FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Revolution midfielder Khano Smith needed a break entering the current campaign.
His team acquired Honduran midfielder Mauricio Castro to compete for his position during the offseason. Smith's Bermuda national team hadn't finished off the Cayman Islands in the first leg of its World Cup qualifying series against the CONCACAF minnows and he had to miss the first game of the season. Missing the first game placed his starting status in doubt.
Smith has enjoyed an unfettered run in the team last season but would have found his spot in the lineup in question if Steve Ralston hadn't dislocated his shoulder in the opener.
"Those things happen when you have competition," Revolution head coach Steve Nicol said. "We understand how it is. Hopefully, he's not the only one who feels like his place is under threat."
But even that rocky start was better than the beginning of the 2006 campaign, Smith said.
"Last year, I was injured to start the season," Smith said. "My fitness is a lot better this year. But I could get myself some more chances on goal."
With his place under threat, Ralston's injury might just have been the break Smith needed to maintain his place in the team. His electric pace torments defenses, but a lack of consistency frustrates those who expect Smith to take the next step.
In Smith's mind, that next step is grasping a leadership role with his team. In a veteran-driven locker room infused this season with some young, impressionable minds, Smith thinks he can provide a good example for his teammates.
"It's important for the team's sake," Smith said. "We have lots of leadership on this team. I want to get into a groove and set an example for the younger players."
Smith cites his experience with the Bermuda national team as a proving ground for the increased responsibility he feels he faces with his club side.
"It's been the same thing when I'm with Bermuda. I'm one of the more experienced players in the team," Smith said. "We have one guy playing indoors and a bunch of guys in the USL."
But those roles don't just start once a player says he wants to set an example, Nicol said.
"These [leadership] things kind of evolve," Nicol said. "Certainly with the type of people we have on this team, you hope you're going to grow into it."
Smith's ability to remain on the field, and his status as one of the senior players in his fourth year with the team, could help him ascend to that role as he aims to spend a second consecutive year as a permanent fixture on the left wing, Nicol said.
"If they do their stuff on the field and they've been here a while, they're settled and confident enough to pick up that role," Nicol said.
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