As told to Sam Stejskal
- I come from a family of soccer players. My Dad played for Atlas in Mexico before a knee injury ended his career. My great-grandfather played for Chivas Guadalajara, and they won like six titles in a row while he was there. My Dad’s uncle, Hugo Salcedo, actually played for the U.S. at the 1972 Olympic Games. Editor’s Note: Jorge Salcedo – Hugo Salcedo’s son and Carlos’s first-cousin, once removed – played in MLS from 1996-2000, earned three caps with the U.S. national team and is the current head coach at UCLA. Jorge Salcedo coached current RSL defender Tony Beltran at UCLA in 2006 and 2007.
- When I was younger, I played for Chivas [Guadalajara’s] academy. I spent two years there, but eventually moved to Tigres’s youth team when [current Chivas Sporting Director] Dennis Te Kloese moved from Chivas to Tigres. I was at Tigres for almost three years. While I was there, we went to Dallas Cup, and that’s where [RSL-Arizona Academy Director of Soccer] Martin Vasquez scouted me and invited me to come see RSL. At that time, I didn’t have a contract, and didn’t want to re-sign with Tigres, so then I decided to go to the RSL-Arizona Academy and try something new.
- My Dad and Martin have actually known each other for a long time. They got to know each other at Atlas; when my Dad retired, Martin was just getting to the team. When I got here, that’s when my Dad said that he knew a coach at RSL.
- I was at the RSL-Arizona Academy for about eight months. The academy was good. Basically, you wake up, go to school, and after that you have everything you need to become a soccer player. You have daily practices, weight-lifting, you have such a great coaching staff – it’s pretty big-time.
- After I graduated from the Academy last summer, I had offers from three Mexican teams – one of them was Santos Laguna. But I spoke with my Dad and my agent, and I didn’t want to go down to the same atmosphere down in Mexico. I wanted to try something else here in MLS, so I came here last July and began practicing with the team.
- Coach Jason [Kreis] believed in me, and I think that was a big step for me to take this chance – if the coach believes in you, that’s a good point for you. That’s what made me come here. [General Manager] Garth Lagerwey also was here to talk to me, and I think that was good for me. But what really was huge was already practicing with the team for six months and playing in Reserve games last year.
- My life changed a lot this year, because I’ve been getting playing time with the first-team. At the beginning of the preseason, they were telling me that I would be playing on the Reserve team, but when RSL first told me that I’d be playing, I was excited that I got the opportunity. I’d like to thank Garth, Bill, all those guys that helped me to become a better soccer player, and made my dream come true.
- I think I’ve been getting more and more experience each game I’m playing, and I think it’s a hard league. It’s going to help me get to the next step; to my next goal, which is going to Europe. I think MLS is a good league for defenders, because you get to play against hungry, big-time players like Keane, Henry, Martins and others that have already made a career [in Europe]. You see really good young players, too.
- [RSL goalkeeper] Lalo Fernandez and I used to be roommates, but I moved out like a month ago. It was a good experience, but now I think that we’ve decided to go separate ways, and that’s good at the end of the day. We’re still good friends – he’s one of my best friends – and nothing has changed. It was a good experience to live with another player, hanging out with him every day. Right now I live with a family that I met over here last year. They’re from Colombia, and I like it a lot to live with them. They’re such a good family, and they’re supportive of me.
- I love Utah. I like that everything is super-chill. For me, I’m not the type of player who likes to go out in crazy cities and all those things. I love living here, and I want to live here after I retire.
