A soccer mystery is being solved before our eyes here in San Diego.
We’re seeing why Manu Duah was taken first by San Diego FC in Major League Soccer’s draft.
Duah, in his lone college season at UC Santa Barbara, showed rare athleticism plus comfort with the ball.
The mystery was this: would the West African and Southern Californian’s total game translate onto the MLS pitch and thus flesh out why San Diego FC’s Tyler Heaps and Mikey Varas chose Duah first — despite the defensive midfielder not landing on All-Big West Conference teams with UC Santa Barbara.
The answer is yes. Duah belongs in MLS..
A recent surge in playing time has revealed Duah, who turned 20 last month, as more fluid than many MLS players. That’s an exciting starting point, especially for a 6-foot-4 athlete.
Also, his ball skills are holding up. That wasn’t assured.
Duah seems a quick study, too. The Ghana native, who attended high school near Santa Barbara, has made an apt transition to center back, playing the full 90 there in SDFC’s past two matches, each one against a second-place MLS squad.
The thin-slice judgment, off merely two-and-a-half MLS matches, is this:
Duah has a fair chance to evolve into a very good MLS player in his early 20s.
“All praise to him,” team captain Jeppe Tverskov, an MLS All-Star at defensive midfielder, said of Duah. “He’s been amazing.”
The track record of collegians drafted into MLS isn’t great. Indeed, when Varas gave Duah his first big chance, starting him June 28 at Dallas, he looked raw.
Argentine midfielder Luciano Acosta showed the rookie that MLS is far more punitive than Big West competition. When Duah tried to close him out, the 5-foot-3 Acosta darted away with a lateral burst. The ease with which Acosta evaded him made Duah look awkward and gangly. Then Acosta finished with a 22-yard strike for a goal, causing Duah to drop his head. (Thankfully for him, an offside penalty nixed that result.)
Dallas dealt Duah a second harsh lesson, hounding him at midfield.
Panicked, Duah kicked the ball backward — a blind pass that went to Dallas’ top forward, who turned it into a tying goal.
Three weeks later, Varas gave him another start. Only Duah wasn’t at defensive midfielder.
He was at center back.
He wasn’t perfect that night, allowing an own goal of an unlucky carom.
But it was a much better showing than three weeks earlier. And after reviewing that 1-1 outing against Vancouver, Varas rewarded him with a second consecutive start, Saturday, against Nashville. Again, he was at center back. This time, improving upon his success against Vancouver, Duah helped SDFC to a 1-0 victory. The shutout was the team’s first in eight matches.
“I think we found his position, first of all,” said Tverskov. “He’s doing very good at center back.”
Varas, speaking after the Vancouver match, said Duah’s potential as a center back is “really high”.
On the back line, his ball skills differentiate him. He has dribbled past pressing forwards and midfielders, leading breakouts.
The team’s build-up game should be enhanced, in time, by the former defensive midfielder’s ball skills. Where Duah has attempted three take-ons in both starts there, SDFC veteran center back Christopher McVey — a very good player — attempted more than one take-on just once this season.
“Manu has been a midfielder most of his life, but he’s got a good frame, he’s fast, and he’s got a good technical ability,” Varas said. “So, what he brings is, he brings the ability to carry the ball, to make really brave line breaking passes, but then he has the physical attributes to help us defend the space in behind, in transition. And he’s still learning the principles a lot.”
Duah, who played center back in the June 7th exhibition against Club America, said his new position isn’t much different from playing center midfielder. But he quipped that he sometimes dribbles too much because he forgets he’s at center back.
Where’s this going?
It’s far too soon to know. SDFC is in first place in part due to its veteran tandem of center backs McVey and McNair.
Duah is a rookie with a lot to learn.
As the games become more important, rookies often stay on the bench.
But this month, Duah has shown bursts of rare potential. Such as when he ran down a player to thwart a counterattack. Or when he used his height and springy legs to head away a back-post crosser. Or when he dribbled through traffic in his own penalty box.
On the day he was drafted, Duah said he was eager to learn. He flashed a broad grin when asked about SDFC star wing Hirving “Chucky” Lozano. Referring to Lozano’s career— which has taken the Mexican star to a World Cup and Italy’s top league — Duah said he “wanted to be able to do that.”
Originally Published: July 27, 2025 at 5:11 PM PDT