It’s Working Out

Last November, when the Galaxy players trudged off the field at Foxboro Stadium, 2-0 losers to Washington D.C. United in Major League Soccer’s championship game, one player in particular wore a really grim expression.

Yet Joe Franchino was in no way responsible for the loss. He had spent the first title game of his professional career on the bench. That’s what hurt the most.

So Franchino, a 23-year-old defender from Fontana by way of Cal State Fullerton and the University of Washington, made himself a promise: There would be no repeat.

“I didn’t like that feeling,” he said. “I remember that feeling and I don’t want that feeling ever to happen again.”

And so, while the rest of the Galaxy players were taking time to recuperate, Franchino hit the gym. Every day, without fail.

“I came back and I prepared myself,” he said. “I went on the treadmill and I didn’t take a day off. I ran five miles a day as fast as I could. I didn’t want to get tired, even if the game went 120 minutes.”

And when the Galaxy reported for preseason workouts, Franchino’s fitness level gave Coach Sigi Schmid no choice but to juggle his lineup. Greg Vanney, left fullback on the U.S. national team, was moved inside to centerback. Paul Caligiuri, veteran defender and two-time World Cup player, suddenly found himself in a substitute’s role.

All because Franchino, who had never seriously contemplated a career as a professional soccer player, didn’t want to go back to that bench.

Now, one-fourth of the way through the MLS season, the Galaxy is unbeaten at 5-0-3 and Franchino has started seven games.

“Joey’s played well,” Schmid said. “He had a very good preseason for us. I think he’s made great strides from last year. Last year I wasn’t as confident using him as an outside back, but this year he came in very fit. He’s very quick. He’s been super-motivated.”

Team captain Robin Fraser, himself a U.S. national team defender, echoed Schmid’s praise.

“I think Joey really focused himself in the off-season on getting to where he needs to be physically,” Fraser said. “I think he’s fitter than he’s ever been and stronger than he’s ever been. I think he’s come in and he’s done a good job, he’s really earned the position.”

Not that Fraser believes Vanney was the victim of Franchino’s off-season regimen.

“I wouldn’t say he’s pushed Vanney aside,” Fraser said. “I think Sigi wanted to play Greg inside. I think that’s part of his master plan.

“Overall, it’s really a testament to what both of them have done. I think Greg has improved his defending and I think Joey has done what he needed to do to become a starter on the left.”

Part of the credit has to go to veteran defensive midfielder Danny Pena, who took the youngster under his wing when Franchino joined the Galaxy as a third-round draft pick in 1998.

“I was amazed,” Franchino said. “I thought college was it for me. I got the opportunity to come here and I’m grateful for that. I was a third-round pick and wasn’t supposed to make the team. But hard work pays off. My family has always lived by that.”

Franchino’s blue-collar background matched that of Pena, and the two hit it off immediately.

“He’s basically my mentor,” Franchino said. “He showed me the ropes. Being a professional and stuff. He’s a really good friend. He’s helped me out tremendously. And it’s working out. I just want to contribute to this team in any way that I possibly can. If it’s at left back, then it’s at left back, but I want to play.”

Said Pena: “I look at him now as a younger brother. I know what kind of ability he has and I know he’s got a very bright future in this league.

“He knew coming to the Galaxy that breaking the starting lineup here was going to be tough, but Sigi showed a lot of confidence in him. Joey proved himself in preseason on a daily basis, and all the work that he’s put in has really paid off.

“All credit to Joey Franchino, but he needs players like myself and the others to kind of help him along. He’s had some rough times.”

Franchino’s intensity can be seen both in the way he plays and in his off-field attitude, which still has a hint of defensiveness, almost suspicion, about it.

“We lived a real similar childhood,” Pena said, “very difficult in terms of family situations and not having a lot. We both have that anger inside of us, and that makes us tough mentally. So we’re very similar people and we look to each other and we unleash on each other when we need to, and that helps.”

Gradually, though, as the self-doubts are erased with each game he starts, Franchino is loosening up. He is accepted as one of the team now, and as a starter no less.

The fact that he now lives in Huntington Beach, near enough to the water to indulge his passion for surfing, and that he has enough time and money to have turned himself into a 12-handicap golfer, could have something to do with Franchino’s newfound confidence.

“So far, it’s paying off, but I can’t stop here,” he said. “Complacency is a big thing with me. If I get complacent, I’m not going to go anywhere.”

Any time the Galaxy’s left back has any doubts about who he is or where he’s going, he simply has to seek out a full-length mirror, face the other way and look over his shoulder.

There, tattooed in inch-tall block letters in the small of his back, is his name:

F-R-A-N-C-H-I-N-O

It’s a name MLS opponents are learning to respect.