Orr Barouch

Early life and career

Barouch is Jewish, and was born in Haifa, Israel. He moved to the United States with his parents as a child. He grew up in Woodland Hills, California, attended El Camino Real High School and played in the youth ranks of Chivas USA. During the summer of 2009, Barouch was one of the athletes selected to tour Europe with the SuperElite Discover Europe team of top youth soccer players based in America. While with Chivas he drew the interest of Belgian side Club Brugge. However, in 2009 he elected to sign with Mexico's Tigres de la UANL. While with the Monterrey-based club, Barouch appeared in 24 youth team matches, scoring one goal, primarily as a left winger, and helped Tigres to a first-place finish in the Mexican U-20 Apertura tournament, but he never played for senior Tigres team.

Chicago Fire

During the 2011 Major League Soccer preseason Barouch joined Chicago Fire on trial. Barouch became the third Israeli ever to play in Major League Soccer, after Guy Melamed and Dedi Ben Dayan. Barouch impressed during his trial stint and was signed on loan from Tigres on 10 March 2011, with the American side holding an option to purchase his contract. He made his professional debut on 19 March 2011 in Chicago's 1–1 tie with FC Dallas on the opening day of the 2011 MLS season., and scored his first professional goal on 24 May in a 2–2 tie with Toronto FC. On 2 December 2011 Chicago Fire purchased the rights to Barouch from Tigres. On 13 September…