For Valentino, Arizona United is home team he never had

The captain coolly denied any credit for the goal.

Following a 2-1 win for Arizona United over Seattle Sounders FC 2 on Saturday at Scottsdale Stadium, defender Rob Valentino refused to take credit for a goal most everybody thought had deflected off his foot.

"Everyone was saying congrats," Valentino said. "I didn't score the goal. Somebody else deflected it and we scored."

The game-tying goal was originally credited to Valentino. "Somebody" was a Sounders defender. The goal would later be given to United's Jonathan Top. Either way, the ball had gone in the net and United won.

The win snapped a three-match USL losing streak. United head coach Michael Dellorusso called it the team's best 90 minutes of the year. With one win in its previous eight league games, there haven't been many good 90 minutes lately.

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Valentino, 29, is trying to change that. Dellorusso is, too, with the rest of the team. But for Valentino, a Phoenix Pinnacle graduate, it's personal.

When Valentino moved to the area in middle school, he didn't have a hometown soccer role model. No hometown team existed. Instead, he had to turn his television to MLS games from other cities.

After four years of college ball at San Francisco, Valentino bounced around a few professional teams (including stints with two MLS clubs) before landing at Orlando City SC in 2011, an organization in its first year of existence. In four seasons in Orlando, Valentino won two championships, was a team captain and helped the organization transition to the MLS for the 2015 season.

Then, Orlando City cut him loose.

"One of the hardest things I ever had to do as a coach was tell Rob he wasn't coming with us to the MLS," Orlando City coach Adrian Heath said. "I'm still not convinced I made the right decision."

When Orlando City made the transition, the organization brought in new, younger talent. Heath said Orlando City could have offered Valentino a place on the bench. But it didn't feel right.

"I didn't want him on the bench if he wasn't going to play week in, week out," Heath said. "I think he deserved better than that."

Needing a place to call home, Valentino looked toward the one place he never could have when he was a kid — home.

In its first season in 2014, United narrowly missed the USL playoffs. Valentino was the perfect fit for an organization looking for veteran leadership with championship experience heading into its second year.

He was named team captain before he ever played a match.

"He had to earn it," Dellorusso said. "He knows that. After about two months of preseason, it was pretty evident that that's his role. He's a natural leader."

For Valentino, the transition has been easy. It's great having his family at every game. But the on-field product needs improvement. Valentino missed a month of the season with a hamstring injury, and United (5-6-1, 16 points) dug a hole. But the captain has been there before. He knows what it takes.

"We had a really good culture in Orlando," Valentino said. "We had a winning culture. We did some important things on the field and, more importantly, off the field. We connected with the community. That's what (Orlando) did really well and continues to do really well. This is year two of this organization, we have to keep improving, getting the brand out there."

Valentino wants kids in the Valley to come to games at Scottsdale Stadium and look up to him as the hometown role model he never had. He wants kids to kick the soccer ball around and pretend they're wearing an Arizona United uniform.

Winning helps, and it doesn't come overnight. Orlando City was an exception, winning the USL championship its first year in 2011 and again in 2013. Valentino hopes he can bring a winning blueprint to Arizona. It will take time. And sometimes it will take a deflection off a defender, as it did Saturday.

"You want to give back to the future, because we only play for so long," Valentino said. "For me, I just really want to pass something on to somebody else. I want to pass that inspiration on."

Arizona United vs. Seattle Sounders FC 2: