The Official Rafael Baca thread

They probably had to deal with the ICEman, which these days can be no easy task.

 

Rafael Baca, seems to be improving little by little....

http://www.csnbayarea.com/03/24/12/...-in-T/landing.html?blockID=676406&feedID=2805

 

Congratulations to Baca for making the MLS Team of the Week for the first time in his career! (Oh, and that guy Wondo made it again...)

 

I wish Baca could reach out of his picture and put a boa constrictor in with DirtyAlonso.

 

Armchair Analyst: Baca Mexico's Missing Olympic Piece?

Very interesting piece detailing Baca's ability as a #8 and him being what Mexico needs to strengthen up its central midfield.

 

This is an excellent article.

 

Well if he does get called, I can't help but root for him...even if it is for Mexico.

 

I have no idea if he's really on Mexico's radar. I already posted earlier this year that I feared he'd be on the radar of Mexico's bigger clubs. If he did go to the Olympics, it will make the tournament much more interesting. And some international tournament play could be good for Baca. Because of the break, the Quakes wouldn't lose him for that many games anyway, right?

 

Wow, glowing review of Baca. This guy does a good job putting into words, and backing it up with data, the reasons why I like the way Baca plays - the reasons why I'm a Bacanalian. So much for "all he does is back pass" (I see a strong majority of forward vectors in that passing graphic).

The article claims that Baca's left is his "off" foot. I haven't been able to tell to be honest. He looks equally comfortable with either. I actually thought he was a lefty. The shot that the author describes was a left-footed shot, and a pretty good one.

 

What happened to all the Baca haters?

 

Doyle is top notch.

 

You've got something there.

 

Not as it's done by that idiot. Check out the New Zealand rugby team. They'll show you how it's done.

 

Exactly. Bretos's version is wimpy and soulless. It needs to be done with deep instinctual primal male aggression, not like a scene from South Pacific.

 

Seems like a moniker one would not "earn", but rather, would be branded with. (Earn, would imply he might actually want the title)

 

You like to type that don't you?

I wasn't questioning your grammer...

 

Posted this in the "Chron Live" thread, but just watched Baca's interview. It was short, Baca talked about the win in Philadelphia a bit, about how well the team is playing, and then about his goal in New York. Most interesting, he said he would play if he get called into the Mexico Olympic team (as if there was any question about that...he's not a US citizen, no green card, so he's quite a bit away from being eligible for the US team even if he would ever get that chance). He said he hasn't had any contact from anyone from Mexico yet, though.

It seems a long shot that he'd get called in, as he's never played for Canada at any youth level as far as I can tell. While Matthew Doyle's article the other day was interesting, I'll believe it when I see it.

 

Selfishly, I'm kind of hoping that they don't call in him, though in the long run it would probably make him a better player. I think his competitiveness in MLS however is causing him to be on a pretty steep upwards curve - he's still getting better and more confident with each match.

I agree that it's a long shot that he'd get called in. 1) I'm not sure that the Mexican managers would agree with Doyle's assessment, and 2) he's got to be so far under the radar as an MLS player who played in the U.S. collegiate system and grew up in the U.S. for the most part (and it's not like there are no shortage of U-23 Mexican players in Mexico), and 3) would there be some bias against him or reluctance to admit that you want some "help" from a U.S. developed player.

 

Boy a lot of crow should be served here!

I came back to this forum looking for info and saw this thread. What a difference a year makes. gotta like Doyle, Yallop and Baca (and others) now. I continue to be very impressed with the SJE FO. What they have done with there resources is truly remarkable. A model for all. Well done indeed.

Baca is another US based West Coast futbol player. I doubt he will be in the Mexico U23 line up as he is as American as most of the city of Los Angeles. Started immediately as a freshman at LMU, where I first saw him play against former Quake BMac as a freshman. BMac was a 4th round pick and I believe the MLS only had 3 rounds for Baca's year. Only two now. Quite frankly I do not know why the MLS has any draft. Look at the drafts for 2008 - 2010 and see how many drafted players are left in the MLS. Of course their team still has their rights.

 

Surprised that there aren't more comments how Baca has been progressing. We all know he has a lot to learn and maybe he has somethings people don't like but IMHO, he was one of the men of the match the other night. I'm sure he can still grow and improve into the position very nicely....