Mauricio Pineda isn’t one to spoil a good surprise.
“My parents kept asking me Friday, Saturday, like ‘Do you know? Do you know?’ But it wasn’t official yet, so I wasn’t saying anything.”
The rookie midfielder had a hunch he might see the field in the Fire's 2020 regular season opener against the Seattle Sounders, but decided to keep it spoiler-free until he heard it from head coach Raphael Wicky himself.
In the early hours before kickoff on Sunday morning, the family text thread had their answer.
Pineda became the Fire’s 12th Homegrown signing to earn his professional debut when he took the field among Wicky’s first starting XI of the regular season.
“When I heard the news, I was really excited,” he said. “We were in film and I saw my name on the board on the slide with the starting lineup, and that’s a really good feeling.”
In a tidy, two-way performance, Pineda’s poise from the holding midfield position helped the Fire push the reigning MLS Cup champions to the brink, even as the hosts ultimately claimed all three points with a stoppage-time winner.
"I felt good on the field, and a lot of that comes from the coaching staff giving me that confidence to go out and do what I do and feel confident doing it."
By the numbers, that confidence helped Pineda deliver a standout debut performance. The 22-year-old was stout when called upon defensively (winning six of nine 50-50 duels and a team-high three tackles), aggressive in winning back possession (recording a team-high 12 defensive recoveries), and efficient on the ball (completing 53 of 57 passes, a team-high 93% accuracy) in his first official 90-minute shift, according to Opta.
“In terms of performance and tactics, I think Rapha did a really good job of making me feel like it wasn’t my first game,” Pineda said. “I didn’t feel at any point like, ‘Oh I’m a rookie and this is my rookie season.’ He gave me a role, and I had to understand it as much as I could to help the team perform.”
“A lot of the staff were positive with me after the game, obviously understanding that that was my first professional game,” he said. “(Assistant coach) Frank (Klopas) came up and hugged me after, which was a good feeling to know that you did alright on your first game.”
Pineda credits his composure to his time at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where he served as team captain and played in all 79 of his team's matches over four years before signing with the Fire in January.
"When I was 18, I may not have been as ready as I am now to hop in right on the field first game and play," he said. "I think the four years of school at a higher level was a good preparation for this. The coaching staff and the staff there were really professional, and it helped me out a lot in transitioning to the pros."
With his first major MLS milestone now behind him, Pineda is all business. The Fire are back on the road this Saturday against New England (12:30 pm CT | WGN-TV, ESPN+), and -- with the late defeat spoiling his debut -- there’s only room to improve.
“That’s the next step -- just forgetting about the fact that it might have been my debut and start looking forward, looking to the next game,” he said.
“There’s still a lot of stuff to work on, so we’ll look at some things that I can get better on and hopefully improve in the near future."
