Hello World
If as expected Mark McKenzie plays for the USA against Canada on Saturday he’ll have accomplished the unique feat of appearing in four games for three teams within a month.
The 25-year-old central defender on Aug. 11 played his last game for Belgian club Genk, which he joined from the Philadelphia Union in 2021.
Shortly after arriving at his new club, Toulouse of the French Ligue 1, he started in games on Aug. 25 and Aug. 31.
“I’ve only been there for two weeks,” said McKenzie of his new home, known as France’s pink city (“La Ville Rose”) for its predominant terracotta brick buildings of that shade. “It’s been hit the ground running. From visa to medical to training … linking up with the group and trying to implement the system that the coach wants to play.”
McKenzie relished the game action after a summer in which he remained on the bench for all five U.S. national team games — the friendlies against Colombia and Brazil, and the three group games of the USA’s dismal Copa America.
In fact, it’s been a year since McKenzie last saw USMNT action, earning his last of 13 caps with a cameo during a 4-0 friendly win over Oman in September 2023. Since then, he also remained on the bench during the USA’s Concacaf Nations League wins last March.
“It’s been tough,” McKenzie said. “It’s been a grind, especially most recently with the Copa America, and not getting any minutes there. I was feeling like I deserved at least an opportunity.”
After debuting for the USA shortly before his 21st birthday, his apex came when he started in the semifinal and final of the USA’s 2021 Concacaf Nations League win. He saw action off the bench in its final two warmup games before the 2022 World Cup but didn’t make the trip to Qatar.
McKenzie enters the September friendlies — a clash with New Zealand on Tuesday follows the Canada game — in a quest to no longer be a USMNT “fringe player.”
The poor central defensive performance of the USA during the Copa America has created a ripe opportunity for him.
Since-fired Coach Gregg Berhalter started Tim Ream, who had seen action in one game for his club Fulham in the three months before the Copa, alongside Chris Richards. Cameron Carter-Vickers, who’s not in the current squad, was the only other central defender Berhalter gave minutes in the summer’s five games.
McKenzie had arrived at the USA’s Copa America camp after going the full 90 in 22 straight games for Genk, catching the eye of the French club with which he’s opened the latest chapter of his career.
“I was in Belgium for three years,” he said, “and you naturally get to a point where you want a new challenge. A club like Toulouse, I think it’s a step up. You enter into a league where the attackers are so clinical in 1-v-1 situations, very technical, they hurt you in transition moments.
“You have to be sharp on the ball, because it is a lot more tactically sound as well. So all those aspects make Toulouse such a good club for me to develop as a player.
“And the city itself is also very nice. The south of France has got some good weather.”
His Ligue 1 debut came in a 1-1 away tie with Nantes. He had an especially rigorous workout in last Sunday’s home clash with Marseille. Toulouse played more than an hour short-handed after striker Frank Magri’s red card and Marseille won 3-1 on a pair of goals by Mason Greenwood (a $35 million arrival from Manchester United) and an own goal by Charlie Cresswell. (Canadian Derek Cornelius started on Marseille’s backline.)
McKenzie was born in the Bronx and at age 5 moved to Delaware, where his father started his job as a high school chemistry teacher. McKenzie started playing soccer at the YMCA and before club soccer with Hockessin [now Delaware Rush] and joining the Philadelphia Union academy at age 13.
Mark McKenzie Sr., also coached his son.
“He would take the ball and dribble all the way up and score,” recalled McKenzie Sr. “I would put him at every position so everybody could get touches and it built a lot of camaraderie. My whole philosophy was I want every kid to feed off each other and build as a team.”
McKenzie, described in his early youth play as a free-wheeling midfielder aiming to emulate Ronaldinho, woke early on Saturday mornings to watch English Premier League and Italian Serie A games. He was especially fond of AC Milan, which besides Ronaldinho, Paolo Maldini, Clarence Seedorf et al., featured Alessandro Nesta, the great central defender.
That’s the position McKenzie transitioned into with Philadelphia Union youth teams. And an area that’s especially important for the USMNT to sort out.