Parks and recreation in Lisbon: Keaton at NYCFC (on loan from Benfica)

Nonsense.

Calling him into camp will show him where he needs to be as a USMNT player, and what he will have if he keeps to his current trajectory. Those fall under challenge and incentive, not positive reinforcement.

Second, you aren't going to Russia, so this game is/should be about identifying players who might be ready for the next cycle in 2020, which is about potential at least as much as proven achievement. That Benfica pursued him during his enforced hiatus means they see a guy with the potential to be ready for their first team by 2020 as well. Calling him up is reasonable in these circumstances.

Normally you'd leave it at that but with his backstory, hinting that he'll get a cameo will generate a useful bit of media buzz around him and the game. I doubt Benfica would mind, esp if they see a D1 loan on the horizon for next season. Then give him 10 minutes at the end when Portugal are resting their stars

 

Fully agree. Still, it's impressive to see a guy dropping dimes and gliding past defenders.

One thing I find troublesome with the avg US midfielder is their inability to make themselves time. This guy looks like he has the potential to break the norm.

 

Quite a contrast to Scottish D2 midfielders. The good ones there are the thinking man's gorillas; the rest are the gorillas thinking men dread to think about

 

what is a realistic path toward the first team, whether at benfica or elsewhere, for keaton?

 

Nothing concrete but I read rumors that he and someone else may be moved to the senior team after the year-end break. That is providing he continues his upward trajectory.

 

Thought you guys would be interested in this pod that my podcast did with Keaton. (https://t.co/UuMZhKS1XH) Talked about his journey and his opinion on yanks going abroad.

 

had a 'dangerous shot' in the 38', didn't appear to be involved in the goal, and got a yellow in the 78'. Seemed like a physical match, the other team ended with 10 and the difference maker was a penalty (not conceded by Keaton).

Anyone know what this means:

#SLBenficaB | 1-2 | ⏱ 71' Keaton remata ao lado!

— SL Benfica (@SLBenfica) November 1, 2017

Google translate shows it as "Keaton ends next!"

 

I think "Remata ao lado" remata=finish, probably on the first hit ao= to the lado=side

 

Means he shot wide. Final score was SLB 1 - 3 Santa Clara.

 

Here is the full pre-game and full game. the game was 2-1 until the very end when they got beat by a counter, final score 3-1

 

Wow, Keaton's shot at 38' would have been an amazing volleyed goal, and it wasn't far off. That being said, he might have stolen an opportunity from his teammate...

I'm not seeing the yellow, so I think the person running their twitter account attributed it incorrectly. It was given to Santa Clara for time wasting on a FK.

 

At minute 18 on the first goal of Santa Clara, Keaton had possession of the ball made a pass in the final 3rd the teammate loss the ball and the counter began, Keaton saw the open opponent tried to contain him but stumbled, the opponent push the ball down field made a pass to the wing, a cross, then a header for the goal.

 

His stumble allowed them to get the ball down the flank, but I dunno if he's significantly responsible for the goal, it was pretty poor marking inside the 18 to let the goal scorer get free like that.

I've sort of hopped around and watched ~15' of the entire match (mostly looking at the mins when Keaton's name was mentioned in SLB's twitter feed) and man, they show him a lot in cut-away shots. He seems to be a big deal to this team.

 

I haven't watched much yet but they're playing a ton of route one ball. He's getting bypassed in the midfield way more than necessary, imo.

 

I don't think he is at fault either. In the final cross, there were actually 3 defenders against 1 attacker that quickly turned into 3 v 3 the back post defender chose to guard the new wide attacker but didn't tell his teammate of the switch, thus the middle attacker scored unattended.

 

The reason that happens is because he slows the flow of the game.There is a reason why he is called "The Big pause" in Portuguese. The interesting part to me is that he can run fast if there is a play for him or if there is a loose ball, otherwise, he looks like he is lumbers around the field.

 

He did get a yellow in this game for diving. was subbed out at around minute 82

 

That's an alarming nickname.

 

One other quality I have seen from him is that he hardly makes a bad pass and half of his passes are 1-touch and I would say half of them are forward passes, that is very impressive.

 

who knew the Portuguese were such big fans of Logan Pause.

 

Keaton came on at 70’ -as he’s getting back to fitness- in a 3 - 4 loss to Penafiel.

#SLBenficaB | 3-2 | 🔄 70' Substituição: sai João Félix, entra Keaton Parks. pic.twitter.com/GEcpHtfdBK

— SL Benfica (@SLBenfica) November 5, 2017

 

Not part of the national team squad for the Portugal friendly.

 

I'm simultaneously not surprised and incredibly bummed out.

I mean, to only have a camp with 21 players and not call in a guy knocking on the door of Benfica's first team who is less than 2 hours away seems misguided. This roster has a lot of new faces on it, but it still reeks of "business as usual" in terms of the roster. I guess that's to be expected from Bruce Arena's 2nd in command tho...

 

wonder if keatons knock made the decision easy regarding the call