United’s ‘Architect’ OK out of spotlight
He’s the least talked about highest paid player on any Major League Soccer team, and it suits him just fine.
Branko Boskovic prefers to be out of the spotlight, and with Ben Olsen taking the helm, Andy Najar taking over and Charlie Davies starting over, he has been. But there’s a reason he has been branded “The Architect” in the team’s preseason marketing campaign.
“I always like to have good players around, popular players,” Boskovic said. “I don’t like to be one, like always the designated player. I like more guys around me. This is more my life. In my life personally, I’m like this. I don’t like to be the first man. I like to be the same and in the group.”
The 30-year-old Montenegrin’s most noteworthy success last year was with his national team, which ended England’s 11-match home winning with a scoreless draw at London’s Wembley Stadium in October en route to the top of the Group G standings in Euro 2012 qualifying.
But back in D.C., Boskovic didn’t register a goal or an assist in 13 regular-season games to validate his guaranteed annual compensation of $516,200.
“Every season it’s new motivation,” Boskovic said. “You need to prove every day. You can never relax. Every player have obligation to give the maximum, and it’s a good group, good confidence.”
With a much-improved supporting cast around him and a full preseason behind him — instead of being rushed back to fitness and thrown into the mix with a desperate, depleted and struggling squad as he was last summer — Boskovic is primed to make an impact with vision, adept passing and attacking prowess.
But despite his ability to play on the left wing or as a central playmaker, Boskovic knows he’s not entitled to a starting spot, finding himself with the United’s second team in scrimmages both Tuesday and Wednesday.
“We expect a lot out of him this year,” Olsen said. “He knows that, and I think he’s prepared for that challenge.”
