Martinez brothers prepare for Charlotte Independence soccer season

The commute up Interstate 77 every morning for training is a real slog, but at least Alex and Enzo Martinez have each other to stay entertained.

The brothers, who are former Northwestern Trojans and Discoveries Soccer Club standouts, both signed with the Charlotte Independence, a United Soccer League expansion franchise. Enzo agreed to contract terms first, last month, and immediately recruited his brother to join him in returning to the area.

“I kept telling him everyday it would be a great thing for both of us,” said Enzo, before the team practiced Wednesday morning.

Enzo’s recruitment of Alex wasn’t difficult. For starters, the brothers share the same agent. Secondly, the situation was ideal for both. Playing close to home in the USL – minor league soccer – alongside each other, was really a perfect deal.

“It’s a good opportunity, a good level of football and close from home,” said Enzo. “I don’t think there was a better option out there, for me.”

The brothers, born in Uruguay before moving to Rock Hill in 2000, performed at a combine the Independence hosted in December and all parties maintained an ongoing conversation through the next two months.

“I think they came to the conclusion that it made sense to be at home, family-wise, etc.,” said Independence coach Mike Jeffries. “It makes the car ride less lonely for both of them I guess.”

The Independence get a pair of players with good pedigree and competitive fires further fueled by MLS jiltings. Enzo was drafted in the first round in 2012 by Real Salt Lake but was released after the 2013 season without ever playing a competitive game for the club. He latched on with Carolina RailHawks of the North American Soccer League, a league parallel to USL, and thrived there, scoring nine goals in 36 appearances the last two seasons.

Alex’s departure from MLS was even more sudden. He was drafted by Sporting Kansas City in the third round in 2014 and was getting regular playing time as a rookie, scoring his first goal for the club during a U.S. Open Cup victory. But he was cut from the team in late June of last year, eventually landing with Orange County Blues. He later finished out the last month of the season with Enzo for Carolina.

“You get to see a side of soccer that you didn’t know growing up,” said Enzo. “You get to see why there is a lot of money in sports and how it is.”

Those misfortunes work in the Independence’s favor. Charlotte’s first-year franchise, which opens the USL season March 27 at UNC Charlotte’s Transamerica Field against the Charleston Battery, gets a pair of players who while related, are slightly different kinds of midfielders.

“They’re both good technical players, able to beat guys on the dribble. And both of them have pretty good ideas in front of goal,” said Jeffries, a former MLS coach who starred at Duke in the early 1980s. “Alex is actually a good ball-winner and hunts down the ball, and Enzo works very hard to create space for himself. Probably Enzo plays a little higher up the field than Alex, but they do have a fair amount of similarities.”

The Martinez brothers are excited to be wearing the same kit again. They can harken back to the glory days of high school and club soccer when they helped the Trojans to three high school state titles, Enzo won Gatorade Player of the Year three times, and was named ESPN Rise’s player of the decade. They won a club national championship as well. Both went on to successful college careers: Enzo won a national title at North Carolina and Alex starred at High Point before transferring to N.C. State and making All-ACC.

Though they played with the RailHawks at the same time last fall, they were only on the field together about 10 minutes. That makes this more permanent-looking on-field reunion meaningful.

“I think we know each other so well,” said Alex, wearing a Discoveries polo. “Obviously we’re brothers but we’ve played together for such a long time so that helps a lot.”

“In like three seconds you would know they’re related,” said Jeffries. “If you let one of them be the captain and pick teams, he would pick his brother first. Regardless of if you had Messi on the sidelines, he’d still pick his brother.”

The reaction to their signing from family and friends in the Rock Hill area has been predictably excited.

“Everyone I talked to was like, ‘I’m gonna have to get season tickets to come watch you guys play,’” said Alex. “It’s good for us, it’s good for the club because we’re so close to home and people want to come watch us and the team be successful.”

The cynic could view the Independence’s signing of the brothers as smart marketing by a new franchise; it is. But Jeffries said his focus is on the Martinez brothers as soccer players and not as marketing pawns.

“I don’t want it to be construed as if it was, ‘sign a couple of local guys,’” he said. “That wasn’t the case.”

While staying in Rock Hill, the Martinez brothers will be coaching and working in the community with Discoveries. They’ll also try and add to their local soccer playing legend, which could now stretch up I-77 to the Queen City’s newest pro team.

“We can make our own history and have our own legacy,” said Alex.

It’s something they’ll have plenty of time to talk about during the drive to practice.

This story was originally published March 18, 2015 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Martinez brothers prepare for Charlotte Independence soccer season."