The curious story of Evan Bush’s debut
Professional players always remember their debuts, but it would be literally impossible for Evan Bush to forget his. Now 10 years into a career as a successful goalkeeper, the American’s first steps on a professional field weren’t where we’ve become accustomed to seeing him, between the posts.
Talking with the media Monday morning at Centre Nutrilait, Bush took us through what must be one of the weirdest professional debuts you can imagine.
“My professional debut was as a striker,” explained Bush. “It was with the Cleveland City Stars, 10 years ago. We had gone down to San Juan, and at the time, in the second division, those trips were made longer so we didn’t have to play twice. So, we played two games – one on Tuesday and one on Saturday. We had a few guys get injured on Tuesday, and we were already a small team travelling to begin with.”
Saturday came along, and after Bush’s team made two subs, no one was left to bring on – except for the back-up goalkeeper, of course, who was Evan Bush. With five minutes left to play and the score level, that’s when the coach turned to Bush for help.
“The goalkeeper coach starts talking to the head coach about needing to make a change to slow things down, and he looked at me and said, “Bush is fit, let’s just throw him on for a bit.” So, I went on as a striker for the last five minutes of that game. The ironic part was that the goalkeeper for Puerto Rico was Bill Gaudette.”
Gaudette, of course, would end signing with the Impact in 2011, the same year Evan Bush joined the club. Considering how his appearance as a striker ended up going, I don’t think we’ll see Bush up top anytime soon.
“I get in a one on one situation in the 92nd minute and I obviously made a meal out of it,” laughed Bush. “Bill picks up the ball and gives me an elbow in the back as he’s running up the pitch. I had no idea who Bill was at that point, and a year and a half later we’re playing on the same team.”
As fate would have it.
