Eric Lichaj

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Eric Lichaj
Lichaj, Eric.jpg
Lichaj with Aston Villa in 2011
Personal information
Full name Eric Joseph Lichaj[1]
Date of birth (1988-11-17) November 17, 1988 (age 36)
Place of birth Downers Grove, Illinois, United States
Height Script error: No such module "person height".
Position(s) Defender
Team information
Current team
 Nottingham Forest
Number 2
Youth career
2003–2005 IMG Academy
2006 North Carolina Tar Heels
2007–2008 Aston Villa
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006 Chicago Fire Premier 4 (0)
2008–2013 Aston Villa 32 (1)
2009 → Lincoln City (loan) 6 (0)
2010 → Leyton Orient (loan) 9 (1)
2011 → Leeds United (loan) 16 (0)
2013– Nottingham Forest 90 (1)
International career‡
2003–2005 United States U17 25 (0)
2006 United States U20 2 (0)
2010–2013 United States 10 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 13 January 2016
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of July 29, 2015

Eric Joseph Lichaj (born November 17, 1988) is an American soccer player who plays for Nottingham Forest. He started his youth career playing for Chicago Magic and participated in the youth residency program at IMG Academy. He later played college soccer for the North Carolina Tar Heels. After playing one year at the University of North Carolina, Lichaj left America to sign with Aston Villa in the Premier League.

Club career

Eric Lichaj was born as the third son of Stan and Ann Lichaj, both from Nowy Targ, Poland.[2] He also has two older brothers, Andrew and Mark Lichaj. He joined the soccer residency program at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida at the age of 14.[2] He began his youth career with the Downers Grove Roadrunners, later playing with Chicago Magic, and then spent one year at the University of North Carolina.[3][4] He also played four games for the Chicago Fire Premier of the USL Premier Development League.[5] After his freshman season, he signed with Aston Villa of England's Premier League. Lichaj holds a Polish passport, making a work permit unnecessary.[6]

Aston Villa

Lichaj featured in all but two of Villa's Reserve matches during the 2008–09 season.[7] During the 2009–10 preseason, he was selected in the squad for the 2009 Peace Cup and showed glimpses of his potential during the tournament.[8] However, this did not immediately translate into playing time for the first team.

Lichaj was loaned out to League Two club Lincoln City to gain first-team experience. He played two games for City before signing a one-month loan extension.[9] Later in the season, Lichaj again went on a month-long loan, that time to League One side Leyton Orient.[10] He scored the first professional goal of his career for Leyton Orient against Stockport County on April 17, 2010.[11]

Lichaj scored his first goal for Aston Villa on July 19, 2010, in a pre-season friendly against Peterborough United. Following a successful pre-season campaign, he signed a new three-year contract with the club on August 11, 2010.[12] He made his competitive debut for Villa on August 19, 2010, in a 1–1 draw in a Europa League qualifying match away to Rapid Vienna.[13] He made his Premier League debut for the Villans on November 10, 2010 against Blackpool.[14] Lichaj made his first start for Aston Villa on December 11, 2010 in a 2–1 win against local rivals West Bromwich Albion. He also started for Villa at right back against Tottenham Hotspur where he put in an impressive performance against in-form Spurs winger Gareth Bale.

Leeds United (loan)

On February 9, 2011, Lichaj joined Leeds United on a one-month loan deal.[15] Lichaj made his Leeds début in a 2–0 victory against Bristol City.[16] On March 14, Leeds extended Lichaj's loan for the rest of the season.[17] He scored an own goal in Leeds' match against Yorkshire rivals Sheffield United who went on to win the match 2-0. After playing all his games at right back in place of the injured Paul Connolly, Lichaj was moved to left back when George McCartney was out injured.[18] On May 9, Lichaj played the last game of his Leeds United loan spell in Leeds' 2–1 over Queens Park Rangers.[19] Leeds announced on their official website that Lichaj would be returning to his parent club Aston Villa at the end of his loan spell.[20] After his loan expired, Lichaj revealed that he would like to rejoin Leeds the following season to help them earn promotion to the Premier League.[21]

Back at Villa

After impressing during his loan spell, in July 2011 Leeds manager Simon Grayson revealed he was interested in re-signing Lichaj on loan, as long as new Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish didn't see Lichaj in his first team plans.[22][23] However, Lichaj went on to score his first goal for Aston Villa in their 2–0 win over Hereford in the League Cup on August 23, 2011.[24] On March 31, 2012, having already assisted Villa's first goal by throwing the ball long for James Collins to score from a header, Lichaj scored his first Premier League goal in a 4–2 defeat at home to Chelsea.[25] After the 2012–13 Premier League season, Aston Villa decided not to renew Lichaj's contract, releasing him on a free transfer.

Nottingham Forest

Lichaj signed a two-year deal with Championship club Nottingham Forest on June 19, 2013.[26] He made his debut in a 1–0 win against Huddersfield Town on the opening day of the season.[27] In December 2014, he extended his deal until the summer of 2017.[28] On 20 October 2015 Lichaj scored his first Nottingham Forest goal in a 1-1 draw with Burnley at the City Ground.[29]

International career

Lichaj has been involved with various U.S. youth teams. He helped his country qualify for the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship. He was also named in the United States U-20 squad for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, although he missed out due to injury. He was called into the senior team as a "guest" for the camp preceding two World Cup qualifiers in June 2009.[30] Lichaj received his first call-up to the senior team in October 2010 and was included in the squad for the friendlies against Poland and Colombia.[31] Lichaj collected his first cap on October 12, 2010 in the friendly against Colombia.[32] On November 17, 2010, Lichaj gained his second cap when he started for the US against South Africa. On March 21, 2011, Lichaj received a call up to the US national side for the games against Argentina and Paraguay.[33] He was named in his nation's 2011 Gold Cup squad. After sitting on the bench for the first two Gold Cup matches, Lichaj played all 90 minutes of the last four, including the 4-2 loss in the final against Mexico. In 2013 Lichaj returned to international duty after a two-year absence, making two substitute appearances for the US against Scotland and Austria in November.[34]

Career statistics

Club

As of 13 January 2016
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Aston Villa 2008–09[35] Premier League 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2009–10[36] Premier League 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2010–11[37] Premier League 5 0 0 0 2 0 1[lower-alpha 1] 0 8 0
2011–12[38] Premier League 10 1 0 0 1 1 — 11 2
2012–13[39] Premier League 17 0 2 0 4 0 — 23 0
Total 32 1 2 0 7 1 1 0 42 2
Lincoln City (loan) 2009–10[36] League Two 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
Leyton Orient (loan) 2009–10[36] League One 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 1
Leeds United (loan) 2010–11[37] Championship 16 0 0 0 0 0 — 16 0
Nottingham Forest 2013–14[40] Championship 24 0 2 0 0 0 — 26 0
2014–15[41] Championship 42 0 1 0 2 0 — 45 0
2015–16[42] Championship 24 1 1 0 1 0 — 26 1
Total 90 1 4 0 3 0 — 97 1
Career total 153 3 6 0 10 1 1 0 170 4

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International

As of December 15, 2014
National team Year Apps Goals
United States
2010 2 0
2011 6 0
2012 0 0
2013 2 0
2014 0 0
Total 10 0

References

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External links

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