Wolves rally for win
Josh Salonen is diving in with both feet in an attempt to become a professional soccer player.
The 17-year-old mid-fielder for the St. Catharines Club Roma Wolves plans to head to Finland following the League1 season and train to be a pro.
“Come September I have a one-way ticket to Europe booked,” the Niagara Falls resident said. “I need to get the tempo of my game up for the European style and get used to how they play over there. Then the plan is to go to Germany and see what I can do with the sport over there.”
Salonen intends to put his education on hold for a year to give soccer his full attention.
“I’ve maintained good grades and it’s (education) always in back of my mind. I’ll take a gap year and if this doesn’t work out then I can get it out of my system.”
Salonen, a graduate of Saint Michael Catholic High School, comes from a soccer family. His father, Tuukka Salonen, is a former pro player in Europe and has been a guiding force in his career.
“Soccer has always been a sport that has meant a lot to me,” Josh Salonen said. “From Day 1 I’ve always wanted to be a professional.
“It stemmed from my dad. Even when I’m training on my own, everything is guided by him. That’s how I know what to train, how much (to train) and just the right things to do come from him.”
Josh Salonen is in his first season with Roma and turning heads despite his age and inexperience at the League1 level.
“He is a very good midfielder with very good technique,” Roma head coach Federico Turriziani said. “He has good physicality. He started slow due to injury but is good to go every week playing a lot of minutes and is one of the most important mid-fielders for this team. He has very good distribution at centre-mid and has good vision of the field and good at maintaining the ball and not losing it in traffic.
“He will be a big, important piece for the rest of the season.”
Turriziani feels the sky is the limit for Josh Salonen.
“He has a good personality, good technique and good vision. He can play at the next level. The mindset is there which is important because he has the professional mentality. He comes every night and works hard every night.”
Turriziani said Josh Salonen’s attitude and work ethic make up for his lack of experience.
“He’s playing players that are maybe double his age but everything comes from mindset and mentality. He wants to play, he loves the sport and when he comes to practice he enjoys it and when he plays he has fun. He wants to play and wants to be better every day.”
Josh Salonen is enjoying the competition.
“The main jump is mainly playing with more experienced players, and the fact that they’re older than me, there is a jump in physicality and overall speed and smarts in terms of play style,” he said.
He feels his game fits in with older players.
“It terms of trusting my teammates and being able to give everyone the same pass, everyone can control the ball. I don’t have to move quite as much as I did in youth because everyone in able to do their own task. In that sense, it’s a lot easer. I would say more tactically and just trusting my teammates really makes a difference.”
Josh Salonen feels hard work is the key to his technical prowess.
“It’s sort of a cliche answer but a lot of practice and just being around the game a lot and a lot of time spent playing the game, you start to look for certain passes that the others might not see.”
Roma made it two wins in a row with a 3-2 victory over Darby FC Friday night at home.
Two late goals by Gerard Forner (83rd, 87th minute) were the difference. Ronaldo Homenszki also scored for the Wolves who improved to 3-5-2.
The Wolves host Masters FA Wednesday, July 3 at 8:45 p.m.
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