Meet the Trinidad and Tobago international who helped Sheriff shock Real Madrid
By Jon Arnold (getconcacafed.com)
As a quick, crafty left back, Keston Julien grew up idolizing Marcelo and supporting Real Madrid.
Tuesday night, then, was a dream come true as the Trindad and Tobago native set foot on the field of the Bernabéu, making his debut in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. Just…not for Real Madrid.
The Port of Spain native achieving the dream seems beyond imagination, as did the idea Julien’s club Sheriff, a team nominally and technically from Moldova but a symbol of pride for the breakaway republic of Transnistria, would beat Real Madrid.
Yet, 10 minutes after Julien came into the match, he was celebrating teammate Sebastien Thill’s 89th minute goal to do just that, putting Sheriff atop a group that in addition to Los Blancos also includes Inter Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk, who Sheriff already have beaten.
“It was crazy, man,” Julien says from Tiraspol when I reach him by Zoom. “Going into the game I was really excited, but also nervous. I wasn’t in the starting lineup but was hoping to come on like I did. I came on and tried to contribute to the team.”
Julien also played his part in Sheriff’s domestic title run last season and also was a key contributor in push to get into the UCL group stage but currently is locked in a battle for playing time with Brazilian left back Cristiano.
The Concacaf player says the two have a good relationship, with Cristiano regularly motivating him in training, and feels it won’t be long until one or both of them move on to a higher level.
That bond between the Trinidadian and the Brazilian is somewhat commonplace on a Sheriff side that features players from more than a dozen countries living in a place where Julien said there are few actvities to enjoy other than going out for a bite to eat.
Even that is becoming more complicated, with Julien and his teammates standing out in the crowd of the Russian-speaking city with a population around 134,000.
“When they see a Black guy like me, they know I’m a footballer from Sheriff, because there are not many people like me here,” he said. “That’s why I stay in plenty because when you go out, you’re like a superstar. Everyone wants a photo, wants to take pictures. It’s a small town, but everyone knows you. You feel like you’re a big player.”
Julien is starting to live up to the big-player billing, and he hopes his Champions League cameos will bloom into more minutes or even starts.
Spotted by a Dutch agent at the Concacaf U-17 Championships in Honduras in 2015, Julien had trials in the Netherlands and Belgium before settling in Slovakia, where he signed with Trenčín.
The adaptation from Caribbean to Europe, where he had to adjust both athletically and culturally, was tough but eventually he had a sucessful run in Slovakia. In addition to league matches, he played eight Europa League contests, his first continential action since a 2015 Concacaf Champions League cameo as a teenager with W Connection.
“We have a lot of good players but not a lot of facilities. We have good coaches but not top, top coaches,” Julien said of soccer in Trinidad. “To come from there, I struggled at the start in Slovakia, but after six or seven months started to pick it up.”
Julien, who plays as a left winger in addition to his primary role at left back, suffered an injury in 2020 that was set to keep him out for a long period of time but said he was ‘saved’ by the league shutting down because of the coronavirus pandemic. That allowed him to get fit and contribute to the final 10 matches of the Trenčín season and earn a move to Sheriff.
Unlike other Concacaf players in the UEFA Champions League group stage, Julien isn’t yet fully consolidated with his national team. He has a cap in just one official match with Trinidad and Tobago, playing in the scoreless World Cup qualification draw with the Bahamas that condemned the Soca Warriors to first-round elimination.
Yet, Julien is convinced that not only is the team on the right path with new manager Angus Eve, whose teams Julien remembers always getting the best of his in Trinidad and Tobago, but also feels he has a big part to play going forward.
Trinidad and Tobago currently has few Europe-based players upon which it can call, with Julien, AEK Athens standout Levi Garcia (plus brother Judah, currently with AEK’s B team) and Mechelen center back Sheldon Bateau forming the core of Europe-based players Eve surely will rely on when the Nations League resumes.
‘This was a sad moment for us not not not winning this game (against the Bahamas), but I think going forward with the national team, once we stay on the right path we can do good. We have a good group of players who can do well, and I think going forward we will do well.”
For his personal goals, Julien wants to play as many minutes as possible with Sheriff, make a Champions League start and push on to a bigger league in addition to getting more international opportunities.
It’s already been a good beginning to the 2021-22 campaign, though. How often do you end September making a dream come true?
