Just two years into his coaching career Andrew May and a group of fellow academy coaches at Chivas USA snuck into the Coliseum in Los Angeles, California.
Legendary coach Marcelo Bielsa was preparing Argentina to face Mexico in preparation for the upcoming 2002 FIFA World Cup. The practice, closed to the public, was relatively empty, with the exception of the coaching staff and players.
In the midst of the empty stadium with nowhere to hide, Bielsa spotted May and his cohorts with relative ease. With a single nod and a hand motion Bielsa summed the group down to the pitch.
“He pulled us all in, showed us the plan for the training session and walked us through why they did each exercise,” May explained. “I was a nobody, but from that moment on every time we were in the same place, he invited me to come out to training. His passion was so evident and all he wanted to do was share it with those around him.”
Now, two decades later, as the head coach for the Real Salt Lake Academy U-15 squad May in sharing his passion for the game, coaching the next generation of stars.
This week he will look to become the first coach to win back-to-back championships at the MLS NEXT Cup, leading a group of players that went 27-5-6 across all competitions this year.
But May didn’t always envision coaching as his career path.
“Newly out of college, I went into banking for a minute, still coaching on the side, local clubs and some high schools, but never fully as a career,” May said. “It just hit me one day that the passion wasn’t about working at a bank and just doing loans and different things like that, it was more about can I be a positive impact to young people because that’s what I really truly enjoyed. Then I took that big leap.”
May started working with Vanguard University, serving on the staff of both their men’s and women’s teams. He parlayed his experience at the collegiate level into a position with the now defunct Major League Soccer side Chivas USA as part of their academy system, working with the club’s youngest age groups.
While with Chivas USA he worked his way up the pipeline, leading teams to international tournaments, including at FC Barcelona where he received his coaching education at La Masia, the historic club’s training academy.
His next stop brought him to LA Galaxy where he developed players who play in the top divisions in Belgium, Portugal, Spain and Norway, along with some of the Galaxy’s best Homegrown players including Julian Araujo and Efrain Alvarez. In fact, six of the current members on the U-20 United States Youth National Team competition in the CONCACAF Championship where his former players.
But May doesn’t measure his success based on the level his former players rise to, but rather who they become off the field.
“Success for myself is more or less not soccer related. Its whether or not they have a family, they have a soccer career or some other type of career and they’re good people in the community. To me, that’s my success and how I view it,” May explained. “Because I had good role models and people that helped me along the way so that’s kind of my thing. That’s my job, its to help these kids through their development. In the game, on and off the field.”
Now two years into his tenure with Real Salt Lake May is preparing to enter the MLS NEXT Cup with an undefeated record in tournament competitions. His 17-0-1 record in tournament competitions is among the best all time at Real Salt Lake, only having tied with Spain’s Valencia CF in the 2022 Generation Adidas Cup.
His undefeated run began at the 2021 MLS NEXT Cup, where he took a group of relatively inexperienced players on a five-game win streak to clinch the first-ever MLS NEXT Cup title.
This year he will look to become the first ever back-to-back champion at the MLS NEXT Cup. And despite having the title of reigning champions hanging around their necks, May feels at peace with his group, knowing they are ready and prepared for whatever the tournament may throw at them.
“It's that collective piece where the team has bought into what we are trying to do at each training session, pushing each other to be better, so that way when we play these games as a group. We’re used to it because we compete against each other every single day. All the players are prepared for it collectively,” May shared. “Last year, yes, we won, and yes it was a great experience for the kids, but it was coming off an interesting year of COVID, so there wasn't that much time. But this year we’ve had so much time to work with this group and I think it makes it special.”
The team will begin its journey on Saturday, June 25 at 7:00 a.m. MT, facing BW Gottschee Academy, a club that has produced countless professional-level talent, including United States Men’s National Team forward Timothy Weah. Should they make it past the first round, they will face the winner of Philadelphia Union and New York Soccer Club on Sunday.
