It’s strange for Santino Quaranta to look at D.C. United’s latest crop of rookies, all fresh out of college and hopeful to make it as a professional soccer player.
Most are barely a year or two younger than Quaranta, who at 23 already has seven seasons in Major League Soccer. Yet like his unseasoned teammates, Quaranta is on trial with no contract and no guarantees. After missteps that nearly cost him his career and family, he’s back in Washington and desperate for a second chance.
“Even as a father, as a husband, because that comes first to me, it was just like every aspect of life, I wasn’t doing the right thing,” said Quaranta. He was just 16 when drafted by United in 2001, and he hit bottom in New York last fall, where he suffered a season-ending tackle against New England. Foot surgery in October helped him realize what he stood to lose, both on and off the field.
Questionable work ethic and off-field behavior has always clouded the Baltimore native’s prodigious skills. Quaranta nearly made the U.S. national team’s World Cup roster in 2006. “[Former U.S. head coach] Bruce Arena told me you’re going to be on the right side in the World Cup. At that point, soccer was still secondary.”
And by the end of the summer, Quaranta and his six-figure salary had been traded to Los Angeles, and he marred his return to RFK Stadium with the Galaxy with a nasty gesture some United fans still haven’t forgotten.
“In all honesty, that’s not the way that I am,” said Quaranta, who was traded to the Red Bulls last yearthen waived. “My state of mind that I was in back then, it just kind of showed basically where I was in my life, little things like that, it was ridiculous. I’m sorry about doing that. I regret that.”
He’s now training harder than ever, eats only organic foods and has given up drinking alcohol. He said Thursday he’s in the best shape of his life, 18 pounds lighter than he was last spring.
“I think he’s realizing through this whole process that it’s not enough to be young and talented,” said close friend and United midfielder Ben Olsen. “There are other sides to becoming a pro and succeeding as a pro. It’s in his hands.”
Quaranta’s fitness, changed attitude and the backing of Olsen and Jaime Moreno proved to United’s coaching staff that he was ready to start over.
“I feel like he’s come a long way in where he is at this point in his life,” said United head coach Tom Soehn. “I think he’s very excited to be a pro soccer player for the first time.”
Quaranta vowed to his daughter, who turns five next week, that he would don a United jersey at least once more.
“Playing soccer is the least of my worries,” said Quaranta. “Being fit and being a good person comes first, and the rest falls in place.”
