In his rookie season with Union Omaha, Joe Brito had finally achieved his goal of playing soccer at the professional level. He dazzled fans with his footwork, scared defenders with his unpredictability and awed everyone watching his attempts on goal. To Joe, this was nothing new. Since he was 12 years old, he knew he wanted to be a professional soccer player. No, not like the rest of the kids in the classroom who announced their dreams as if it was the flavor of the week. Brito could see the future. He knew what he wanted, he had a plan to make it happen and he simply took the steps needed to make it happen. Even today, Brito speaks with the certainty of a man who has it all figured out. And to think, all it took was one massive loss in a youth soccer match to jumpstart his success story.
Brito grew up in Bolton, Connecticut, a town with less than 5,000 people and about a 15-minute drive east of Hartford. Soccer wasn’t big there and development wasn’t taken as seriously at the time, but he still signed up to play with his local program, Oakwood Soccer Club. Even then, Brito wanted to play professionally. It was a seed planted in the dark recesses of his mind, waiting for the right moment to sprout. That seed lay dormant until the fateful day when his club team lined up against the New York Red Bulls academy team. “They destroyed us 10-0 or something like that,” Brito said. “And that’s when I knew I had to move on to an MLS academy,” he continued. “And that’s where I wanted to be: playing professional soccer.”
After seeing him play a few times, the New England Revolution invited him to be a part of their Under-14 squad. Brito was brought in as a midfielder, well within his wheelhouse, but then he received the surprising news. “I was a lot smaller than everybody, so I played a lot of left wing and right wing,” Brito revealed. “Once I became around Under-16, I started getting shots inside the middle.” It should come as no surprise that his successes improved after that move. “They started giving me chances there and I started to succeed.” Even in his adolescence, Brito’s ambitions were well ahead of his physical development. Once the pieces started falling into place, so did Brito’s rate of success.
During his time with the Under-18 squad, Brito was invited to travel with the Revolution’s first team to Arizona for preseason training. “That was a great experience because playing with [the first team], there’s nothing like it,” Brito recalled. “The speed of play, the physicality and everyone’s soccer IQ is really high.” He followed that up by saying, “That’s something you can’t really replicate playing against kids your age, obviously. That helped me to take a lot of valuable steps forward and prepare me for college and so forth.”
Upon his return to the east coast, it wasn’t long before he was traveling with other Revolution academy players to showcases in Florida and Texas, where plenty of college scouts were watching intently. “You’d see basically the whole sideline filled with college scouts,” Brito said. “After that, you get coaches interested in you and they reach out to you,” he added. Luckily, the Revolution academy coaches helped him find the right fit:
“I would have college coaches reach out to me and I would reach out to the academy director and ask him, ‘Is this a good school? What do you think of this coach and would it fit me?’ And he was good about telling me, ‘You don’t want to go here. This isn’t going to suit you. This isn’t going to push you to the next level.’ And he would tell me when it would be a good fit for me.” One of those schools that turned out to be a great fit for him was the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Head Coach Kevin Langan acted quickly to sign Brito.
“We spoke to his coaches up there and spoke with US Soccer folks, as well,” Langan said. “They all had incredible things to say about him.” Langan elaborated on some of those initial attributes that caught his attention, “The main thing was his level-headedness. He wants to influence and impact the games.” He could tell that Brito didn’t bring a disruptive ego with him, either. Even better – he brought a passion for the game. “He’s such a quiet guy, but as soon as the ball rolls out, he just comes to life,” Langan added. “His eyes spark up and he just lets his play do the talking for him.”
Head Coach Langan knew he was adding a special player to his roster, but what followed was a page taken directly from a book that Brito was altogether too familiar with: switching from a central midfielder to a winger. “When he first joined, I think physically, and I think Joe would admit that as well, he had the aerobic capacity to keep running,” Langan expressed. “Physically – maybe not quite ready for the college to Under-23 level. But again, he’s such a good player.” That was the issue, though: giving him minutes and developing him while not jeopardizing his career with injuries. “We wanted to get him on the field, so we played him on the left side of the midfield and allowed him to cut in on a more favored right.” That decision paid dividends for the Forty Niners, as Brito would go on to score 4 goals and earn 16 assists in his freshman year.
Brito’s first two years were spent as a fixture on the left flank. In those two years, he was able to tally 7 goals and 22 assists. Those were his best statistical years while at UNC-Charlotte, as far as scoring goals and earning assists, but Brito will tell you those weren’t even his best years. During his junior year, he was moved to the middle and this is where he felt his level of play excelled. “My stats weren’t the greatest because I was playing more of a six [central defensive midfielder], but I was just playing the best soccer I played and consistently.” From his junior year through his COVID senior year, Brito would continue to pad his stat sheet, scoring 9 goals and adding 13 assists. This was also the same time that Brito was gaining even more confidence in his chances to play professionally.
Head Coach Langan felt confident in Brito’s playing abilities, even while recruiting him, and could tell he had the qualities to make him fit in amongst the professional ranks. “We know he’s going to work hard,” Langan said. “We know he’s going to work at his game. He was humble enough to take on information and work on it. He didn’t have this huge ego that was going to be a barrier to him learning and he also had that deep passion to be a pro, as well.” Being that Brito has a Portuguese lineage, Langan even urged Brito to get his Portuguese passport. “We told him to go get his Portuguese passport,” he advised. “That way he could open up avenues for him to go play in Portugal and Europe, where there’s just obviously more soccer opportunities at any level.” Langan added, “So get a degree and then put your cleats in the trunk and go anywhere in the world.”
