It’s a warm day in Tennessee and, at the Finley Stadium, Crown Legacy FC’s number 91, Magic Smalls, receives the ball on the edge of the box.
The 18-year-old takes a touch and bends a beautiful left-footed curler into the top right corner. As he wheels away to celebrate, his team mates surround him. This is the left winger’s first professional goal in a career already stacked with potential.
But it was also the moment that perhaps capped Magic’s incredible footballing story so far: from playing for Needham Market under-15s in Suffolk, where he’s from, to the cusp of America’s Major League Soccer.
“It was the best feeling,” he says today.
Magic is just one of three brothers from Suffolk currently pursuing their footballing fortines in the US.
His oldest sibling Tyger moved to America in 2021 following academy spells with Norwich City and Tottenham Hotspur. The 22-year-old has since signed for Charlotte FC, made 17 MLS appearances for and is now widely considered one of the league’s most promising young talents. Middle brother Mydas, meanwhile, currently plays for Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles while majoring in sociology.
But it may be Magic who is most highly rated of the trio.
At just 18, he has already signed for Charlotte FC – like brother Tyger – and is now playing regularly for the club’s reserve team, Crown Legacy FC, in the MLS Next Pro, the effective third tier of American soccer.
So how did he achieve such success?
In England, more than 1.5 million people play junior football but, even at primary school age, Magic is said to have already stood out playing in local Suffolk leagues.
At 12, he was offered a two-year academy deal with Arsenal and, when that didn’t work out, started playing for Needham Market FC’s youth teams back home in Suffolk. “My favourite moment was scoring my first U18 goal at just 14,” he says.
The youngster then played for various semi-professional sides including Downham Market, March Town, and Stowmarket Town. For the latter, he scored an FA Cup goal against Histon which the FA’s own official X account described as an “early contender for goal of the season”.
“I enjoyed that competitive aspect of playing in England,” says Magic.
Following this 18th birthday last August, he took the plunge and followed his brothers across the Atlantic.
“America [felt like] a good pathway as the sport is growing and there are many opportunities,” he says, adding that his American citizenship made the move administratively easy. “I’m living here happily and having my brother here has made the transition easier and has helped me feel at home.
“I wouldn’t say I want to follow the same route as him exactly as I have my own ambitions, but if I’m where he is when I’m his age, I’ll be very happy.”
That goal against Chattanooga FC came in April in only his third game – although Crown Legacy ended up losing 2-1.
Nonetheless, the future clearly holds huge promise for this rising star, and as time goes on, he has one main ambition. “I want to do everything I can to be the best and make people smile,” he says.
