Detroit area soccer pros Cicerone, Gatt seek to strengthen careers in Steel City

Feb. 27—One had his team vanquish beneath his feet while the other could not find any footing at his club.

So Detroit-area natives Russell Cicerone and Josh Gatt have found their landing spot in the less-than-cushiony-sounding Steel City.

The pair of forwards have signed to play with the United Soccer League Championship Pittsburgh Riverhounds for the upcoming season.

Cicerone, 26, of Bloomfield Hills, and Gatt, 29, of Plymouth, are at different stages in their respective soccer careers.

Cicerone, who starred at Birmingham Brother Rice, was a main cog in the Saint Louis FC attack during the past two seasons. He had 10 goals in 49 appearances for the USL Championship club, which ceased operations in October, citing the financial strain of the COVID pandemic. St. Louis City SC begins play as a Major League Soccer expansion team in 2023.

The 2017 fourth-round pick of the Portland Timbers was also out of contract.

"Pittsburgh has always been one of the best clubs in the USL, they are always competing for USL championships, always in the playoffs," Cicerone said. "That is the main reason I wanted to go. I know Coach (Bob) Lilley was going to be building a really strong squad, which he has done. I wanted to go there and compete for a USL championship."

Cicerone, who racked up 20 goals in two seasons with Premier Development League Michigan Bucks, still has his sights on eventually landing with an MLS team.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh is at an optimum place in U.S. soccer's second tier, especially since its 4 1/2 -hour drive from Detroit will enable his parents to possibly watch more of his matches this season.

"They have really loud, fantastic fans. I played there a lot of times," said Cicerone, who also played with the Portland Timbers II and FC Cincinnati in the USL. "The stadium (Highmark Stadium, next to the Monongahela River) is in a beautiful location with the city in the backdrop. It's just an ideal place for a USL player to play."

By contrast, Gatt's career has been as bumpy as a flat-tired ATV ride on the moon's surface.

After a meteoric start in Europe with Austria's Rheindorf Altach before a move to Norway's Molde — where he played for current Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer — Gatt went from talismanic to triaged.

He sustained his first knee injury in June 2013, less than a year after he made his U.S. senior debut playing against Russia in September 2012 (Gatt had three goals in four appearances with the U.S. U20 team). He missed the entire 2014 season only to leave after four minutes upon his return in 2015, requiring a third knee surgery.

Gatt's resolve would only begin to be tested.

His one-year MLS sojourn would see him dealt in March 2017 by Minnesota to Colorado where he scored twice in 20 appearances. The Rapids declined his option, leaving Gatt to find another team.

That task seemed minuscule when he learned his wife Melissa was diagnosed with cancer in February 2018. He became her caretaker while training with Detroit City FC, making one appearance for the National Premier Soccer League club against AFC Ann Arbor.

Melissa's cancer, which was originally misdiagnosed thymic carcinoma, a rare form of the disease with a low life expectancy, turned out to be non-Hodgkin lymphoma. She remains in remission after undergoing chemotherapy.

Gatt staked out to resurrect his soccer career, returning to Austria with Rheindorf Altach. He spent one season with the Austrian Bundesliga outfit, notching a goal in 15 appearances.

When his contract was up, Gatt latched on with League of Ireland's Dundalk FC last year. His string of bad luck continued. He only had four appearances with the Lilywhites.

He played in a preseason friendly against Longford Town and made his debut against Wexford FC in the FAI Cup. Gatt left in November.

"To be really honest, it wasn't ideal," Gatt said. "With the COVID thing hitting, it condensed our season to a very limited amount of games and then we were under pressure as well because the coach (Vinny Perth) was expected to perform and he was underperforming. We went through tumultuous times. We fired a coach, hired new coaches, changed stuff but in the end, I really didn't get a fair opportunity to play there.

"With everything going wrong, they just decided to go with the professionals that were tried and tested there, that played there, versus guys that hadn't played in the league yet."

Last month, Gatt's agent arranged for him to attend a combine in Pittsburgh. He impressed the coaching staff enough to earn a contract.

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That is where the instincts of 11 years playing overseas and representing the U.S. twice at the senior level kick in.

Gatt hounded defenders, hassling them whenever they tried to pass or by repossessing the ball altogether. Shedding any signs of four knee surgeries, he made bursting runs while most importantly scoring.

"I think there is also a little bit of a fire from me to prove that I can still play at a high level," he said. "Because I've had a lot of bad luck when it comes to a history of things happening to me that were really out of my control. I think most people assume that the talent is gone. I think that is not the case. I think I have a lot to show and just believe I needed the right opportunity to show it.

"I think this Pittsburgh opportunity is exactly that."

loconnor@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @larryo1961