Amobi Okugo Blog: Having fun with 'the American Chicharito


In his latest blog post, Okugo touches on Jack McInerney being called the American Chicharito and shares his experience of life in Philadelphia.
Hey blog readers!

I’m back to fill you in on what’s been going on in my life since you last heard from me. This past weekend we had a good result on the road, tying Columbus, 1-1. Columbus is a strong team with the likes of Chad Marshall, Eddie Gaven, [Federico] Higuain, [Jairo] Arrieta and [Dominic] Oduro, so to be able to get a result against them for the first time in five tries in Crew Stadium was a great accomplishment. 

Jack McInerney, or should I say the “American Chicharito” (more on that later), gave us an early lead thanks to a great sequence. We had chances to put them away throughout the game, but unfortunately we weren’t able to capitalize and they scored a late goal late salvage a point. Credit to the Crew for coming out strong in the second half, though. I was really proud of our team for holding firm and continuing to look for the winning goal despite being on the road. 

This shows the strides we have made and the confidence we have as a team. We know that we can compete with any team, doesn’t matter if we are home or away.

Back to Jack, I’ve known him since I was 15 years old. Formerly known as Jack Mac, he now goes by Jackerito, Mcinerito, Javier, “Little Pea”, or just the American Chicharito (his new nickname's due to the article on MLSsoccer.com). Personally I think it’s great that this article came out, because it gives all of us a chance to tease Jack and get him out of his shell. It also gives him recognition for something that he’s been doing his whole life. 

Jack is the type of player that likes to let his play on the field do the talking, and I’m glad to see that all of his hard work has finally started to pay off. I’ve been his roommate on the road since we came to the Union as rookies so I’ve seen his progression first hand. It’s great to see him take advantage of the opportunity he’s been given. When it comes to off the ball movement and finishing (two things the real Chicharito is known for), I don’t think that there’s a better American forward under the age of 23 than Jack. 

I know Jack is gunning for the Golden Boot award and if he keeps finding himself in good positions, I’m sure he’ll be at the least in running…unless I have something to do about it. Just kidding!!(Not really though). Hopefully Jack can continue his winning ways against Toronto this weekend.

This weekend we’ll see a different Toronto team than the ones that we have been used to seeing. They have a new coach, Ryan Nielson, who has done a great job of changing their philosophy and helped them to be a competitive team every week.

They have very dangerous players in [Robert] Earnshaw, [John] Bostock and [Luis] Silva, but we know if we stick to our gameplan, we have a good chance of getting a win and slowly turning PPL Park back into a fortress. Personally, I’m excited to see some familiar faces, especially our first captain Danny Califf...I just have to make sure that I escape his tackle! Our game will be nationally streamed on the MLS website, which is awesome. It’ll be a good, competitive game so make sure you tune in.

If you remember from the last blog or even if you’re just joining now, I live in the heart of Philadelphia, in Old City and I love it. 

Philadelphia takes some time to adjust to, especially if you grew up in California like I did, but it definitely grows on you. It’s easy to walk around and has a lot of unique restaurants. A few of my favorite restaurants in the city are Buddakan, El Vez, La Locanda del Ghiottone, Fat Salmon, Barkley Prime, Cuba Libre and Cuba de Alma (let me stop here before you guys think I never cook).

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