel Galindo.
Lost in the news of a disheartening loss at the Columbus last Friday was the acquisition of Galindo from Chivas USA. In exchange for Galindo’s services, FC Dallas sent Chivas USA a first-round selection in the 2012 Supplemental Draft.
Galindo spent preseason training with Dallas, registering one goal and two assists. The 30-year-old then returned to Los Angeles where he trained four times a week with the USL's Los Angeles Blues before returning to Texas.
“When I returned to Los Angeles after preseason here, I felt apart from the family,” Galindo said after Wednesday’s training session. “I was always talking with David [Ferreira] and Daniel [Hernandez] and they were telling me, 'What’s up? When are you coming back?' It feels good when someone thinks that because this is like a family and I have their support.”
For Galindo, having the support of others has always been important. In 2005, while in Seattle playing at the Gold Cup with the Cuban national team (for whom he scored 12 career goals), Galindo defected to the US. His imnitial plan wasn’t to play soccer, though, but to move to Miami and seek work there.
[inline_node:328018]“When I stayed in Seattle, I found a United States family,” Galindo said. “They gave me a house, they gave me kindness, they gave me a lot of advice — they gave me so much.”
He never thought he would have a chance to play soccer in the United States until he received a phone call from the USL version of the Seattle Sounders. The rest is history.
After helping the Sounders to the 2005 USL First Division championship — where he scored the game-tying goal to send the match to extra time — Galindo went on to tally 18 goals in his five-year career with Chivas USA.
WATCH: Galindo's Goal of the Week nominee vs. D.C. United in '10
Now at FC Dallas, Galindo is eager to get back on the playing field.
“I am playing much better and I think that each day I practice better,” Galindo said. “I hope that I will be playing soon.”
FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman wasn't about to guarantee playing time for Galindo this weekend, though.
“I don’t know about that,” said Hyndman on Wednesday, "but I think he is improving every day, and today, he did some really nice things and I had a word with him on it. We are glad to get him back, glad to sign him and also glad that he was active while he was gone, so I think he is getting closer to make that top 18.”
