Sporting preseason 2019

I thought Johnson was one of the more interesting players that was available in some version of a random "entry" draft ... I like his inclusion. Still young enough to turn into something and Chicago isn't exactly the ideal place to grow.

 

Salloi talked to MLS, in case anyone missed it.

 

The first practice games are done and it yielded a little bit of information, but not any stuff that you wouldn’t expect.

First period: Fontas, Wallis, Besler, Zusi, Ilie, Russell, Hurtado, Melia, Gerso, Felipe, and Rowe. As expected, they looked much the same as they did when the season ended, just a bit more out of sync. A couple of observations:
1. Wallace was active and effective. Good speed, distributed well, and was in the box a lot.
2. Hurtado may be the fastest forward SKC has ever had. He didn’t score, but was constantly working and causing problems for their defense.
3. Rowe was completely unimpressive. It’s way to early in the season to see what the guy can really do, but today he was not much help. He had a chance for a wide open header from about 8 yards out and missed it wide.
4. Johnny was Johnny, causing problems all over the right side of the field. He was played a nice cross in the box and he buried a 10 yard volley for the only score of the period.

Second period: Sinovic, Roger, Salloi, Croizet, Zendejas, Kuzain, Busio, Smith, Lindsey, Abualnati and some kid playing striker that I did not recognize. Some observations:
1. Croizet looked like he had not missed a training session since the season ended. He was a beast all over the field and never stopped running. He trapped a ball at the top of the 18 and sent a rocket by the keeper for the only score of the second period.
2. Pleasant surprise: Wan Kuzain was playing defensive mid and was really impressive. He sat deep in the midfield and distributed the ball really well while taking on defenders who tried unsuccessfully to take the ball from him. He was crafty, deceptive, and intelligent wth his movements. The only drawback I saw was his ability to defend to the level expected of a defensive mid. He’s no Ilie or Uri, but he did very well.
3. The kid playing striker didn’t belong on the field with the rest of the guys,,,completely out of his league.
4. Another pleasant surprise was Mo Abualnati who is an academy guy playing center back with Smith. This guy is the real deal and played a very solid period.
5. Lindsey is still impressive. Made a lot of runs, good tackles and pushed into the box a lot of times.

Third Period: This is where the college guys from the draft teamed up with some of the academy guys and played against a completely different team than the senior guys. I’m not sure who the other team was but they seemed to be made up of players more in the age range of the academy and college guys. I don’t have a lot to say about this game except that if the college guys make it out of camp and get a contract, it will be in a SPR jersey.

No Ike or Nemeth as both were nursing some kind of injury and of course, Medranda is still rehabbing from his injury. The only mystery of today is that I did not see anything of the new defender, Barath. If he was there, I didn’t recognize him.

 

Your number 2s are both quite good news. An out and out speedster up top is an interesting plan B option (unless it's an interesting Plan A option, but I'm assuming Nemeth for now). I could see Hurtado and Gerso causing serious problems for teams as subs when legs are tired. I like speed.
And wouldn't it be fantastic is our Ilie depth was already on the roster and quite young? Thanks for the report.

 

I got bored hitting refresh on transfer tracker so put together a look at our expected starting 11 for 2019 by salary. I thought it was kind of interesting.
Front 3: Salloi $81k, Nemeth $1m, Russell, $1.3m
Mids: Felipe $1.6m, Roger $900 k, Ilie $330k
Defense: Seth $157, Fontas $1m, Besler $788, Zusi $782k
GK: Melia $316
Top earners on the bench: Croizet $680, Gerso $591k, Wallace $300k and Rowe $260.
Couple observations: Melia is the seventh highest earning GK in MLS. If you toss Howard and his $2m a year out of the pot, he’s earning in the neighborhood of what good keepers earn in MLS (he’s on the outskirts perhaps, but, you know, it still counts as Brookside). If he’s unhappy, making him happy would not cost that much.
The elephant in the first 11: WTF. Salloi must be making more than that, isn’t he? This is according to MLSPA, as of Sept 2018. His contract expires after this season? If he reproduces 2018 production, I’d think his next contract might deserve 0 for a raise, as in after the $81,000.
We often note that we could be stronger at LB, and the salary says that too.
Even so, this is a pretty high dollar first 11, and first 15, for MLS. It indicates a lot has changed in this league. Seven starters above the max salary is good for MLS.

