He's had some nice assists, but to actually score a goal - extremely rare. Don't get used to it . His medium / long range shots are generally very bad. But I appreciate the great run and goal he scored on Saturday. Reminds me of Richard Mulrooney's brilliant run and goal in the 2003 MLS Cup.
In warm ups, I've seen Sam rip the goal from distance. He's got a wicked shot when he's focused. But in games, he shoots more like Ramiro. That was a great finish though. He had a big GK bearing down on him, and he focused on the job and hand and jabbed it home. Clutch goal too. On the downside, it was his boneheaded play, running into Chavez that gifted the cheating SpiceUnderwearBoy that freekick and their first goal. Sam should have just left Chavez alone and continued running into the box to block Magee from in front. Oh well, we won!! GO QUAKES!! - Mark
If by "hits the ball well" you mean he can kick it high over the goal then I agree with you. I think this is his first goal in 4 years or so, and it wasn't a medium range set-up shot. It was a sliding poke deal.
"Earthquakes' Sam Cronin moves from David Beckham flap, onto Tuesday match at Portland" (San Jose Mercury News - Monday, 7/2/12) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
I'm very pleased with Cronin's season thus far. He was a little hot and cold in preseason, but he's settled in to being a guy you can rely on game in and game out....just quietly getting the job done.
Cronin and Baca Rule! Great article about how dominating these two are, and how well they work together. “I think [Rafael] Baca and Sam Cronin were great in the middle of our midfield,” Yallop said. “They bossed it. They made sure it was difficult to play against them, and they were clean on the ball. It was great.”“I thought our midfield won the game for us tonight,” said Wondolowski, who did his part with his first hat trick of 2012. “I wish [Baca and Cronin] had trackers on them. If you see how much ground they cover – they’re such smart players; you think you have [an open] pass and they cut it out."“Rafa pulls the strings, as you can see,” San Jose goalkeeper Jon Busch said. “He’s been fantastic so far this year.”“Sammy’s a little bulldog in the midfield,” Busch said. “You can’t count out the little guys; they’ve got a lot of bite to them. ... To me, he reminds me a lot of Logan Pause and Chris Armas, two guys I regard very highly that I played with in Chicago. Sammy fits into that mold. He breaks a lot of plays up, he gets in on tackles. He does all the dirty work that nobody else notices or wants to do.” Great stuff! and what have I been saying this season?! Baca and Croninja are the engine that makes our team go. (With critical help from Shea and Chavez, and Lionheart and Wondo, and Bernardez, JM, and Beta.) OK, so I just credited almost the whole team. Still, Rafael and Sam just rule the midfield!! GO QUAKES!! - Mark
The Quakes are 6-1-2 with them starting in the middle, and 6-3-2 with them in other positions or not starting. Not that much difference, but still pretty impressive record with them starting in the middle.
Yeah. We're better with Baca and Cronin playing together in central mid. The fact that they are both young is great too. We could see this pair continue to own the midfield for years to come. GOOOO QUAAAAAKES!!!!! - Mark
"San Jose Earthquakes benefit from two-way play of Sam Cronin" (Center Line Soccer - Tuesday, 8/14/12) (Photo: Joe Nuxoll, CenterlineSoccer.com) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
"Earthquakes' Sam Cronin controls the midfield" (San Jose Mercury News - Friday, 9/28/12) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
I had posted last week that I really liked the play of Cronin. He is one of those players who doesn't standout, get accolades or score many goals but he is a midfield general and holds the entire team together. This team definitely has more than one hero but I think Cronin is an integral part of the group. I wouldn't mind him getting a national cap or two to see how he could do at the international level.
http://www.socceramerica.com/article/49372/mls-positional-rankings-alonso-tops-holding-midfi.html TOP HOLDING MIDFIELDERS (SA 2012 RANKINGS) 1. Osvaldo Alonso (Seattle) 2. Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake) 3. Sam Cronin (San Jose) 4. Adam Moffat (Houston) 5. Logan Pause (Chicago) 6. Perry Kitchen (D.C. United) 7. Marcelo Sarvas (Los Angeles) 8. Jeff Larentowicz (Colorado) 9. Brian Carroll (Philadelphia) 10. Terry Dunfield (Vancouver)
That's good to see. I think that Sam's contribution to this season was unheralded but crucial. From my perspective, nobody worked harder over the course of 90-minutes and he provided a solidity to the Quakes middle that had been lacking in prior seasons. I hope he stays with us for many years to come, and since he's the type of player Frank seems to dote on (quiet, hard-working and reliable) I'm confident that as long as he remains healthy he'll be an Earthquake.
Sam was our most improved player last year, he was immense. He keeps the rate up he will be donning national team colors soon. Hes becoming a hell of a player and living up to the draft status he was taken at.
I want Cronin to be our Xabi Alonso who can lay deep to hold the ball, start the transition to offense and provide killer cross field and diagonal passes on a dime. It is not the Xavi and Ineista quick short passes.
IMO Cronin's longish passes may be the best part of his game. He generally does quite well with them. Otherwise, as a d-mid, I feel like he's OK, steady but unspectacular, and a little lacking in bite.
I think it just looks like he has less bite. He actually was quite respectable in forcing turnovers. His small stature fails the eye test for sure, which should help keep him nice and affordable for a while. It seemed to me that Cronin's biggest issue was his relative lack of success in a system of tandem central midfielders. In a side-by-side system, I'm not sure there's anybody who bests him in the league. Of course, the side-by-side system means that who he gets paired with can change everything, but it worked more often than not for the Quakes.