Simon Becher has been with ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC only two weeks, but in that time, he felt the impact that Tim Parker had on the team.
“You can obviously judge a lot by how everyone in the locker room reacts to news like that,†Becher said Saturday, “and I think everyone will miss him a lot. I’ve shared the locker room with him for a couple of weeks but he was really welcoming. If I needed anything, he said, just come to him. He’ll definitely be missed and I think the sentiment around the locker room is likewise.â€
City SC announced on Saturday the trade that was completed late Friday that sent Parker and $600,000 of 2025 general allocation money to the New England Revolution for center back Henry Kessler. City SC will retain half of Kessler’s salary for this season.
The move makes City SC younger at the position — Parker is 31, Kessler is 26 — and gets City SC a return for Parker, who was going to be out of contract at the end of the season and was not making progress toward signing a new deal. But it comes at the cost of a player who will forever be part of the club’s history and made an out-sized impact off the field.
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“Yeah, it’s really hard to see Tim go,†interim coach John Hackworth said. “Really good person. And on a personal level, I’ve worked with him previously with the national team. I can remember him coming when I was a head coach in Philadelphia as a college player just to train with us. We want to thank him for all his contribution. What he did for all of us … I think about him scoring the first goal in our history. I know there’s a picture going around when he put the ball under his jersey. I’ll remember those things for a long time. He’ll be missed.â€
“As a vice captain,†City SC sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel said in a statement from the club, “his voice and the way he carried himself is almost irreplaceable.â€
Since Parker and Kessler have already appeared in the Leagues Cup for their original team, neither is eligible to play in the tournament for their new teams, Kessler won’t be on the field when City SC faces FC Juarez in its second game in group play in the Leagues Cup on Sunday (8 p.m., Season Pass on Apple TV). Kessler will make his debut with City SC when MLS play resumes on Aug. 24. Two weeks later, City SC plays at New England on Sept. 7, reuniting everyone.
Parker’s trade is the latest — and biggest — piece of turbulence on what has been a rough season for City SC’s backline. Just about everyone in the group of center backs has been hurt at some point and in a six-game span starting July 3, Parker had six different center backs — Chris Durkin, Michael Wentzel, Josh Yaro, Joakim Nilsson, Jayden Reid and Kyle Hiebert — playing alongside him. So there are a lot of options for Hackworth, but with Nilsson injured, none have the experience of Parker.
But there’s been churn everywhere on the lineup, with six new players joining the team in the summer transfer window.
“There’s a lot of challenges with change,†Hackworth said. “And it’s not lost on any of us that ... there’s been a lot of it recently. We just have to deal with it and that’s part of this profession is that all of us, whether we’re the players or the staff, or the coaches, it’s not one of those jobs you have forever. So you have to enjoy it. You have to embrace it, and you have to deal with it. And that’s all we can do really. When the changes occur, how can you make the most of it? And we certainly have made really positive progression as a team and as a club. And that’s what our expectation is trying to move forward.â€
Eventually, those options will include Kessler, who has appeared in 98 MLS games, starting 88, and has four goals. He’s made two appearances with the U.S. national team, one in the 2021 Gold Cup (on a team that included former City SC player Niko Gioacchini) and one in a friendly with Bosnia. Pfannenstiel described him as an “aggressive defender†with good vision.
“He’s a very talented center back,†Hackworth said, “and it’s interesting in this business when you have to make some tough decisions like this and they’re not always based on just Kessler vs. Parker. There’s other dynamics in there as well. But we’re looking forward to getting him.â€
City SC, which beat Dallas 2-1 in its Leagues Cup opener, has already clinched a spot in the round of 32, as well as a home game in that round (probably on Friday, with an opponent who won’t be known until Monday), and is looking for a win, not just to win the group, but because it needs wins. The team hasn’t won back-to-back games yet this season.
“We’re trying to just keep the momentum that we’ve been building,†Hackworth said, “having good performance, build on that, correct some things have another good performance. And that’s what we want to do.â€
Juarez, located just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, beat Dallas 2-0 in its first Leagues Cup match on Wednesday, with goalkeeper Sebastian Jurado its star of the game with some impressive saves. Juarez is in 15th place in the 18-team Liga MX and has a tie and three losses in its first four games.
“I think they’re very dynamic, they have great mobility,†Hackworth said. “They clearly understand the roles and responsibilities. They made it hard on Dallas and deserve that win. I think it’s going to be a really interesting game here because we’re trying to do some similar things when we’re in our attack. I think both teams are good in transition. So, it’s just going to be an interesting matchup for sure.â€