 

So in 2017 he was on $53k. Man, best deal in MLS.

 

Two interviews on the SKC page that illuminate both on the team overall and especially regarding Fontas v Opara.
Ilie on the team. "This year, we are completely balanced, left and right and offense and defense."
And Melia, Fontas "is really comfortable on the ball, and wants to be on the ball. I think it will be immediately apparent how comfortable he is on the ball."
They are not directly saying so, but they are sounding as if Fontas is a better fit in that role than Ike.
The other thing talked about is the Vermes contention that the moves we made last year, Felipe, Russell, Croizet, Nemeth, Fontas (and, of course, Evans) weren't made for 2018 as much as for 2019. Everyone showed up way ahead of where we were last preseason, and they're talking about the competition going 25 deep.
It's a shame the first Toluca couldn't come after our second or third MLS match, just so we'd have the cobwebs worked out and they're about as tough a test as we've faced, but there is a similar very professional confidence in both interviews that's quite exciting. Same thing comes through in the getting to know Rowe interview.
All together, the picture is that we're more talented, deeper and more together than we were last year, and last year was a pretty decent campaign.

 

game against houston livestreamed right now on youtube

 

I know it's only preseason, but a couple thoughts: Nemeth looked pretty, pretty, pretty good as our 9. He looked better than anyone has for a while in that role. And his last second goal was great to see, because that was all mojo.
Zusi is obviously not going to be a long term problem but he's not ready for prime time yet. He wasn't bad, although his early giveaways would have cost us the match against Toluca, but he just seemed not quite there.
Gerso is fast. Jeebus he's fast. I know Houston doesn't have a first, or even second, rate defense, but he was pulling them out of shape all night.
Felipe, Fontas and Ilie are a really strong spine.
I don't think we looked anywhere near midseason form, but we looked better than we did last year in preseason.
I would have liked to have seen a smidge of Wallace or Lindsey at left back. But Seth remains Seth. To me, he looked like our weakest link, but that's pretty good because there's nothing shakey about his game.
Bottom line, I'm not sure we're ready to take on a good and midseason form club right now, but I think we're going to be really decent (and I mean better than last season) this year.

 

Agreed on pretty much everything, especially the Nemeth part - really good to see. The only thing that I would like to add is that people saying we will miss Opara's athleticism might have a point - Houston had a number of balls over the top exploiting our slowness and should've scored more than just their one goal.

 

Yes. PV had the defense pushing up really high and they got caught a number of times chasing a Houston player to the goal. Houston didn’t finish those, but Toluca will.
Agree on the above comments on Zusi and Nemeth. Sometimes brilliant and sometimes disaster, Zusi was inconsistent most of the game. Nemeth, on the other hand, played like the guy we saw a few years ago. Solid outing with little or no hissy fits. That chip at the end of the game was so cool, calm and collected it made the keeper look silly. That is what I like to see in a #9.

 

I mean, maybe? I don't recall Toluca being treated as a particularly good counterattacking team, and that is literally the only weapon Houston has. I mean, yes, that will be a concern all season, but Toluca does not look at all like an offensively dangerous team, by MX standards. They've scored once in the last month, losing three and drawing one. I think they'll be more dangerous than most MLS teams, but so is SKC.

I only caught the second half, and Nemeth looked much more invested and involved. I agree that that's good to see. His second goal was well taken but that was hilariously useless defending. The two Houston defenders clearly could not give less of a shit on that play. I think the Dynamo are really going to have to sort their heads out to succeed this year.

Looked away at the wrong time to see why Roger got his second yellow. Hope he doesn't translate feeling the heat from guys like Rowe, Busio, Kuzain, and Croizet potentially vying for his spot into recklessness and frustration.

