Kiwi Andy Boyens admits the cards fell for him last season at New York Red Bulls. The defender kicked off the MLS season with Toronto FC, but was soon shuffled out due to non-US player restrictions.
"I think we were going into our third game of the new season and the Toronto boss pulled me aside and said I was being let go," Boyens, 25, recalled.
"I was taking up one of their foreign spots, which didn't help me.
"But it was hugely disappointing. At that stage, I had nothing guaranteed and there was a huge amount of uncertainty. I didn't know what to do."
Boyen's agent quickly arranged a trial with the New York Red Bulls and everything fell into place.
Within two weeks, Boyens was playing for the reserves against his former club - "that was bittersweet" - and before the MLS season was half over, he was a regular starter for New York.
Boyens was part of the team that reached the MLS Cup final, only to be defeated by Columbus Crew.
He told the Otago Daily Times: "We all described the season as a rollercoaster. We had some great wins and we had some heavy losses. We were quite inconsistent throughout the year. But we shook up a few things just before the playoffs and everything just clicked."