Crown Legacy FC coach Tavares ready to take the pitch

CHARLOTTE FC

Crown Legacy FC head coach José Tavares built a substantial résumé at FC Porto in Portugal, where his developmental teams won Liga Portugal 2 and UEFA Youth Champions League titles.

José Tavares, the head coach for Crown Legacy FC, has been in Charlotte since last August and you can tell that he’s more than ready to take his charges onto the pitch and get this season started.

Tavares, leader of the third division level team that will fill in the path from Charlotte FC’s academy program to the first team,  landed here from FC Porto, a successful Portuguese club in his home town that was founded in 1893 and whose first team was top of the table last season.

“His pedigree is really unmatched,” said Legacy team president Darrius Barnes. “You really won’t meet too many people who have that caliber of experience. It shows our ambitions.”

Tavares started at the U-14 levels, worked his way up to the first team duties, and was given the reigns of Porto’s B team when it was created. His success is why Charlotte FC wanted him here to help transition young professionals and academy players to the first squad.

So why Charlotte for a coach already successful with a top team in Europe?

“I believe we need to be where we are being called,” he answered.

Tavares says that he had been aware of Charlotte’s entry to MLS from the start and watched all their games last year well before his arrival. He had been thinking about a move and when the opportunity came up with a team he already admired, he says, “the perfect moment arrived.”

“I feel the Queen City has something to express themselves in the U.S. market football-wise.”

Along with the top priority of his calling – feeding talent to the first team – Tavares has done that while instilling a winning mentality. At Porto, his first, reserve and academy teams garnered more than 11 titles. The developmental level trophies included the Liga Portugal 2 title and the UEFA Youth Champions League.

“I am more than a football coach because I really care about the players that I have, the staff that sits around myself and other people,” Tavares explained to CLTFC’s team website. “Because if we are happy and if someone is caring about someone, we can give more.”

If you like the high pressure, attacking style coach Christian Lattanzio wants his team to play, you will most likely appreciate what see from the Legacy.

“We want to build a club, not a team,” said Tavares. “Our project is for all the teams and all the coaches to be aligned. We are working closely so that we have the same model for all the teams we have. For that we need to have the same ideas, the big principles, the big values. We need to share them between us.”

Tavares said that while he and his staff – which included assistant coach Pedro Mane who came from Porto with Tavares – worked closely with Lattanzio and the first team staff, they also respected the job at hand that staff had to do. Brian Edwards, who has been the goalkeeper coach for the academy has moved up to the Legacy, who announced Kevin Sawchak, an Atlanta native who served as an assistant for USL League One side Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC during their inaugural season.

Gathering the team

The 42-year-old Tavares is still in the process of gathering his squad. According to Charlotte FC, there are currently eight players signed, which includes a mix of international professionals and college athletes.

The collegians include midfielders Jacob Williams from Navy, and Gurman Sangha, who played at both the universities of Portland and Memphis; centerback Ethan Dudley from Northwestern and Florida Gulf Coast; and goalkeeper Nate Silveira from Vermont. Kenyan native Philip Mayaka, a midfielder, was selected third overall by Colorado Rapids in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft out of Clemson and played on loan to the USL Colorado Switchbacks.

Two players on loan are defender João Pedro from Brazilian first division side Club Atletico Paranaense, and midfielder David Poreba, a Chicago native who has been playing with Polish top-flight club Stal Mielec. Signed to the team is forward Iuri Tavares (no relation to the coach), a Cape Verde native from top-flight Portuguese club Estoril Praia SAD.

The team can, and will, also feature CLTFC Academy players to test their mettle and readiness to move up. According to 2022 rules, a maximum of five MLS Next youth academy players per team on the field during an official match.

While some MLS teams – Dallas FC in particular – have sold off potential first team players as a revenue generator, Barnes says, “Holistically, we are looking to develop talent at our disposal. That’s talent here domestically. That’s talent internationally. If we develop talent that is appeasing globally as well, we’ll look at those opportunities.” Referring to but not mentioning Riley McGree, he added: “You’ve seen there were players who were signed to the first team but never featured for Charlotte FC. It was a good opportunity for them to be sold abroad.”

Calling Matthews home with a name of its own

The team will play home matches at the 5,000-seat Sportsplex in Matthews, but a schedule is yet to be announced. MLS Next Pro has grown to 28 teams in its second season, seven more than its debut last year. Unlike most MLS second teams, 16 are denoted with numeric Roman or Arabic two designations – Orlando B is the only side going with an alphabet ranking – Crown Legacy FC has a close but separate brand.

Barnes says it gives the Legacy players “something to call their own,” while “still understanding it ladders up to the first team.”

Rivalries with other MLS clubs, such as the I-85 derby with Atlanta United, will filter down but one much closer is in the works for 2024 as North Carolina becomes home to a second MLS Next Pro team based in High Point. Carolina Core FC will be shepherded by former North Carolina, MLS, and U.S. National Team star Eddie Pope. A National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee, three-time MLS Cup winner, and three-time FIFA World Cup participant, Pope is the Core’s chief sporting officer.  

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