Former New England Revolution Striker Edward Kizza Back Home With Pittsburgh Riverhounds
The striker discussed his time in New England and hopes to return to MLS.
Edward Kizza's time with the New England Revolution included him lifting a Supporters’ Shield but the 2021 first-round selection struggled to find his footing in MLS. Now with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Kizza is hoping to begin his journey back to MLS.
Kizza only made 11 MLS appearances, including three starts, with one assist over 259 minutes played in his Revolution career. After scoring 31 goals in 53 appearances over three seasons at the University of Pittsburgh from 2017-19, the striker wasn’t able to produce similarly in New England.
“I think it was a learning experience and I think it was positive as well. Coming from college, and going to train with one of the best teams in MLS is always hard for a young player coming from college because you are playing with top players,” Kizza told The Blazing Musket. So there’s always a learning process but also I think it was a positive one because you get to learn from the best and getting that experience and learning from them.”
Kizza was loaned to the Riverhounds during the 2022 season and made the move permanent in the winter when he signed with Pittsburgh in January of this year. With the Steel City becoming a home away from home for Kizza during his collegiate career, staying with the Riverhounds made sense for the 24-year-old.
Along with the familiarity, the Riverhounds offered something that New England couldn’t, significant playing time. While any minutes in MLS are valuable, it can be difficult to grow as a player when you are only getting 10-15 minutes of game time.
“That’s good but the same time as a player I was trying to develop,” Kizza said. “You need more minutes and coming to Pittsburgh, this is like home for me.
“And so I think this was an easy decision for me because it was a place that I’m comfortable with.”
Now with the Riverhounds, Kizza has established head coach Bob Lilley helping him grow as a player. Lilley has patrolled the sidelines for Pittsburgh since 2017.
The striker stated that Lilley pushes players to better themselves with his demanding style of play.
“As a player, you got to know what he wants.” Kizza said. “It’s tough working with him but at the same time he’s a coach that’s going to push you to your limits. You can always give more, you can always do better. Even if something is right, you can always do something better to better yourself. So with that, he’s a very good guy in training, very encouraging.
“So with that I will say very demanding,” Kizza added regarding the head coach. “He’s always going to give me feedback and as a young player, I think that I need somebody that’s going to push you because at the end of the day he’s been a the top level for a long time and he knows what it takes.”
So far in 2023, Kizza has appeared in 16 matches for the Riverhounds and has tallied two goals. The 24-year-old said he is still adjusting to the style of play in the USL Championship as well as the off-the-field changes that come with playing in the league.
The striker mentioned having to fly commercial compared to the chartered planes of MLS as an example of what players need to adjust to when they start playing in the league. Kizza is still looking to build his fitness and be ready to play 90 minutes in the demanding system that the Riverhounds play.
“I need to get to work and be able to play 90 minutes,” he said. “Even right now I’m still getting there. Maybe I can give you like a good 70-80 minutes but I got to be able to play 90 minutes.”
Kizza added that the Championship is very demanding and deciding when to make runs, creating space for himself, along with his first touch are a part of his game that he hopes to improve on.
Obviously MLS gets the majority of the attention in the United States but the USL Championship has increased its space in the overall U.S. soccer landscape. Since 2017, USL games have been televised by ESPN and Louisville City’s Joshua Wynder was transferred to Benfica for a USL Championship record transfer fee.
While Kizza believes MLS is at the top, he notices some differences in the USL Championship that make the league “harder.”
“Obviously MLS is at the top but at the same time, Championship I think is even harder because everything is fast,” the striker said. “Not everything is fast paced (in MLS). It’s about how fast you think the game. I think mentally that’s the biggest thing.
“But then once you come down to the Championship for the most part, it’s more physical,” Kizza added. “Most of the things like end-to-end and with that I would say, Championship, there is talent obviously. The players who can be able to play in the top league. I think it’s physical. I think it is very, very demanding as a league.
Kizza then went on to discuss how teams are structed in the two leagues. Compared to MLS, the striker believes the game in the Championship is more team-oriented.
“In MLS you have the top players, you have the DP’s,” the 24-year-old said. “So it’s kind of like the imbalances, it’s not as balanced as you would expect as Championship teams are. With Championship teams, (it’s) about grinding, everybody. Forwards, you need to be able to play both sides of the ball as in the MLS, I’ll say that the level of USL is much, much higher and also your players that may be the DP’s are going to give you the goals and then your players around them that are going to do the defending. So I think that’s the biggest difference is you have the players that are going to score goals but sometimes maybe do less on the defensive side of the ball. In the Championship, all the players have to do it all, especially in Pittsburgh.”
This talent was on display in the Riverhounds’ matchup against the Revolution in the 2023 U.S. Open Cup. The USL Championship upset the MLS side showing that the Hounds can hang with the big dogs.
The moment was even more special for Kizza who made his return to Gillette Stadium. The striker said it was important not only for himself, but for his team to put in a strong performance.
“I think for me, the biggest thing was to go out there and putting up a big performance as a team,” Kizza said. It was more about us going out there, representing the USL Championship and putting in a strong performance. I think as the more the game went on, we started to gain more confidence and playing good. Obviously at the end of the game, I think before halftime we get the goal, which was a big boost for our confidence as well. We had more opportunities as well to maybe get a second goal. I think for me it was very, very important to go there with Pittsburgh and put in a strong performance which all of us were proud of and I’m happy we did that.”
The striker added that it was great getting to reconnect with some of his former teammates.
“I think during my time in New England, all the guys on the team were very good guys and I think that’s what helped and I think what helped us win the Supporters’ Shied and being a part of that team was that there were not a lot of big egos in the locker room,” Kizza stated. “Like Carles, you may see Carles as the best player in the league, in MLS but in the locker room he is one of the nicest guys, down to earth, very, very humble guy and that takes for the entire team like Gustavo Bou, all those guys are very down to earth guys, very nice.”
Kizza would continue to shout out the likes of Teal Bunbury and Matt Polster for being great in the locker room and added that he still has relationships with them.
Recently Kizza posted on Instagram that he had received a signed jersey from Gil. The story of getting that goes all the way back to the fateful U.S. Open Cup win over the Revolution.
“I hit him up on Instagram and he was like ‘yeah for sure.’” Kizza said when asked about how he ended up with the jersey. “We have a good relationship. I think that was the game we played, the Open Cup game and I think after the game I wasn’t able to see him because obviously they lost that game and I know Carles is the type of player that after a lost, it doesn’t sit well with him because he feels like he’s able to help his team win every single time so after losses it’s very tough for everybody. After the game I wasn’t able to see him but then he texted me that he’ll be able to ship it.”
The beautiful game can forge lifelong connections. It is what makes the game so great. Kizza was very complimentary of Gil commending his kindness and down to earth personality.
So what’s next for the striker? While he will be staying in Pittsburgh for another year, he hopes to make it back into MLS or maybe play in Europe.
“At the end of the day, the goal for me is to get back in MLS or even try to go overseas but by being in the U.S., I think MLS is that goal for me,” Kizza stated.