Gyasi Zardes....any info?

Those were both better examples of his skill.

That first goal, he showed a frikkin' cannon with his right foot and the ability to both create a little bit of space to take his shot and to unleash it fast, which will be key for him in MLS.

The second one, taken left-footed, showed nice composure and the ability to hit an accurate shot on the move at an acute angle.

He was marked much more tightly in this game than he was against Riverside, but he still wasn't going against a lot of defenders we're going to be seeing in MLS.

 

I was thinking along the lines of had he been with the team a full year he would've racked up more appearance given the kid seems so talented.

 

UCR's actually doing alright this year.

 

Zardes made "Faces In The Crowd" in Sports Illustrated:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1190850/1/

 

Those 2 misses at the end were difficult to watch.

 

Pet peeve: don't call a guy deceptively fast when his speed is f***ing obvious.

 

First impressions on Zardes.

http://mlsdraftscout.blogspot.com/2011/10/tracking-mls-draft-prospects-through.html


Hararea: Duly noted.

 

Zardes hit goal number 12 yesterday evening against Sacramento State:

http://www.gorunners.com/ViewArticl...18&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=13300&ATCLID=205312881

 

His goal against Sacramento State:


[ame="http://vimeo.com/30265327"]CSUB v Sac State - Goals 10-7-11 on Vimeo[/ame]

 

Zardes hit goal number 13 yesterday against San Jose State:

http://www.sjsuspartans.com/ViewArt...731&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205313696&DB_OEM_ID=5600

 

His goal against San Jose State:


[ame="http://vimeo.com/30324415"]CSUB v San Jose 10-9-11 on Vimeo[/ame]

 

Gyasi is just a man among boys out there. He needs to go pro just to get challenged by better defenders.

Watching these videos, Bakersfield passes really well for a college team. Nice to see.

Also, the No. 11 kid at left back looks good going forward. Wonder how he can defend.

 

Agree 100%. #11 is Kory Kindle, who was highlighted along with Zardes by a poster above.

http://mlsdraftscout.blogspot.com/2011/10/tracking-mls-draft-prospects-through.html

From watching CSUB play a bit, their players are good individually, but as a team they're not as structured/organized as the country's bigger programs. If they make the tournament, it'll be interesting to see how they well they hold up.

 

Couldn't agree more. While watching those highlights I was thinking two things.

1) He looks good, but the defending against him is awful. I wonder how he'd do against better competition?

2) God, I hate Spartan Stadium.

 

Yeah, it looks even worse for soccer now than it did when the Quakes played there. It looks like they switched to turf, too.

And why is the college soccer team playing in the football stadium? If it's too damn big for an MLS team, it's certainly too big for a college team that will be thrilled to draw 2K a game.

But I digress.

 

Yep. He's also 20 years old now, so he shouldn't wait much longer to put himself into a pro environment.

 

I heard the following from coaches at CSUB:

Gyasi was offered a full contract after last season by the Galaxy. They offered him a contract for $100k a year.

He turned them down because he would like a European contract.

Gyasi was playing with the Ventura Fusion over the summer when they had a scrimmage against West Brom. Roy Hodgson said after the game he was impressed with Gyasi.

But from what I've heard, he also wants to get his degree, but that's looking less likely with every goal he scores.


As for Kory Kingle (#11), he is getting looks from the US U-20's. Wouldn't be surprised to see him get some caps this spring.

 

On Kindle- he was getting looks during this past U20 cycle (he's a '91).

 

You're right, that was last year. My years are off. I meant u-23s at this point.

 

As with Zardes, it's going to be a very long shot for Kindle or any other current college player to get looks with the U23 team this cycle.

Just way too many players with substantial professional experience ahead of them.

And, of course, it also doesn't help that we A) don't have a U23 coach and B) we don't have any U23 camps or friendlies.

 

I wonder what countries he has on his list.

It would be a shame to see MLS lose another top college prospect to a Scandinavian league, IMO.

 

Are you guys sure about that? I don't recall Kindle ever being called up by the U-20 team.

I wonder what clubs have him on their list.

I think MLS is always going to lose a minority of college prospects to Europe. For some, playing abroad is just an appealing notion and something they've always wanted to do. For others, they know that European clubs in leagues of equivalent quality to MLS are more apt to sell. MLS clubs have good reasons for rarely selling -- they don't need the money and it's hard to find a cost-effective replacement that fits the team's salary structure under the cap. But that doesn't change the fact that it's harder to move up the ladder when you start here.

 

Kindle may have been scouted by Rongen or his assistants, but he never got (an announced) call-up to the U20 NT.

 

He's taking quite a risk turning down a $100K deal. While Scandanavian leagues do play established players better than MLS, I'd think that amount of money the Galaxy offered is around what he'd get offered in Europe (if he does get an offer).

And if he doesn't get the type of offer from a Euro team that he wants, let's just say the Galaxy's offer might not be so good the 2nd time around since they'll have more leverage.