After setbacks that turned into comebacks and then setbacks again, the USMNT defender intends to seize opportunity
AUSTIN, TEXAS – Marlon Fossey has been waiting to tell this story but, before he could, there were some things he needed to accomplish and some things he had to leave in the past. The story wouldn't be particularly inspirational if he didn't. Without a big moment at the end, without that bow on top, there wouldn't be much of a story to tell. There needed to be that high point, that crescendo to tie it all together.
The high point came last month in Cincinnati. He felt it as he stared out into the crowd during the pregame rendition of the The Star Spangled Banner before a friendly against New Zealand. As he surveyed the stadium ahead of his first U.S. men's national team cap, Fossey felt as if one long, grueling chapter was over – and a newer, more exciting one was just getting started.
"I was just looking around," Fossey told GOAL, "and I think at that moment, I was like, 'OK, it's real now."
So begins story time with Marlon Fossey and, while it doesn't necessarily start in a sweaty gym at Fulham, it also kind of does. It's a story with more lows than highs, with setbacks that turned into comebacks and then setbacks again. Somehow, he's still standing – literally. It's a miracle his legs still work given the hurdles he's encountered.
This story comes alive with a USMNT debut, but, in Fossey's mind, it really extends back to a time in London when it seemed as if the rest of the soccer world forgot he existed.
Getty Images SportResetting after setbacks
There was a point in 2016-17 in which Fossey was regularly taking the field with the USMNT. He was a regular with the U.S. youth teams, playing in big tournaments with teammates who ended up being big players. That could have, and maybe should have, been his future, too.
"Weston [McKennie] was usually in the team. Luca de la Torre, too and we had that connection because we played at the same team at Fulham," Fossey said. "The highlight was the CONCACAF U20 Championship, and I think Tyler [Adams] was in that team, too. It was just us all of us getting away from club football and playing in fun places like Costa Rica. It was all just so fun."
Adams, McKennie and De la Torre played their way onto the USMNT's 2022 World Cup roster. They reached the highest of the highs representing their country. But Fossey? He was out of sight. For much of that time, he was in that sweaty Fulham gym.
Fossey's story is, in many ways, defined by injuries – 2018 marked the worst, requiring major knee surgery, but it was also just the start.
"ACL, MCL and meniscus all in one," Fossey recalls.
There was another meniscus in 2022, too, one derailed his chance to prove himself during a loan spell at Bolton. That loan move was his big chance but, after playing 15 games for the club, Fossey's spell ended after just two months, forcing him back into a rehabilitation process that he knew all too well. It all became a blur, with literally too many injuries to remember.
"2018 was just the first one," he says. "2019, re-injured. Then 2020, same."
"2021, maybe even?" he says, struggling to recall it all. "2022, at the latter end of my Bolton move, I got injured in the 16th game."
And, it was during those dark moments, while many of his youth national team teammates were becoming superstars, that Fossey was at Fulham surrounded by young players that hadn't been broken yet. Their future was ahead of them on the field. That was a luxury Fossey didn't seem to have.
He didn't envy them, though. He didn't begrudge them for his own missed opportunities. In fact, it provided perspective and, as he can admit now, it was needed.
"It got to a time where I was one of the older heads in the gym," the now-26-year-old fullback recalls, "and I think naturally, I had a mindset of needing to go on every day and show an example to these young guys. Show them that, no matter how much I'm going through, no matter how many knee problems or setbacks I keep getting, I'm gonna keep doing my work every day with a smile on my face. I don't think many people know about that time. I think people know that I had a lot of injury problems, but I really took pride in all of that."
There was no room for self-pity, but instead, self-reflection.
"It would have been easy for me to feel sorry for myself," he said. "Knowing that there were young people around me, and also knowing that people were going to go through the same thing as me, I looked at the bigger picture and said, 'You know what? If I keep getting back up, if I keep falling down seven times and standing up eight, it's going to be a good story, isn't it?'."
AdvertisementAFPRediscovering himself
Eventually, those physical injuries healed. And Fossey says his mind was strengthened in the process. There were lessons learned, including one big one: you can't do it all at once.
"When you're a young kid, you're told to be the hardest worker and, if you are, you're going to get to where you need to go," he says, "but it's a two-sided coin. I took that very literally. I worked myself into the ground. Sometimes when I was doing rehab, the rehab at the club wasn't enough. I'd go home and I'd grind myself into the ground. Ultimately, that's why I keep getting keep getting injured."
Sometimes hard work doesn't work. Sometimes time is what is required to heal.
"It took me years and years and years to learn that," he says, "because, when you're not playing football, you see other guys progressing naturally and you always feel like you've got to make up for lost time."
Despite those lessons, Fulham were willing to move on. Fossey, too, was ready for a fresh start. The problem? Fulham's fee was way higher than clubs in England were willing to pay.
