Josh Cohen never thought he would be here

From a small apartment in Orange County, to Israel, to Atlanta United

photo via Atlanta United

Josh Cohen’s first professional contract earned him $600 a month. It’s not much. But it’s probably about market value for a keeper who took a year off from playing organized soccer.

Cohen’s collegiate career at Division II UC San Diego wrapped in 2013. He had exhausted his NCAA eligibility but hadn’t finished his degree in bioengineering. Five quarters of school later, Cohen came back to soccer in 2015, degree in hand. First, he joined up with the USL PDL’s Burlingame Dragons, then with the USL’s (then the third tier of U.S. soccer) Orange County Blues. That’s where Cohen got the $600 deal and a brand new living situation, splitting time between his grandfather’s house and a two-bedroom apartment occupied by multiple roommates/teammates a few scattered mattresses, a couch and a TV.  

It’s not the typical starting point for someone with Cohen’s degree. Cohen kept going anyway.

“I was looking at my first USL contract, for the first year and a half I was with Orange County Blues and thinking ‘Okay, if at any point I quit, I make at least six or seven times as much money on the conservative side,’” Cohen said.

“But