One Step Closer to Living a Dream - 01/07/2012 | Miamih

One step closer to living a dream - 01/07/2012 | MiamiH... http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/07/v-print/2578...

Posted on Sat, Jan. 07, 2012

This soccer fairy tale has a Miami twist.

Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Fabrizio Pittaluga. He was born in Peru and moved to Miami with his family in 1991 when he was a baby because his father got a job in the airline industry. Like so many kids in South Florida, he grew up playing soccer and dreaming of some day signing a pro contract.

He played for Palmer Trinity High and Miami Fabrizio Pittaluga grew up playing soccer and dreaming of Kendall FC, and in 2007 packed his cleats and some day signing a pro contract. headed to Italy, where he had family roots. He did a training stint with Serie A team Cagliari Calcio’s Primavera team. Three years later, he went to Peru and trained with Sport Boys Association and Universidad Cesarvallejo.

All along, he realized the odds of making a pro club were very slim, so he enrolled at Florida International University and is five classes from a degree in marketing.

Last month, the 22-year-old midfielder took a wild chance. He traveled 1,300 miles to Chicago for an open tryout with the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer. There were 160 players from 10 countries in the pool. Each was guaranteed a one-hour tryout. Twenty-four would be invited back for a second day. One would earn a spot in training camp.

When it was all done, Pittaluga was the lone man standing. He will join the Fire at camp in Ave Maria on Jan. 20.

“I figured I would go because it would be an interesting experience,” he said. “You always have some hope that you’ll be picked, but realistically I knew it was a long shot. I was nervous, of course, but I tried not to overthink it.”

His assigned time slot was 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., so he went to bed early the night before.

“You only get one hour, so you feel pressure, but I tried to pretend I was playing with friends,” he said. “The biggest difference for me was playing in the cold. I’m not used to it in Miami, and I could definitely feel it in my lungs. They asked me to stay for the next hour, so I figured that was a good sign.”

At the end of the day, the Fire posted on its website the names of the 24 players invited back for a second day. Pittaluga called his parents, Jorge and Patricia, to tell them he would need

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another night at the hotel. They were thrilled. After the second day, he returned to the family’s Cutler Bay home and awaited the call.

It came a few days later, and he missed it. “All of a sudden, I looked at my phone and noticed I had missed a call from the 312 area code. I called back, and they told me they chose me. I didn’t know how to react. This has been my dream for so long, and just to get invited to camp is huge.”

Fire coach Frank Klopas explained why Pittaluga was chosen.

“The player development staff looked at a number of great players over the two-day tryout, and over that time, Fabrizio’s talent and skill came through,” he said. “We know that certain players that take part in this process have the potential to make a roster, and we’re excited to have Fabrizio join the first team during training camp later this month.”

Pittaluga hopes to follow in the footsteps of Pari Pantazopoulos, a Greek-American who made the team from the open tryout last spring. He made his competitive debut for the Fire in a 1-0 victory over the Rochester Rhinos last June, en route to the club’s MLS-record sixth Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final appearance. He also played two friendlies in 2011, against Manchester United and Chivas de Guadalajara.

“If I could play for the Fire, in my country, doing what I love, that would be amazing,” Pittaluga said. “But I’m trying not to get too excited yet.”

• MLS Combine in town: Sixty-five MLS hopefuls are in Fort Lauderdale this week for the 2012 MLS Player Combine. Invitees include graduating college players, underclassmen, high school players and internationals. The tryouts began Friday and continue through Tuesday at Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill.

MLS executives are preparing for the SuperDraft at noon Thursday (ESPN2). Two MLS coaches have South Florida ties. Robin Fraser of Chivas USA played at FIU, and Jay Heaps of the New England Revolution played for the Miami Fusion.

Among the top draft prospects: Darren Mattocks (Akron, F), Andrew Wenger (Duke, M/D), Kelyn Rowe (UCLA, M), Billy Schuler (North Carolina, F) and Nick DeLeon (Louisville, M/F).

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