D.J. Countess’ and Steve Cronin’s paths have crossed so many times that it’s natural to assume they are intertwined. Truth is, it took years of competition to cement a friendship.
They are the goalkeepers for the U.S. under-17 team in New Zealand, which is the least of what they hold in common. They’re both from Sacramento, Calif., attend the same high school, play for the same club, and have engaged in a spirited rivalry – on the soccer field and the baseball diamond – since adolescence.
Oh, and both have dogs named Lucky.
“It’s pretty spooky,” says Countess, the U-17s’ No. 1 netminder, who is nearly 17 months older than Cronin. “To think we live within a mile of each other, and now we’re here. It’s pretty crazy.”
That they’re here, both of them, seems more coincidence than anything else. They are two of America’s finest young keepers, talented players who have benefited greatly from the U-17 team’s residency in Bradenton, Fla., but there’s nothing to suggest geography spawned their success.
“They are both outstanding keepers,” praised Steve Petruskey, who coaches Cronin’s team at San Juan Soccer Club. “They’ll both go very far in soccer.” They split time in the nets at Bella Vista High School, but Countess has had the overwhelming majority of action with the national team, playing in 38 of 41 internationals. Cronin has played in two, none in ’99.
The pair met on the baseball field, and Cronin’s first memory of Countess is from when they were 10 and 11.
“I was the leadoff batter for the Dodgers, and he was pitching for the White Sox,” Cronin says. “I was thinking, ‘Dang, he throws fast.'”
They were batterymates that year on the all-star team – when one pitched, the other caught. Says Countess: “We thought baseball was going to be our sport.”
They hadn’t been close friends in Sacramento – Countess is a year ahead of Cronin in school, and he played for an older team at San Juan – and they didn’t mesh upon arrival at the U-17 residency in Florida last January.
“The first semester of residency, there was this kind of hate, a real harsh kind of competitiveness between the two of us, and sometimes we took it off the field,” Cronin says.
They worked out their differences over the summer and returned to Bradenton as pals. “We’re very close now,” Cronin reports. “He’s probably one of my best friends on this team.” Adds Countess: “It’s been great since September.”
Their rivalry may continue in the college ranks. Countess has verbally committed to UCLA; Cronin, just a junior, has drawn Stanford’s interest.
by Soccer America senior editor Scott French