“People always think I’m Brazilian when they see my name,” chuckled Zico Bailey, in his second year as New Mexico United playmaker and overall spark-giver.
Such confusion is caused by the fact that Bailey shares a name with one of Brazil’s modern masters. Known at birth as Arthur Antunes Coimbra, the free-kick specialist and No10 was dubbed Zico before going on to dazzle at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups and at club level with Flamengo.
But that’s not where the confusion ends. Bailey, whose full name of Zico Alika Lefroy Locquiao Bailey is quite the mouthful, has got something special down around the feet. He’s got what Brazilians like to call Ginga – that indefinable artistry of the game. Slight and not-so tall, his one-on-one skills are excellent and, still just 24, his ceiling in the game is difficult to predict.
“The guys I would focus in on when I was a kid were Ronaldinho, early Neymar, Marcelo,” said Bailey, remembering back to the early days when, after school, he spent endless hours on YouTube watching the wizardry of those Brazilian maestros.
Bailey’s father, Richard, born in Jamaica and raised in Barbados, had a huge enthusiasm for the game. “It feels like I was born into the game,” Zico said of the early influence of his dad’s enduring passion, which led him to name his second son after his favorite Brazilian player.
The Bailey family’s first son was named Kainoa. He went on to become a professional player too, now plying his trade in the Philippines. Zico idolized his brother (older by five years) and followed him out onto the pitches and pick-up games on the outskirts of Las Vegas. “It wasn’t just soccer, I wanted to do whatever my brother was up to – if he was eating ice cream, I wanted to be eating ice cream. You name it.”
Bailey’s talents developed early, if his physical frame didn’t. By the age of 13 he was in the LA Galaxy academy system after being invited to a U.S. Youth National Team (U-15) camp. He spent a year as a Cal State Fullerton Tiger, starting 17 of 21 games, before a quick stop in Denmark led to a landing in the big-time of Major League Soccer in 2020 with FC Cincinnati while still a teenager.
It was the Ohio club’s second year in MLS after graduating up from the USL Championship. But before you get ahead of yourself, dear reader, this was the fledgling FC Cincinnati of Jaap Stam. Far from the perennial power-club it’s become, that FC Cincy finished last in the league in 2019 and 2020 both. It was in this cauldron of hard-times where Bailey, still a pup, made his first appearances for the first team.
“I remember my first cap with Cincinnati because it was in that weird year of 2020,” he recalled of his MLS debut, with no fans in the stands, on the road in Philly during the dark days of Covid-19. “Greg Garza got hurt and I was thrown into the game with no warm-up – out at left back.”
Bailey, who prefers a perch out right or in the middle, held his own and then some in a position he “never played before.” He made 20 appearances for the first team in Cincinnati and scored a memorable first goal against Atlanta United on the end of a backheel from future MLS MVP Lucho Acosta (who’s since moved on from FCC and will be playing in this year’s Open Cup with FC Dallas).
He also got his first taste of the Open Cup in Cincinnati – on the wrong side of a 5-1 hammering in Massachusetts by Carles Gil and the New England Revolution in 2022.
Now he’s standing out in the crowd for New Mexico United, currently third in the USL Championship’s Western Conference after three wins from four games. In the Official Draw for the Third Round of our Open Cup – live on the CBS Sports Golazo Network – commentator and former Open Cup hero, Jamie Watson, singled Bailey out as a player to watch: “He’s pulling all the strings for New Mexico United in the middle of the park,” he said during the broadcast.
When Bailey and the New Mexicans enter the competition in this year’s Third Round – with 15 other top-ranked USL Championship sides – he’ll be hoping to match last year’s heroics. NMU pulled off one of the biggest Cupsets in the 2024 tournament with a 4-2 win over Real Salt Lake, MLS’ western conference powers, in the Round of 32.
The stylish Bailey provided the first goal in the upset of RSL in the 17th minute. It was also his first goal for his new club. He added another two minutes later in a man-of-the-match performance. The crowd, fans he calls “among the best in American soccer” were on their feet. They were seeing first-hand the kind of style and excitement that caused club sporting director Itamar Keinan to sign Zico up at the start of that 2024 season from San Antonio FC for his “obvious talent, skill, speed, and dedication.”
It’s those same qualities that led Philippines National Team coach Tom Saintfiet to tap Bailey for the first of his 11 caps (so far) last year in World Cup Qualifying (Zico is eligible via his Filipina mother).
Bailey outshone RSL’s star man – and recent USMNT standout – Diego Luna on that Round-of-32 night in last year’s Open Cup. “It was a really big night for the club,” Bailey said of the win, which led to a second Quarterfinal run in NMU history and was only halted by eventual Champions LAFC.
“We all get that value of the Open Cup,” said Bailey, pointing to the opportunities the competition offers for clubs and individual players in the Division II USL Championship.
“This is a chance to win a trophy and we take that responsibility very seriously,” said Bailey, leading the way in a deep-lying role for a club with a special relationship to this country’s most historic tournament.
Bailey has taken to his Albuquerque-based club fast – settling into a leadership role in only his second season. And those fans who call Isotopes Park home, many of whom remember vividly the club’s debut-year Quarterfinal run in the Open Cup in 2019, have taken him to their hearts.
“Cup games can be tricky,” said Bailey, ahead of a Third Round entry on April 16 at home against fellow USL Championship mates El Paso Locomotive (LIVE on Paramount+ & the CBS Sports Golazo Network).
“You always have to respect your opponent,” he said, knowing all Cup games have an element of the unpredictable to them. “If you don’t, you can get surprised.”
Fontela is editor-in-chief of usopencup.com. Follow him at @jonahfontela on X/Twitter.