The seconds were ticking away, seemingly more quickly than normal, and Borussia Mönchengladbach were heading for another home defeat. This one, a fourth out of four against bottom club Mainz, would really sting.
One of their young players had seen enough. In the 89th minute he picked the ball up some distance from goal, scurried towards the penalty area, shifted it on to his right foot and thrashed a rocket of a shot up and over Robin Zentner from range before the goalkeeper could even think about getting himself set. Borussia-Park erupted, and Gladbach had salvaged a point.
As he so often does, Joe Scally showed up when his club needed him most.
His late contribution here had been a while coming. It was his first goal in more than a year, and his first Bundesliga goal in two years. His previous goal came in a win at Wolfsburg, in better times for his club. Yet as much as he gleefully declared in the aftermath of that maiden strike that “I want to score again and again” to replicate the feeling, sticking the ball in the back of the net is Scally moonlighting from his normal responsibilities. Even at 20, he is somebody who those around him feel can be leaned on, and he always has been.
Scally grew up on Long Island and busied himself with a plethora of sports, although he has joked that “soccer was the only one of them that I actually liked.” After his potential became known, progress was quick. In March 2018 he signed a Homegrown Player contract at New York City FC making him, at 15, the second-youngest pro player in MLS history after Freddy Adu. Alongside Gio Reyna, he helped NYC FC win the 2018 Academy Championship and debuted for the first team in the US Open Cup that summer against crosstown rivals Red Bulls.
Along the way he was feasting on the experience and advice of others. Then-coach Patrick Vieira was a big influence and Scally has talked extensively of consciously aiming to follow in the footsteps of James Sands, two-and-a-half years his senior and the first New York City FC academy graduate to make it to the first-team roster. Despite his precocity Scally was still grounded enough not to neglect his studies, and he graduated high school early.
Adu struggled to build on the blaze of publicity that accompanied his arrival in the European game, though, but Scally’s journey looks different. He officially joined up with Gladbach on New Year’s Day 2021, the day after his 18th birthday, although his signing had been announced the previous November. He didn’t get the full Bundesliga experience from the off. With pandemic measures still in effect, the league was stripped of spectators and bustle, and he had to pass a series of Covid tests before he was even allowed on the training field.
Once again Scally absorbed everything he could from teammates like Lars Stindl, Marcus Thuram, Yann Sommer and Stefan Lainer, who would end up being his competition at right-back. The admiration was mutual. “He went from zero to 100,” enthuses sporting director Roland Virkus, a passionate believer in youth development who was still in charge of Gladbach’s academy at the time when Scally arrived in Germany. “I’ve never seen a young player snap into challenges like him.”
In fact Scally is the perfect hybrid modern full-back. At 6ft he is a size and build that wouldn’t have been considered normal for a full-back 15 years ago, but he still has the nimbleness of a more traditional occupant of the position. He has considerable attacking flair and an adventurous side yet is highly combative, winning more than 64% of his challenges last season. Only six players in the Bundesliga triumphed in more individual duels.
Little wonder, then, that ex-Gladbach coach Adi Hütter felt comfortable giving Scally his debut on the first day of the 2021-22 season against champions Bayern Munich, of all teams – and out of position, at left-back. “I watch them on TV every day, so knowing their moves already helps me a lot,” he said disarmingly after the game. That certainly looked the case as he competed well in a head-to-head against Leroy Sané.
That first impression was still in the mind of Gregg Berhalter when he handed Scally a full USMNT debut against Morocco in June 2022. “We see him going up against Sané or Alphonso Davies,” said Berhalter, “and he’s standing up to the tests and for us, it was just about gathering enough information. He’s a young player and we wanted to see him performing consistently at a high level. And he’s done that.” That faith saw him go to the 2022 World Cup as the youngest member of the USMNT squad.
As their tough start to the season underlines Gladbach are in transition after the departures of Sommer, Thuram, Ramy Bensabaïni (the talented left-back who Scally filled in for on occasion) and club captain Stindl. With Virkus at the helm, their plan is to bet big on young players and Scally will be at the centre of that. In April he extended his contract until 2027 (with a generous pay bump), underlining just how keen Gladbach are to build with him as a foundational piece.
“Joe has developed very well with us,” Virkus said announcing the new deal. “At his age and at this speed, going from a promising talent in the under-23s to a regular in the Bundesliga and even to the World Cup is exemplary of the path [we want young players to take].”
Scally just wants what he always has – to play. “For me,” he said, “the most important thing is to play as often as possible. Borussia gives me the opportunity to do exactly that and develop as a player. In our talks the people in charge showed me a clear plan as to the direction in which we should move forward.”
Next up after the international break is another big challenge – the hotly contested derby with Köln, who sit bottom of the table with just a single point to show for their season so far. It will be another moment where Scally has to stand up and be counted alongside his more senior teammates. The kind of obstacle, in fact, that he seems to genuinely relish.
