The dream of professional soccer can take a player down many paths. To destinations never imagined. To the highest highs and the lowest lows.
It can also take you back home.
That’s what former Real Salt Lake midfielder Raphael Cox has learned in his winding journey through American professional soccer. He’s played at every level from PDL to MLS and won championships at the top two levels. He’s landed in cities around the country, but now, he’s back where it all started.
The 30-year-old hadn’t been spending much time focusing on the MLS schedule, so didn’t realize that his former club, Real Salt Lake, was about to meet his hometown club, the Seattle Sounders, at the stadium where he experienced his greatest soccer glory in winning the MLS Cup at CenturyLink Field in 2009.