Union promote Michee Ngalina from Bethlehem Steel to help replace David Accam

The Union used the international spot they acquired in the David Accam trade to promote 19-year-old forward Michee Ngalina from Bethlehem Steel to the first team.

Ngalina, a Democratic Republic of Congo native, has nine goals and three assists for Steel in 31 games over the last year and a half, including two last Saturday in a 3-3 tie at Loudon United.

He has been training regularly with the Union for a while, and made a cameo appearance in last year’s U.S. Open Cup in as a substitute in an early-round win.

“Michee showed already not only in training but also in games with Steel that he can really be an asset for us,” Tanner said. “We need to use him in MLS, and that’s the reason we gave him the contract.”

Manager Jim Curtin concurred.

“I’m really proud of Michee and the work that he’s put in,” he said. “You guys will see him sooner rather than later with the first team, because he deserves it.”

In addition to his scoring touch, Ngalina has a toolbox full of pace and trickery. Curtin has seen it often enough in Ngalina’s many practices with the first team to believe the player can deliver in MLS.

“He can go by anybody at the first team level,” Curtin said. “He’s going to go by the first guy, which is a skill you can’t teach. Outside of Ilsinho, one-on-one he’s our most dangerous guy, because he has that ability.”

Ngalina does all of this with a joy and smile that he carries on and off the field.

“I always smile because when I smile, I feel more power in me," he said. “I feel so happy to sign my MLS contract. Thanks to the Union staff to give me that big opportunity to show what I can do.”

Ngalina’s rise shows that the Union aren’t just developing young players within their youth academy, but are finding them elsewhere too. Before signing a USL contract last April, he was at the Montverde Academy prep school outside Orlando.

“He’s a teenager still, which is incredible to think because he’s got a couple years under his belt of playing with pros now,” Curtin said. “He has taken a next step with Steel, where I think you’re seeing all the flash and sizzle add up to goals, which is important.”

That evolution includes shifting his playing style from a winger to a central forward who plays off a bigger partner on the front line.

“He likes to get isolated out wide and get that head of steam running, but he’s really embraced being a second forward, where you actually have more freedom to come inside come underneath," Curtin said.

Ngalina said that from his perspective, the two positions aren’t all that different.

“In the top of the diamond formation, I think I will feel okay, because some movement will [help] me to run like a winger,” he said. “For me, it’s the same to play as a winger as up top.”