Gianluca Busio may be seeing his most productive season yet for Sporting Kansas City, but the 17-year-old forward has eyes set on something bigger later this year.
The Sporting KC Academy product, who spoke with MLSsoccer.com after Tuesdayās MLS Homegrown Game win against Chivasā U-20 squad, dreams about playing for the United States in the upcoming FIFA U-17 World Cup in Brazil in October.
āItās a dream to play in a World Cup, even if itās a youth World Cup,ā Busio said. āItās in Brazil, itās going to be awesome, but also my first priority is Sporting, so if they need me to help them, Iāll go help them, but obviously I want to play in a World Cup, itās a goal of mine, so, yeah, I want to be there.ā
Busio, who signed a Homegrown Player contract with Sporting in August 2017, has represented the U.S. at both the U-15 and U-17 level. For his club this season, he's has made 13 appearances with six starts this year.
For Busio, despite things not going the teamās way this year in league play, it's afforded him the opportunity to learn and grow.
āI think Iāve had a pretty good season,ā he said. āItās a good season for me to grow as a young player. The team hasnāt had a great season, we havenāt been winning games a lot, but every player has to go through it, every team has to go through it.
āHopefully from now on, we can keep on moving up, [and] hopefully Iām part of that, in helping the team move forward,ā he added.
Busio has also seen playing time at the USL Championship level with Swope Park Rangers this season, playing three games with that squad after appearing 10 times in 2018. He's also seen spot duty with the Sporting KC first team this season, tallying 530 minutes over 13 appearances with three goals to show for it, and could get another chance when Sporting travel to Seattle on Sunday (9 p.m. CT on FS1).
Regardless of where heās played in the Sporting pyramid, Busio said itās about finding a way through the ups-and-downs.
āYou have to give more at all times,ā Busio said. āIf everything is not going your way, you have to find things to be perfect, so you can make things go your way. When youāre winning, everything seems to go right for you. But when youāre losing, itās the total opposite.
āSo, for me, as a young player, learning because down the road to further my career, Iāll have seasons when weāre not playing the bestā¦ I think itās a good learning experience for me.ā
Busio said he knows not to expect to play every game, given that veteran players may have more to prove, but itās up to him to prove to Sporting boss Peter Vermes he can play with the big boys.
āItās up to me to go in there and show the coach why he should play me and why I should play,ā Busio said. āItās like itās up to me, I need to show him that I deserve to be playing. I give 110 percent and even more to prove what I can do.ā
This season, however, heās been able to show what he can do on the field. With injuries plaguing much of Sportingās season, Busio admits itās been difficult for the whole team to adjust, but is confident things will swing towards a positive direction.
āYou can look at it and see weāve had our own several players been out for a little bit,ā he said. āItās been difficultā¦ Iāve been out for a little bit also. I think itās been difficult to deal with, but I feel as a team, weāve done well with it. Weāre getting players back, so I think we just go on from here.ā