"The price that they were asking was very high," he says "and it was very hard to get out of that situation. I wanted to stay in England. There were many clubs that I was close to getting to, but Fulham and the other club could never find the valuation."
The window slammed shut in England, but it didn't in Belgium. That's when Standard Liege swooped in.
It wasn't the move Fossey expected, to be fair, but it turned out to be the one he needed. He never dreamed or playing in the Belgian league but, as it turned out, his new club was one with which he could play free and bury some of the nightmares that plagued him in England.
"I just didn't really see a pathway at Fulham, and Belgium was maybe the only option I had," he says. "But it did seem like just new terrain, new culture, a new country, a new league. I took the risk. I believed in myself that I could make a name for myself out there and, yeah, I've done that a little bit. There's a lot more that I can achieve over there. I'm grateful for the years I've had in Belgium."
Since arriving at Standard Liege, Fossey has played 69 matches, scoring five goals. Throughout his first two seasons, though, he hovered outside of the USMNT radar. That all changed in September.
Making a strong impression
Before the USMNT squad is officially decided upon, a large numbers of players are first informed that they've made a preliminary list. A few weeks before camp, players on that list are alerted to be ready for a potential call-up – although it isn't guaranteed.
Prior to September, Fossey hadn't been on one of those lists in a long time. He hadn't been with the USMNT since a pre-Gold Cup invite in 2019 that was derailed by, you guessed it, a knee injury. When that initial preliminary list came this time around, he was stunned to be on it. He set a new goal for himself: by the summer of 2025, he wanted to earn his first USMNT cap.
Fossey didn't have to wait that long. Shortly after, he was named to the final squad.
"It all went very quickly," he admits. "When they said, 'You're in the final selection' I was speechless. I was surprised and proud and had so many emotions. Then I was on the plane to the U.S. a few days later."
Fossey, at one point, thought it was a somewhat ceremonial gesture. The USMNT was being led by interim coach Mikey Varas, who was filling the gap between the firing of Gregg Berhalter and official hiring or Mauricio Pochettino. There was no ceremony about it, though. Fossey was thrown right in.
"He’s just put his head down and worked really hard at his club," Varas said of Fossey. "We’re watching all the players all the time, And frankly, he came in with a lot of confidence and it’s not fake confidence. He’s a really good guy."
And it didn't take long get his long-awaited opportunity. Fossey started the USMNT's second game of the window, going all 90 minutes at right-back against New Zealand. You could argue he was the USMNT's Man of the Match, too. He completed 89 percent of his passes, created two chances, won six duels and had five interceptions. Fossey, in his first USMNT cap, was seemingly everywhere.
"There was obviously that feeling in my head that I'm probably the only person on this pitch who hasn't staked a claim," he says. "I haven't earned my stripes yet. I knew that. I knew it, but, at the same time, I didn't put any pressure on myself. They picked me for a reason, and that's because of how I've been playing.
"I just went out in that game and played how I like to play, which is energetic, everywhere. I was as tidy as I could be in possession and diligent in defense. I just tried to make a good account of myself, and thankfully, I did enough to get into this second camp."
GettyAnd now a chance for more
Despite his success in September, Fossey wasn't necessarily banking on coming back this month. A new coach was coming in, and anything could happen – for better or worse.
"I try not to expect much in life," he says, which makes sense given all of the setbacks in his career. "I would say I didn't really expect it, but at the same time, I had a good feeling."
And while he did make Pochettino's inaugural squad, he isn't taking anything for granted. He views himself very much the underdog as the USMNT marches towards the 2026 World Cup on home soil.
There are hours upon hours of Sergino Dest footage in a USMNT shirt, even if he isn't with the team due to his own injury. Joe Scally, the current starter, has played 15 senior games and gone to a World Cup, too. So, while there's a clean slate, he's also realistic: he's played just 90 minutes in a friendly.
Right now, there's little tangible evidence that he's ready for a bigger role, and the only way to change that is to actually go out and prove it.
"I'm one of the only guys that hasn't earned stripes," he says, "so in a humble way, I know I need to do more than most of the people here to make sure I'm called up in the November camp. I haven't got those past USA caps to look back on and say, 'Ah, he did this in this game or at the Gold Cup or whatever.' I just don't have that on my resume. So the mindset is the same: to approach every session and every game like it might be my last chance because, in reality, it is. That's what makes me hungry."
Fossey's story is one of last chances. It's one filled with things going wrong over and over again. And, as the national anthem played in Cincinnati, Fossey could finally say it was a story of things going right. The hard work was paying off. It certainly was never how he envisioned it, but that's life, isn't it?
"I think that's the main lesson that I've learned over all these years," he says. "To graft my ass off, to look after my body and let the universe take care of the rest."
So, as October camp begins, one part of his story is over. The next chapter is only beginning.