How Joe Scally went from Lake Grove to the FIFA World Cup with Team USA

It doesn’t happen this way for most soccer moms. One day, Margaret Scally was just like any other soccer mom, shuttling her kids around to practices on Long Island, and travel team games all over from their Lake Grove home. The next, her son Joe was signing a professional contract at age 15.

“I feel like it was like zero to 100, to be honest,’’ she recalled. “It really went very quick.’’

Margaret, who’d played soccer growing up, had been Joe’s coach from the time he started playing at 5 years old until age 13, when, while at a tournament on Randall’s Island, the family was approached by a representative from Major League Soccer club New York City FC. The rep asked if Joe could practice with NYCFC’s brand new youth soccer academy, and that was how it all began.

Two years later, Joe became the second-youngest player in MLS history to sign a pro contract, and the day after he turned 18, he was transferred to German Bundesliga club Borussia Monchengladbach. A year-and-a-half after that, at 19, he made the U.S. roster for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

When he did that, Joe Scally became the first male player ever from Long Island to go to a World Cup. This summer, he made the roster again for the 2026 tournament, which will be taking place in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico beginning June 11.

Two Long Islanders, Crystal Dunn and Allie Long, have played for the U.S. in the Women’s World Cup, but no man had appeared on a World Cup roster before Scally.

“The whole thing is kind of crazy,’’ Joe’s older brother, Drew, said. “I mean, we always thought he was good, but obviously this is what every soccer player dreams of — being in the World Cup.’’

Chris Armas, who grew up in Brentwood and went to Adelphi, was a standout defensive midfielder in Major League Soccer in the late 1990s and early 2000s and played 66 games for the national team. He was a six-time MLS All-Star, and the U.S. Soccer Male Athlete of the Year in 2000, but he never played in a World Cup. He broke onto the U.S. team just after the 1998 World Cup, and after being named to the roster for the 2002 tournament, suffered a torn ACL in one of the final pre-tournament friendly matches and missed the tournament.

He suffered another torn ACL before the 2006 tournament and missed that one too. He retired as a player in 2007.

Mike Windischmann, a central defender who was the captain of the U.S. team at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, grew up in Queens but went to Adelphi, and played in Long Island’s men’s leagues when the country didn’t have a top-flight professional league.

“I was in Long Island for college, and basically stayed in Long Island after that,’’ said Windischmann, who lives in Floral Park. “Some people look at it like, not really from Long Island.’’

So Scally, who plays right back, is the first. He didn’t play in the 2022 World Cup but could see action this summer. Armas, who is now the coach of the Kansas City Current of the National Women’s Soccer League, doesn’t know Scally personally, but he is rooting for him.

“I’m proud of anyone that makes it out of there,’’ Armas said.

The Scallys always knew Joe, now 23, was a special player. According to Margaret, from the beginning he was comfortable — and dominant — at whatever position he was put in, and almost immediately he was moved up from his own age group to play with kids a year older.

Still, no one was thinking he’d be a professional.

“You were hoping he would go to a Division I school,’’ Margaret said.

NYCFC played him two age levels up and moved him to right back, and he played for the U.S. U-15 team and joined the U-17 squad when he was still only 14. This year, he played his 150th game for Moenchengladbach, becoming the youngest non-German to do that.

Coming from a tight-knit family with lots of cousins, all on Long Island, Joe’s professional career is a source of great pride among the family and friends. And while his parents, brother and sister will be traveling around the country to see the U.S. games in person, the extended family will be having watch parties for U.S. games at Napper Tandy’s Irish Pub in Smithtown.

Joe’s sister, Anna, said Joe’s success hasn’t really changed him much. And while she admitted there is something of a celebrity feel that goes along with being the sibling of a pro athlete, she said her friends aren’t necessarily starstruck.

“They all think it's very cool, and stuff, but they all grew up with me and grew up with Joe, so it's kind of like he's like a sibling to basically everyone,’’ she said. “So we all try and keep it as normal as possible, and he's humble about it.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.