New Mexico United eager as season finally kicks off

In his first season as New Mexico United head coach, Dennis Sanchez guided the team all the way to the USL Championship Western Conference title match.

That’s the farthest New Mexico has gone, providing both an exhilarating ride and a disappointing finish.

But United is ready to get back at it this season with some new players stepping in for departed veterans as New Mexico opens at Oakland Roots SC on Saturday in California.

United is hitting the pitch a week later than the rest of the league as the team had an opening-week bye, which only further whets New Mexico’s desire to get going.

“I think it’s time to get into some real games,” Sanchez said Thursday. “But it was a great preseason. This year in general, we want to evolve in all capacities. And so it allowed us to have a good integration of the new players coming in, building upon the foundation from last year. But we’re in a good place now.”

The Roots beat Monterey Bay FC 1-0 on the road in their opener and already broke those opening-game jitters, but United’s players are not too concerned.

“The anticipation and the hype, especially going away to a tough place, I think it’s just been building,” said defender Will Seymore, one of the longer-tenured United players. “I think the energy the last couple weeks has been top tier, the level and the quality. It’s really settling in that it’s starting this weekend, and getting to watch all the other teams play this last weekend I think it makes the excitement even more.”

Now it’s a matter of seeing what United looks like as the team’s brain trust brought in a number of new players.

“I think it’s one of the years where we have a bit more of new players coming in,” forward Greg Hurst said. “So preseason has been great to get to know those new lads, and see how they play and how they can add a different style to our game. But the biggest thing is everyone that’s come out has been great for the locker room and are top players, and I’m excited for the new lads to come and show the club what they can do.”

The new blood should only help the team improve, Seymore said.

“You have new players, but a lot of similarities, but it’s also a lot of change,” he said. “It’s time for them to meld in and figure out what we do. But what we do doesn’t change. They have to come in and adapt to what we do, and they bring their own style, their own kind of personality, to the locker room, too. So I think it’s fun. You never want too much change, but sometimes, when you have new players, they add and they bring their own enhancements to the team and what we do here.”

Sanchez declined to say which of the incoming players might develop into highlight players, but that they all should have an opportunity to show their skills.

“I really don’t like pointing out one single player,” Sanchez said. “I think that they’re all bringing something unique and different. That’s something that I tried to take a lot of pride in in terms of having structure, having standards, but allowing players to be themselves, both on and off the field. And it’s really about how can you bring out the best version of themselves? How can they find the balance between the group collective, but also the individual aspects?”

Oakland is looking to take a step forward after missing the playoffs last season.

“I’m pretty familiar with (Roots coach) Ryan Martin in his time at Loudon,” Sanchez said. “His teams always have a clear identity with and without the ball and how they want to play. I would say there’s more similarities between the two clubs than not. But we’re expecting a really difficult match. And I think anytime a new coach comes in, you have a group of players over there who are trying to impress him, trying to buy into what they’re building.”