I had a chance to sit down with Miguel Ibarra. With some players, I don’t say much and still have a 3-page interview. With Ibarra, it became clear that he saves his energy for the pitch. On the field, he has seemingly unlimited speed and agility.Off the pitch, chatting with me, he is quiet, soft-spoken, respectful and a bit shy. He answered each question thoughtfully and completely, but with few wasted words.
Here are a few things I learned about him: He was born in Lancaster, CA. The Dark Clouds fly the Mexico flag for him because his parents are from Mexico. Miguel went to community college in Irvine, CA for two years, then was drafted by Portland, then came to Minnesota. He has one sister, who also played soccer at Irvine, and three older half brothers.
We thought we were going to lose you in the off season, tell me about that.
There were teams that wanted me, but there was little things that were stopping it from letting it happen.
The MLS “discovery signing” issue mostly?
Yeah, the discovery signing and me being drafted by Portland also, so there were a lot of steps they had to go through, so at the end they said, just go back to Minnesota. So I came back and I liked all the stuff that was happening, so I decided to extend my contract.
Your playing style, you’ve described it as being a free position…
I started kind of free floating around behind the forwards and go wherever I want – left, right – but I [like to] start on the right, which lets me watch the game more, and as the game goes on, maybe they’ll move me to the center where I already know.
How do you feel about the Dark Clouds?
I heard a little bit on Twitter about adding my name to a song. I enjoy them – they’re really fun. When they go to the game and you see the smoke bombs and the little designs that they have [tifo], flags from everybody’s country, it’s just exciting.
How about during the game?
I don’t hear anything, I’m just into the game.
Miguel Ibarra Is Better At Soccer Than (Almost) Everyone in the United FC Offices