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He's back: Brandan Craig battles through injury to make mark for El Paso Locomotive
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- He's back: Brandan Craig battles through injury to make mark for El Paso Locomotive
If Brandan Craig 's first goal with the El Paso Locomotive, a game-winning free kick last Wednesday night at San Antonio, was a microcosm of the season, that could mean good things ahead for an El Paso team starting to shake out of a season-long slump.
The 20-year-old Craig was a big pickup in the offseason, a loan from the Philadelphia Union with age-group US national team experience who spent last season with Austin FC and part of the winter training with Everton of the English Premier League. When Craig was 16, he was the youngest captain of Philadelphia Union II in the USL.
Brandan Craig is a defender for the El Paso Locomotive
More: USL standings
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'I feel back now'
Soon enough, optimism gave way to setbacks, as Craig sprained his ankle in the third game of the season, a loss to Louisville. For the next eight weeks, Craig watched the losses pile up from the sideline. It marked the worst injury of his playing career.
He returned in time for a coaching change, and a change in El Paso's fortunes. Saturday in San Antonio , a place where the Locomotive have rarely won, his curling free kick from 25 yards out gave the Locomotive nine points in their last five games after getting two in the first nine.
"I feel back now," said Craig, who with his teammates will seek the first Southwest University Park win of the season Saturday against Phoenix. "I'm starting to find my rhythm again. Coming back from an injury is always tough. You have to find your feet again, you have to find what's working and what's not and build on that.
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"I've definitely learned a lot."
Long road to El Paso
A season of trials was not what Craig expected when he arrived in El Paso on loan from the Union. A Philadelphia native, he came up through the Union system and was playing in the USL by age 16. During the return from COVID in 2020, he wore the captain's armband in a September game.
"I liked my time with the second team," Craig said. "Being captain at such a young age is an honor, not just for me, but also for my family and friends.
"I was 16-years-old, first game out of COVID, being a leader while also being the youngest guy on the team. I think that speaks volumes. I'm happy that happened."
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Craig didn't break into the MLS lineup, but was loaned to Austin last year where he soaked in the MLS experience while never getting in a first-team game.
"I personally loved every minute of being there," Craig said of his time in Austin. "Austin was a fun experience. I didn't get the minutes I wanted or deserved in Austin but it was a learning experience I'll look back on. Every club I've been to I've learned things and gotten better. I loved Austin, but stuff happens, that's part of the business, it is what it is."
He played every minute in the US's five-game run at the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina, often on the field with former Locomotive star Diego Luna .
Craig trained with Everton over the winter, but that team ran afoul of financial fair play rules and not only was docked points in the EPL standings, they weren't in position to sign Americans.
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So after a year that didn't go how he envisioned, Craig opened a new chapter in El Paso. Just as he was settling in, he got hurt.
Injury and recovery
"Injuries suck," Craig said. "It's a very long process. Mine took eight weeks and it sucked every time and I go out there on the training pitch, just watching everybody train. It's not a good feeling, it's a feeling I wouldn't wish on anybody.
"But it's part of the game and I had to recover as quickly as I could. Thankfully I did that and now I'm contributing goals. I'm thankful for that."
There have been adjustments. Craig didn't play much last year and when he was last a regular with the Union II, the team was much younger than the current El Paso squad. At 20-years-old, Craig is one of the younger Locomotive players.
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"Brandan is still young, he's learning and he has to learn because he's coming from an environment where it was different," El Paso coach Wilmer Cabrera said. "Over here it's more men, so he needs to get stronger, he needs to have a more aggressive mentality.
"But the goal (against San Antonio) has given him the possibility to feel important, to give something to the team, but the most important thing is not for Brandan to score goals. What's important for Brandan is that he becomes a better defender."
Fighting back
The goal, though, was special for a player who has endured some bad luck over the past year and now seems to have come through it.
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"I grabbed the ball, it was out of bounds on like the 50-yard line," Craig said of his goal. "I had it, jogging all the way. Eric (Calvillo) is like, 'Let me take it.' I was like, 'If I score, I'll take the rest of them. If I miss, which I'm not going to, you'll take the next one.' I didn't miss it.
"It's a good feeling, especially away in San Antonio where we haven't won in a couple of years. I enjoyed it, my teammates enjoyed it and it was a big win. It was a confidence booster and momentum builder."
As for what he brings to the team, Craig is confident in his skills.
"My technical ability, passing and free kicks," he said. "A little bit of leadership, that's always been a part of me, instilled from a young age to lead either through example or actions or words. That's something I bring to this team.
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"This is a learning experience, a stepping stone. Hopefully I'll take a lot of experiences that I've learned here to the next stage of my career. Obviously I have aspirations of playing in the English Premier League, the Champions League. I have to do the work now and keep building on that."
Craig has a long ways to go to reach that, but he's been through a lot in the last year and come through it better than ever. If that's true of the Locomotive as a team, there still might be some life left in this season.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.
Phoenix Rising FC at El Paso Locomotive
What, when: A USL Championship game, 7 p.m. Saturday, Southwest University Park
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Tickets: $13-$50.
TV: ESPN+
Records: Phoenix is 5 wins, 4 draws, 5 losses, 19 points, 4th place in the Western Conference; El Paso is 3-9-2, 11 points, 12th
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Brandan Craig battles through injury to make mark for Locomotive
