Tarek takes the roads less traveled

by jake nutting

Now in his first full season with the Tampa Bay Rowdies, Tarek Morad has established himselfas a regular in Neill Collins' squad week in and week out, missing just one of the club's 16 games so far this year.

Morad, 26, joined the Rowdies late into last season, as they were desperately trying to fight their way into a postseason spot in spite of underwhelming performances, a handful of injuries and a couple retirements. Morad's signing was announced on August 8 and he made his first start that night and went on to start in every match after that as well. His presence in the back helped stabilize Tampa Bay's defense and was a large reason the club had any shot at the playoffs in the final weeks of the regular season.

Prior to landing in Tampa Bay, though, Morad had gone off the radar a bit. His 2017 season ended by raising the USL Cup with Louisville City FC, but after three enjoyable seasons in Louisville he went looking to fulfill a lifelong dream in the country both his parents were born in.

"Even though I grew up and spent most of my life in the U.S., I've been to Egypt a few times and I was living there a little over four months before I signed for the Rowdies last year," Morad said. "I was out there training with clubs and just trying something new before I signed with the Rowdies last August. I definitely have a great connection with the country and the culture."

Morad's parents both moved from Egypt to America in their youth and eventually met in California, where they raised Morad and his two older brothers. Soccer became a natural part of Morad's life at an early age as both his brothers played and he followed in their footsteps. After impressing at Chino Hills High School, Morad played one season at Mt. San Antonio College before transferring to UC Irivine for the rest of his college career.

"I would say I had a different path than most in that I've never been a player to garner accolades or any individual awards," he said. "You always hope professional soccer is what's next for you, but at the end of the day you're really not sure unless you're someone that gets a lot of attention and individual achievements. Even though I've been successful throughout my youth career, growing up, and even in college, I didn't really know if I was gonna be able to make it or not. I was always gonna try to take advantage of whatever opportunities were set out in front of me. I've always sort of had a chip on my shoulder just to prove people that doubted me even before college. I think I'll always have that chip on my shoulder going forward."

In his senior year at UC Irvine in 2013, Morad helped the school win the Big West Conferencetitle and also stood out as a member of Chivas USA's U23 team. Those accomplishments were enough to get Morad an invitation to the Seattle Sounders preseason camp. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to parlay that invitation into a contract with the Major League Soccer club and he ultimately wound up signing with Oklahoma City Energy FC in the USL.

"I was in Seattle's camp for about a month. It was almost like a surreal experience for me where I wasn't able to fully grasp the opportunity that was in front of me. I don't think I did as well as I could've done and Oklahoma City was one of my only options at the time. Unfortunately it wasn't a great experience on the field. I didn't really make any strides in my growth as a player."

Morad failed to get regular minutes in his debut season in Oklahoma City as the club missed out on the postseason. However, the offseason provided an opportunity when James O'Connor brought Morad in for Louisville City's launch in 2015. Everything seemed to go right in Louisville. Morad became a mainstay as the club finished second in the Eastern Conference two straight years before finally claiming both the conference and league titles in 2017.

"Under James I think I grew a lot as an individual, even off the field as well. I think I started to develop a better understanding of the game, develop a higher speed of thought and a higher speed of play. Louisville was probably my biggest step in growth as a player," he said.

"The chemistry was excellent from the first player to the last player on the team. Everyone was genuinely hoping that the guy next to them succeeds on the field. Everyone put in the work every single week to earn their spot on the team and there was just a general great camaraderie between every single person on that team. I think that really put us over the top. I took a little bit of that experience with me and I'm trying to bring to the locker room here in Tampa Bay now."

As a main contributor to a USL championship Morad likely had a few offers within the league. His contract in Louisville was up but O'Connor wanted to bring him back. Morad, though, was ready to push himself and get out of his comfort zone.

"I wanted to take a chance and fulfill a dream of mine for as long as I can remember, which is playing overseas and challenging myself, looking for a new experience that helps me get better as a player. For me that was anywhere overseas, but the first opportunity that opened up for me was

in Egypt," he said. "It was a bit of waiting period between the end of the season in 2017 until I got an opportunity to play for a few clubs overseas but it was a risk I was willing to take."

A contract offer did not materialize in Egypt after months of hard work. At a certain point Morad decided it was more important to start getting regular minutes again. That is when the Rowdies entered the picture. His contract in Tampa Bay was only through the 2018 season, but the club was eventually able to lure him back for this season. Morad has picked up where he left off as the Rowdies sit at the top of the standings in the east and are widely considered the best defensive team in the league.

"It was a really good and difficult experience in Egypt," Morad said. "It just didn't work out the way I had hoped, but I was really close to accomplishing what I set out to accomplish before I went. I look back at it and it was a great experience for me personally and I learned a lot. But for me I needed to play games and Neill had expressed interest in me before. It was one of those things where it worked out as far as timing. It's been really great so far. I've been trying to learn a lot from Neill. He's been great so far even though he's still young into his coaching career. Our record this year just goes to show how much overall growth the club has made under Neill so far."

Morad hasn't given up on his desire to play overseas yet, though."I'm still focused on accomplishing some great things with the club this year. After this year I'm not really sure. I'm not focusing on that yet. That's still something that I have my eyes set on and hopefully I'll get that opportunity in the near future. But right now I'm just focused on doing what I can to make this team successful."