CARSON, Calif. – Juninho's childhood dream slipped away from him just like that.
Twice São Paulo FC – the club he'd supported all his life, the club that had discovered him at 15 manning the midfield for a provincial foe – called in his loan from the LA Galaxy and told him they wanted him for their first team.
Twice the manager turned around and informed him he wouldn't play. That disappointment has provided the materiel to construct another dream, one he's fulfilling thousands of miles away in a land he never imagined he'd call home, and that's a big reason why the Galaxy are looking to repeat as MLS Cup champions for the second time in four seasons.
There could soon be a payoff with the US national team.
The 26-year-old holding midfielder has quietly climbed among MLS's elite men in the middle, providing a foundation for LA's potent attack while playing the key role for a defense that ranked No. 1 in the league last season.
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He's been an every-day figure since arriving on loan in 2010 from São Paulo, first as David Beckham's deputy and then, the past two seasons, in a productive partnership with countryman Marcelo Sarvas, now with the Colorado Rapids. Juninho was the bedrock in both relationships, providing the needed cover as Beckham roamed the field at will and holding down the fort as Sarvas surged forward into attack.
It's been a largely thankless job – Juninho's name could be uttered in the same breath as multiple-time All-Stars
Osvaldo Alonso
(4) or
Kyle Beckerman
(8) – but he's treasured by his teammates, coaches and Galaxy fans and lauded by those who have watch his game closely.
“It's a good question,” associate head coach Dave Sarachan says, when asked about comparisons to Alonso and Beckerman. “When we first got him, he was really more of a two-way guy. There were more goals scored, more assists, and he got forward a lot more. But as things have changed and evolved, he's become more of a deep-lying guy who sets the tone and the pace. His statistics are less, and those kind of players get underappreciated because it's not tangible. You've really got to have an understanding of what he does for you, but with your eye, and not everybody has that.”
What does Juninho do?
“He's not just an enforcer, he doesn't just break up plays, but he does that,” defender Todd Dunivant said. “Sometimes in that role of a holding midfielder, that's all you look to them to do, to kind of break things up and be a destroyer, but that's not his game. He does those things, he's disruptive and aggressive and patrols the midfield, but he's also really good on the ball and at being a link from back to front.”
Said Sarachan: “He can relieve pressure, he can set the tone, he can switch play, he can connect the passes. It's a very valuable skill in a team that likes to keep possession.”
Juninho is not a pure ballwinner in the sense that Alonso or perhaps Beckerman are, but he's expert at filling the passing lanes, then nicking balls and starting a quick counterattack. If he's scoring fewer goals – just two the past two seasons after netting 15 in all competitions the final two years alongside Beckham – he's making them count. His late strike in the second leg of last year's Western Conference final in Seattle sent LA to their fourth MLS Cup final in six seasons.
“He's a leader now,” says head coach Bruce Arena. “He's just a very good player, among the very best at his position in the league.”
It wasn't the path Juninho was supposed to follow.
Vitor Gomes Pereira Jr. was born into a futebol family in São Jose dos Campos, a city of nearly 700,000 about an hour outside of São Paulo. His great uncle, known as Marião, played for São Paulo and Internacional, and his father had a spell as a pro with the local club.
He was named after his father and, as is custom in such situations in Brazil, was called Juninho from the start. A brother followed two years later and a sister after a couple more years, and the boys watched their dad play for São Jose and dreamed about starring for one of the country's big clubs – São Paulo was their favorite – and with the national team.
Both grew up to become professionals. Ricardo Gullart, Juninho's younger brother, is a forward who has played for Internacional, Goias and Cruzeiro, was capped last September for Brazil and just completed a $16.7 million transfer to Guangzhou Evergrande in the Chinese Super League.
São Paulo FC pursued Juninho after watching him in a scrimmage, and he spent the next five years working his way through the club's system to the “B” team, one step away from his greatest desire.
“Every child in Brazil have the dream to play in the biggest clubs in Brazil, and São Paulo is one of those,” said Juninho, who has been comfortable speaking English for about a year. “It was very emotional. My mom, my dad, my grandma, they did everything for me and my brother [to become] professional. When São Paulo picked me, I was so happy. I see my dreams coming true.”
He, defender Leonardo and winger Alex Cazumba all joined the Galaxy on loan in 2010, thanks to the club's partnership with São Paulo, and Juninho immediately made an impact while filling in for Beckham, who missed most of the 2010 campaign with a torn Achilles' tendon.
When Beckham returned, Juninho slotted in alongside. The partnership was pivotal as LA won MLS Cup titles in 2011 and 2012, and Juninho's game evolved under the superstar's tutelage.
“I learn every day with him, because he is a teacher,” Juninho explained. “We have a lot of conversations together inside [the field], outside, and he saying to me how to be one of the best players in the league. I just see him make his movement, I know what I had to do – eye-to-eye contact every time. Our chemistry was unbelievable, it made me feel more comfortable playing [alongside him]. I think this is the biggest point I'm going to bring with me the rest of my life.”
Juninho's game impressed his teammates, but his affability and authenticity made him beloved in the locker room.
“He was always a different person than people around his age,” said Leonardo, who has known Juninho since they were in their mid-teens. “He was always more mature. If he was 20, he felt like a 24-, 26-year-old guy. At 26 years old, he's like a 30-year-old. Always very mature.”
Dunivant says Juninho's humility is genuine, and it goes a long way.
“He's thankful. He's appreciative,” Dunivant said. “Sometimes you get guys, and it's all about the next stop and then the next [in their career]. And not to say he's not looking for his future, but he's so appreciative of where he is and lives in the moment. He doesn't have his eyes on everything else. It's what he's going with this team and this group of players, and that's a big reason why he's successful.”
São Paulo took notice of Juninho's growth with LA and called him back after the 2011 season, and again after 2012, but things didn't play out as Juninho hoped they would.
“That was my dream, to play for São Paulo first team," Juninho said. "But the beginning of preseason in 2012 they didn't use me, and the coach [Emerson Leão] say, 'You're not going to play.' So they say I'm going to play and now the coach say I'm not going to play no more, so it make me confused.”
Juninho returned to the Galaxy, then was asked back to São Paulo a year later, with the same promise of playing time nixed by the coach, this time Ney Franco. His representatives contacted the Galaxy, who bought him outright.
There's still an attraction.
“Now, today, [that dream of playing for São Paulo has] disappeared,” he said. “I feel more like an experienced player here [with the Galaxy]. Of course, if [São Paulo] offers me something and say I'm going to play, I have to think about it. Because it's good to be back home in Brazil, but I'm very happy here. The Galaxy give me what I have.”
He's in a nearly perfect situation. He loves Southern California – especially the weather, so similar to that he knew in Brazil – and lives with his wife, Jessica, and one-year-old son, João Vitor, in a Carson complex that's also home to Leonardo and was home to Sarvas. It's an extended family.
The baby is an American citizen, and Juninho and Jessica have green cards and are waiting for when they can apply for US citizenship, still more than a year away. Playing with the Galaxy has given Juninho another dream: to play for the United States.
“Every single guy, when they're born and start playing soccer in Brazil, they have a dream to play for the national team,” he said. “But in my case, I'm in the United States playing for an American club and am a three-time champion. So the people here know who I am. It's more closer to play for the US national team than Brazil. The Brazil coach [Dunga], he's never going to watch our games, so I think I feel much more closer to the US national team here than the Brazil national team.”
“I'm saying this in public now, because it's what I really want. The people going to start thinking Juninho can be there [for the US]. Why not? If this happens, then it will be so special for me as a player. Hopefully, one day this can happen.”