 

Interesting point on Toluca. I like the idea that they're a stodgy bunch.
On Roger, I would think he might realize that the reason he will play this year is that he gets stuck in more than anyone else at his position, so he'd better bring that game.
It is something SKC needs. It is also something that will see him earn more cards than he did last year. The advantage we have this year is that we don't need him to play 34 games.
Also, I would like to say I would love to have a chance to see this lineup's match:
Adrian Zendejas; Jaylin Lindsey, Botond Barath, Graham Smith, Rodney Wallace; Kuzain, Kelyn Rowe, Gianluca Busio; Yohan Croizet, Erik Hurtado, Tyler Freeman. that is an exciting second 11.
And a question, are any of our new draft choices still with the first team?

 

I’m not sure how much you watch Liga MX, but from what I have seen, Toluca is a good counter attacking team. They also push hard and high into the into their offensive attack which makes themselves open to the counter.

 

I don't have any access right now. So, I haven't watched them play since probably 2017. Just going off what I hear from Mexican friends.

 

In no way do I want to see him play inconsistent or start to fall off ... but of all of the backline positions, that's the one I really want to see rotate a lot this year ... mainly because I think it will increase Lindsey's stock and I think he will want to look at Europe soon. Not sure how long we have him under contract, but getting him more minutes this year is needed, and it would be great if it happened because he was passing Zusi in effectiveness.

 

I think this is one of the tough decisions that PV has to make when he has a high salary veteran who can play brilliantly at times and an up and coming talented fullback who needs time on the senior squad to gain experience and confidence. I almost wish they would loan him out to a another team so he can get those minutes he needs. I just don’t see Zusi on the bench except for minor squad rotation or injury.

 

The but on this is that he turns 33 in August. There may be 33 year olds who can play at his workrate, but they are rare. And those who can do it at 34, then 35 are rarer still.
Zusi is now only a short term option. If we didn't have CCL, and if SKC didn't seem intent on doing as much as possible in CCL, he might have been a trade option this off season. In 2018, he was, still, IMO, the best right back in MLS. He was without a doubt the best right back in MLS for our system. I believe he can produce another year like that, mostly because I want to believe, and I want to ignore history because on his day, he is spectacular. He takes over games from that spot.
Still, we all know and they have to know that less of Zusi in 2019 is probably a very, very smart move. If we can limit him to 18-22 starts in 2019, he might have the legs we need in August through November. Sadly, I think the other option is show the league he is still Zusi in the first couple weeks, then move him after CCL but before the window closes. It's quite sad, but we all know the dropoff is coming. I don't think it's this year, but it almost certainly will be within 2.

 

Yeah. I'm very much a fan of Lindsey, but a not-exhausted Zusi is better in almost every way for us. How he played almost 40 games last season I can't even imagine. That said, putting Jaylin in instead of him for some games also decreases the defensive burden of the CBs and Ilie, which isn't the worst thing.

Also I'm not sure I expect Sporting to move Graham ever. If his contract can be adjusted (is his up after this season?), he should stay on with the team in a spot role as he ages. Hopefully he'll stay with Sporting in general once he retires as well. Besler gets all the recognition because he's from KC, but Graham has been every bit if not somewhat more vital to the team's trend of success. I wouldn't want to lose that connection for a few hundred k allocation dollars, though I might be overthinking this.

 

We agree on this. Zusi is great when he is on his game but the clock is ticking for him. I can see Zusi staying in KC much the same way KZ did after his playing days were over.

I would just like to see Lindsey get more minutes on the senior squad. I really don’t think we have seen everything this guy can do. But, I trust PV when it comes to assessing the abilities of developing players. Early on we thought EPB was going to be the future of the SKC back line, but it didn’t happen even after he was loaned out to get more experience. And to my knowledge, he is still loaned out and has not broken through to the next level. Lindsey may be in the same kind of status: really good, but just not quite good enough. We seem to hear more chatter about Busio and Kuzain and less about Lindsey so I’m not very confident of him getting more time.