Diego Kochen is growing. He’s become a starter with Lyngby Boldklub in the Danish Superliga after leaving Barcelona Atlètic on loan. And he’s recently gotten his first caps at international level, including his first start, where the goalkeeper kept a clean sheet in a 3-0 win over Mexico.
Born in Miami but having split time growing up in Barcelona, Kochen rose through the ranks at the club’s La Masia academy. He’s yet to play for the senior team, but he says that’s one of his goals.
“I’m on loan right
now with Lyngby, so one of my goals is to compete as much as possible and give everything I have for that club. At the same time, I come from Barcelona, so to be able to go back? It’d be any kid’s dream to go back to such a big club and have the opportunity there. That’s another one of my goals,” he said in a new interview.
“But I’m more of like an experience-by-experience guy. Right now, I’m here at camp with the national team, so, for right now, my goal is just to give it my all and give it my all for the nation.”
Kochen has represented the USA from the very youngest ages, progressing from the U16 side up to the full men’s team recently. With his first start, he became the youngest goalkeeper to start a match for the US against Mexico.
“I’m just creating memories,” he said. “These are some things I’ll never forget for the rest of my life. They’re opportunities and experiences that I’m so thankful and grateful to have been a part of. Now I’m back here, which is what every kid dreams of.”
One of those memories he recalled was the bus-top parade with the first team when Barcelona won La Liga. Time will tell whether Kochen will return to Barcelona or continue progressing elsewhere.
“It’s so competitive even from an early age,” he said. “You have to fight for one position that early and to learn the values of competition early. That was the biggest shocker, I’d say, out of everything.
“Then when you start climbing up the ranks and start going, seeing the individual quality of the players like Lamine, for example, or Raphinha or all these players, yeah, that’s what shocks you again. That never gets old. Just to be surrounded by personalities like that, it’s absolutely incredible. There’s no better learning environment. I try to take things from everybody. You can learn from absolutely everybody.”