After graduating from UNC-Charlotte, Brito set his sights on invitationals and combines, whatever would allow him to get more eyes on himself. He knew he was a good player and he knew that he could play against professionals, but the very nature of those combines was tough. “You’re going and playing with players you don’t know and you don’t know what the coaches are looking for,” Brito expressed. He even told a story about the combine at which he met former Union Omaha Head Coach Jay Mims:
“On the third day, I had a really good game. I scored a couple goals and had some assists and after that I talked to Jay and then we kept in contact. But actually, at that combine, I became really good friends with Eddie Gordon. That’s where I first met him. He was there, so I met him. He introduced me to Jay and then he took my phone number and then later that week he called me and invited me to their combine and then the rest was kind of history.”
Coach Langan helped spread the word about Brito to any professional coaches that would listen and he had one message that he wanted to get across the most. “Joe grows on you. You see him every single day at continuity in his game – that consistency. He’s extremely robust. I literally can remember, I think, one injury in four and a half years that kept him out for two weeks and that’s because I made him stop,” Langan professed. “At his worst, he’s a 7 out of 10. At his best, he’s a 10 out of 10. So, for the pro coaches, you’re not going to see the best Joe Brito in a combine. He’s not the biggest, strongest, or fastest player, but I guarantee – let him come into preseason and by the fourth day, you’re signing.” Those words fell onto the ears of Jay Mims, too. Mims brought Brito in for preseason and he was signed shortly afterwards.
Even as Brito was suiting up and playing as a professional, he showed no signs of intimidation in that moment. “I felt pretty comfortable with it, to be honest,” Brito disclosed. “I think going from playing college to that next level, just in training, helps you adapt to the speed of play.” In his opinion, taking the step into playing college soccer was a more difficult process. “I felt like I needed a bigger adjustment going from academy to college. I remember my first college preseason game. I was like, ‘Wow, this is tough. I don’t have much time on the ball and everyone’s very physical and really athletic.’”
As Brito reminisced about his first year as a professional soccer player, he was secure in his contributions. “I felt very comfortable on the ball and I had the ability to make game-changing plays out there,” Brito asserted. Even while discussing his first year, he quickly turned his attention toward areas of improvement for himself, already devising a plan to address those perceived weaknesses. He’s not a player that dwells on the past. He even recognized the fact that he’s working in the entertainment industry and feeds off the energy from the crowd. As he described his first match in front of Union Omaha fans, he said, “…that was my first time playing with a professional fan atmosphere, so it’s almost like an entertainment mindset. While you’re playing, you’re not just playing to win, but you’re playing to entertain the fans, so they carried me through the game and I think that was probably one of my best games last season.”
It’s clear that Brito has big expectations for himself, too. Listening to his off-season and preseason preparations is like listening to someone list off a never-ending to-do list, except his items aren’t overly self-critical. He knows his limits, he knows his weaknesses, and he knows exactly how he’s going to go about addressing them in such a way that he’ll experience more success in the coming season. He fully admits he’s not done and not settling. He’s focused on the future, improving his play and setting himself up to climb the next rung on that ladder of success. That’s the kind of leadership he brings. Coach Langan noticed it, too. “…such a serious young man. So serious about his soccer.” He followed that statement with, “Joe just led by example. Just a role model for everyone to follow.”
Outside of helping the team win this year, Brito has a similar, yet slightly different motivation for this season. “I think just going out there and proving myself, again,” Brito said. “Because I feel like last year, I was out there to prove myself that I can play at this level and I think going back there and having to do it again just shows that you belong and that you can keep moving up and playing at higher levels.” That seriousness and businesslike manner in Brito’s statements shows his focus and determination ahead of the 2023 season. Coach Langan wants to see a different angle to Brito’s play this season. “He doesn’t need to be out there with something to prove. He needs to be out there just loving the game. Just having fun, a smile on his face, just trying things. That’s when you see the best Joe.”
Even now, Brito is looking into the future is prepping for his next step. In this case, that next step involves coaching. “When I’m in Omaha, I do it as a side gig,” Brito began. “I coach kids from the local area to Omaha and I’ll do one-on-one training sessions.” This was the first time in our chat where he seemed to put a limit on these expectations. “I can see it one day, but it’s hard to think that far in advance when I’m trying to focus on my soccer playing career because it just began.” He didn’t remove it from becoming a possibility. At one point in discussing this topic, he even mentioned a particular enjoyment in coaching youth players. “I enjoy it and I think I’m pretty good at it.” Until he revisits that sense of purpose, he’ll direct his entire focus on his playing career.
The opening whistle to the 2023 season will be sounding soon and with it, we’ll see the fruits of those off-season labors. With the full faith and confidence of his teammates, his coaching staff, and his fans, Brito will be ready. That’s a certainty. His 12-year-old self knew he would be. The only uncertainty in this situation is how bright he’ll shine. Preparation is about to meet opportunity (again), so sit back and enjoy the show.
Who Gives A Hoot? 