His Step Back Is a Step Forward

There was one bright patch in Chris Albright’s career last June, when he scored three goals in two games and suddenly found himself in the spotlight.

It didn’t last long. Soon, the spotlight moved on and Albright once again was left in the shadows.

Eight goals in 107 Major League Soccer games is not the sort of statistic that will keep a striker in the headlines -- at least not for any positive reason.

Forwards have only one duty, to put the ball in the back of the net, and Albright, for a baffling variety of reasons, seemed snake-bitten.

For three seasons with D.C. United and two more with the Galaxy, the former University of Virginia player from Philadelphia worked as hard as anyone on the field but simply could not score.

“I think early on, it was a little bit of bad luck,” Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said. “When you look at his early career with D.C. United, he seemed to hit the crossbar and the post more times than anybody. With that bad luck, you get a little bit of a loss of confidence and that loss of confidence sort of drags on and then fans are on your case.

“The best forwards in the world have amnesia. They don’t remember things [that go wrong]. Chris remembered things and that carried with him from one game to the other and as a result that became a burden for him.”

Now, in Albright’s sixth MLS season, a solution has been found.

He has been moved from offense to defense -- specifically to the right back position -- and suddenly his career, with the Galaxy and with the U.S. national team, has new life.

It was U.S. Coach Bruce Arena’s idea.

“Bruce talked to me about looking down the road to the [Germany 2006] World Cup, and the right back spot was one of the jobs that was definitely still open with the national team,” Albright said.

“So we experimented a little bit in December and a little more in January [during U.S. training camps] and I got to play [on defense] against Denmark. Sometime in January, Sigi called me and said, ‘Let’s take the experiment the whole way and do it with the club as well.’ I was all for it.”

Albright, 25, has started both games at right back this season for the unbeaten Galaxy and is adapting well. In Schmid’s new four-man back line, where the outside backs are expected to join the attack at the right moments, timing has been everything.

“I’ve had to learn some positional-type things,” Albright said, “when to step to the [opposing] outside midfielder, when to sit at home off the centerback’s shoulder. That’s really the key to that position, determining when to sit and when to go.”

The Galaxy’s starting centerback on the right is Danny Califf, another U.S. national team player, and if Califf and Albright can forge a good playing partnership this season and next, Arena will have gone a long way toward solving his defensive problems for Germany ’06.

“Athletically, I think the position suits me pretty well,” Albright said. “I’m able to see the field a bit more and get a good amount of the ball, so I enjoy it in that way.”

And he has no lingering disappointment about giving up the striker’s role, or even the wing position he played last season.

“I think I’ve gotten better over the years,” he said. “I think I probably could go up front and do better than I did two seasons ago, simply because I’m a better soccer player. Whether I’m a better forward, midfielder or back, I don’t think that matters. I just think I’m a better soccer player all around at this point.”

Califf has been influential in helping Albright settle in at the back.

“He’s really helped me out a lot, just trying to stay on me in games because there are times when I do still think like a midfielder or a forward and I have to turn that into thinking like a defender,” Albright said.

“You have to concentrate 100% for the whole game because you’re the last line.”

Schmid is satisfied so far that the experiment is working.

“He’s bought into playing the position,” he said. “He wants to learn the position and certainly his concentration and his mentality right now is very good.”

Schmid compared Albright’s situation with that of Peter Vermes, who was a forward with the national team but became one of the league top defenders while with the Kansas City Wizards.

“Physically, he has all the tools to play back there. He’s got great speed. When he wants to defend he’s a good defender. He’s got good height. He can get onto the end of crosses. He’s obviously not uncomfortable when he comes forward. All those are plusses.

“And when you look at the different experiments the national team has had at outside back, here is an opportunity for him to maybe say, ‘Hey, I can grab hold of this position.’ ”

Former UCLA player Frankie Hejduk started at right back for the U.S. at the 1998 World Cup in France, then was switched to left back for Korea/Japan ‘02, when Tony Sanneh started at right back.

Hejduk now plays for the Columbus Crew. Sanneh and another candidate for the right back position, Steve Cherundolo, play in Germany.

“There’s a lot of competition for that spot, but that’s good, that pushes me,” Albright said. “There’s even competition for jobs in the back on this [Galaxy] team, and that pushes me as well.”