Home of the Ventura County Fusion

Juan Carlo / Star staff Midfielder Anton Peterlin signed a contract with Everton of the English Premier League after playing last year for the Ventura County Fusion.

There were plenty of signs that Anton Peterlin had arrived at a Mecca of the game.

Like the soccer-mad taxi driver who gave him a tour of Liverpool, regaling him with stories of one of the greatest intracity rivalries in world sport.

Like the 40,000 singing supporters who piled into 117-year-old Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon for the F.A. Cup quarterfinal win over Middlesbrough. And then there was the parking lot at Finch Farm, Everton Football Club’s sparkling new training facility, which was chocked full of Range Rovers, Bentleys and Audi R8s.

“All the nice cars,” said Peterlin. “They’re there. It’s tough not to notice them.”

Especially for a college senior on the spring break of a lifetime.

Peterlin, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s senior captain, has been offered a contract by Everton of the English Premier League after spending 10 days in March on trial in Liverpool.

After previous trials with the San Jose Earthquakes and Chicago Fire, the San Francisco native will go from the Big West to the big time this summer.

All that’s missing the movie deal.

“It’s cliché to say, but it really is dream come true,” said Peterlin.

“I’ve always aspired to play at the highest level.”

Peterlin earned the tryout with a spectacularly steady season last summer for the Ventura County Fusion, the local entry in the Premier Development League, the fourth tier of American soccer. He was recommended to Everton manager David Moyes by Fusion coach Graham Smith.

“I felt he had a chance,” said Smith. “He’s a very intelligent young boy. He will go into medicine if he doesn’t make it as a soccer player. He has the mental capacity as well as the physical capacity to succeed.”

Smith first saw Peterlin playing for Cal Poly while the coach was sitting alongside Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid, the former UCLA and Los Angeles Galaxy coach.

“I’d never seem him and he’d never seen him,” said Smith. “But we both looked at each other and we knew who was running the game.”

Although his initial goal on his first day at Finch Farm, training with Everton reserves, was not to look out of place.

“I was more nervous Monday, the first time out,” said Peterlin, who was joined in on the trip by Smith and Wake Forest striker Cody Arnoux.

“But we had a good training sesson in front of Moyes and spoke to him at lunch.”

By the time he joined the first team, and international stars like Australian attacker Tim Cahill, Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta and American goalkeeper Tim Howard, the nerves were gone.

“It was different than American training,” said Peterlin. “It was very directed at pressure, pressure, pressure. Very concentrated. Very organized. We did some technical work.

“It was a good mix. The two hours flew by.”

As the week went on, he settled right into the high-caliber of play.

“I was so in love with it,” said Peterlin. “I enjoyed the level on which they played. I thought I played pretty well throughout.”

Said Smith: “Moyes put him immediately with the first team and Anton did not look out of place. For eight days, he applied himself tremendously well.”

Apparently, Moyes agreed.

“Anton really impressed myself and the coaching staff with his attitude and undoubted ability,” said Moyes in a statement released by the Fusion. “We are therefore delighted to give him the chance to establish a professional career here at Everton.”

Announced to the team during the Fusion’s preseason campaign, the news of Peterlin’s offer dropped a few jaws.

“There was a bit of gasp around the circle,” said Smith.

Partly because of how far away the Premiership is to young American players. Because of British employment laws and eligibility rules, usually only top U.S. internationals can sign with the top English clubs. Peterlin, born to Danish and Slovenia parents, holds an EU passport as a dual Danish-American citizen.

Partly because Peterlin, as a holding midfielder, plays one of the most important, and most invisible, roles on the pitch.

“It’s not a glamour position,” said Peterlin. “I get my joy when we clean up dirty little messes and get into scraps.”

So he can play with the Fusion this summer, Peterlin will not sign the contract until Everton arrives for its preseason tour of the U.S. in July.

“I have a lot to give back to the Fusion,” said Peterlin. “That’s why I’m playing with them. But whenever Everton calls, I’m going to go.”

As he told the team in Monday’s team meeting ahead of Friday’s season opener against Bakersfield at Buena High, Smith believes Peterlin is just the first Fusion player to make a career in Europe.

“I believe that Anton will be the forerunner,” said Smith. “That is what we are here for.”