One Minute Five Years in the Making: Great Valley Grad Returns to the MLS Pitch
Great Valley High School graduate Jimmy McLaughlin, a midfielder for FC Cincinnati, recently made his first Major League Soccer appearance in five years in his team’s final home game of the season, writes Matthew Ralph for Brotherly Game.
McLaughlin subbed into the match against Sporting Kansas City in the 90th minute. Although he only recorded one minute of play, it was a big moment for the Malvern native who had a long journey back to the pitch, after an injury forced him to sit out what would have been his first season with the team in MLS.
“It means a lot to me,” said McLaughlin, 27. “It’s been a crazy long journey just to get back here and just to get a few minutes at the end of the game. It’s taken a lot of hard work, a lot of tough days, a lot of moments where it would have been easy to give up.”
The former homegrown player of the Philadelphia Union last appeared in an MLS game in 2015. Since 2016, he has been with FC Cincinnati, where he made 91 appearances during the team’s time in the United Soccer League. Last year, FC Cincinnati debuted in the MLS as an expansion club, but a torn ACL sidelined McLaughlin for the entire year.
Read more about Jimmy McLaughlin from Brotherly Game here.
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