As Scally grew — literally and metaphorically — Schmidt started testing the boundaries of his budding talent. In a 7-on-7 tournament, on a whim, Schmidt dared Scally to shoot from midfield on the kickoff. “It’s a 60-, 70-yard field, so midfield is 35 or 40 yards,” he says. “He didn’t want to do it. He was embarrassed; he didn’t want to show anyone up. I’m looking at him, like, you’ve gotta be kidding — just do it!”
Scally relented. Seconds later, the crossbar was still rattling. “Didn’t score; top of the crossbar,” Schmidt chuckles in disbelief even now. “Incredible.”
By 15, Scally was defending David Villa in NYCFC joint practices. Margaret would send Schmidt photos of her not-yet-driver’s-licensed son marking up Spain‘s all-time leading scorer and World Cup champion. Schmidt would just marvel.
“He’s 15 and he’s right there, he’s right there,” he says. “He’s not coming across as a kid, he’s not embarrassing himself out there.”
Schmidt hails Scally’s basketball prowess as the key to his ascendance. In fact, locally, there was a battle over what sport might claim him. “[At Sachem North], a fairly good basketball team, they had him on varsity as an eighth grader — they wanted him,” Schmidt says. “He was a point guard and his head was always on a swivel.”
But a calling is a calling. Scally attributes his vision, movement, footwork and tactical awareness — by all metrics, his are elite — to his pedigree as a ball handler. It was those qualities, in fact, that prompted his coaches at NYCFC to move him from center-mid to right-back a year earlier. His aptitude and willingness to adapt were plusses in the eyes of coaches, but they’re also likely the reason he drew interest from Europe immediately.
That “0 to 100” is seemingly a Scally calling card; the nearly 20-year history of the Golden Boy Award, presented by Tuttosport and voted on by sports journalists, reads like a who’s who of global football’s last two decades. It’s presented to a young footballer, 21 or younger, who’s playing in Europe, and it’s considered an unofficial knighting of soccer’s prince-in-waiting. Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Paul Pogba, Raheem Sterling, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Pedri have all won. Only one defender, Matthijs de Ligt, has ever won the award.
In June, following his 2021-22 season, Scally was shortlisted for the award with fellow Americans Yunus Musah (Valencia), Malik Tillman (Rangers, on loan from Bayern Munich) and his friend and fellow NYCFC youth product Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund).
With Qatar less than three months away and Scally’s ceiling seemingly boundless, not to mention a growing need for talent on the back line following Miles Robinson‘s Achilles tear, could making the World Cup really be in sight?
“It’s everyone’s dream to play in a World Cup and that one camp when I was around all the guys, [it] just felt like I fit in, this is where I belong, this is where I can play,” Scally told ESPN in February. “The main goal is the World Cup, and any way I can help the team I’m willing to do that. It’s amazing when you put on the jersey and have the crest on your chest. It’s a different feeling.”
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Schmidt, for the record, doesn’t think his emotions could handle that. “I’d probably start crying,” he laughs. “He’s just always been so modest and balanced, but he believes in himself and he’s confident.
“When he was 11, we probably had a 16-player roster; kids 15 and 16, they don’t really play, but they’re there, you know? We’d tell the kids to partner up for drills… and Joe would always take the weakest kid. Joe would put that ball on the kid’s foot every single time … and, let me tell you, that ball wouldn’t come back the same way. And he’s always smiling and laughing, regardless — super down-to-earth. So, yeah, I’m gonna root for that kid who’s starting in front of 60,000 in a Bundesliga game.”
Part of Scally’s proclivity is, of course, talent. The other part (effort) was always in the genes.
“One day, I go out to practice and [Joe’s mother and coach] Margaret is out there in jeans and flip flops servicing balls into the box to the kids,” Schmidt says. “One after another, just no problem, right [on them]. She was a darn good player. John Fitzgerald [head coach of the Long Island Lady Rough Riders 1997 W-League National Championship team] said I could have used her on the team!”
