#2ndStar: Akron Zips 2019

I was impressed with him, too. Unfortunately, he plays for Them.

 

It's not a bio. It is an encyclopedia….

 

It's interesting that he is a native of Redditch, England, has Irish & British citizenship, and has played on Ireland's U-18 and U-19 National Teams.

I noticed that Akron now has 2 Brits (Joe Bowles & Tom Smart) and an Irishman (Declan Watters) on the roster. With Ger Coppinger, a native of Ireland, now as the top assistant, perhaps the Zips will be making more recruiting forays into the British Isles. This is before my time, but in looking at Akron's history, when Steve Parker (RIP) was the coach, the roster always had a lot of English and Irish players. Soccer has fallen off a bit in Ireland but there has been a bit of a resurgence there at the youth levels.

It appears that TTUN played the Zips extremely well. I'm a little surprised that the pre-season United Soccer Coaches' poll has them at #24. That seems to be a bit low.

 

I was working in Cincinnati this past week and when I found out that the Zips were playing Xavier at Xavier, I decided to stay and go to the game and stayed with my cousin and his family last night and visited with them today. Now that I'm done watching Ohio State's ugly football (pointyball) win, I'll head back home in a bit.

I thought that the Zips looked very unorganized on defense. Their play also seemed atypical of the "Zips Brand" of soccer - not a lot of possession and a lack of the usual tiki-taka play. I was looking forward to watching a game of technical finesse with a lot of one-touch passing and saw very little of that. I've watched the Zips play a fair amount over the past few years and I will say that was probably the worst game that I ever saw them play. The usual Zips team will put all energies back into winning possession when it is lost. Last night that wasn't evident. There was a lot of lackadaisical play and sloppiness all over the field. Both goals were the result of a total lack of organization. On the first goal I didn't even see Tor Saunders move to his right in an effort to make the save. He seemed to be really angry with his defenders. I have no idea what happened there and would have loved to have seen a replay. They'll need a much better effort vs Stanford.

Despite all of that, there were, what I thought, a few bright spots:

Tom Smart had a decent game. He came out at about 70 minutes and didn't go back in. I don't know if was injured but I thought he was effective.

I thought that Strachan did a decent job at center back and was pretty solid. I did mention that the defending did not seem organized enough so funny the first two bright spots I mentioned were defenders. I would like to see replays of the goals to see how Smart and Strachan defended during those clusterf _ _ ks.

Diogo Pacheco did a decent job on the left wing and did create some dangerous pressure on a few occasions. There were a few times, though, that he hung on to the ball too long instead of finding an option. He lost possession s a result. He did have one shot that very nearly went in the right upper 90. Had he made that it would have changed the complexion of the game.

Akron did come out in the 2nd half and looked a little more inspired but then reverted back to how they were playing in the 1st half and then it just got too late. X's 2nd goal was the dagger.

Unfortunately, there were not many bright spots.

Egbo was largely ineffective and not much of a threat all night.

Mani Austmann went out at around 21 or 22 minutes and never returned. I did not think that he was doing horribly but there was one instance when instead of receiving a pass he opted to lift his foot thinking it would go through to another player (I think it was Tojaga). A Xavier player read the play perfectly and took away the lane leading to a bad turnover. That got Mani yanked and he never returned.

Skye Harter replaced Austmann and his play was less than inspirational. I've seen Harter play several times over the last few years and he is generally solid and gives an outstanding effort. Last night he just didn't seem into it. There were a few instances of losing possession and instead of going back and trying to win the ball back he paused put his head up in a frustrated manner. He's definitely been better.

Colin Biros did some good things but he also lost possession a few times that were questionable.

Marco Milanese has really good footwork but a few times he seemed to be dancing on the ball just for the sake of doing it. He ended up with the ball too long and ended up losing it.

And, again, just a lack of one-touch passing and maintaining possession.

A question for you Zip fans: Where is Carlo Ritaccio? He didn't play last night and was sorely missed. Is he injured?

I'll try to catch them vs Stanford on ESPN+ vs Stanford. They will need to play a lot better in that game.

 

Thank you. I remember the CC final last season but had forgotten about Ritaccio getting a red. I had also forgotten that a red from the previous season carries over to the next. With him playing in the scrimmages, the "carryover rule" was even more forgotten.

If Ritaccio starts at CB, who does he replace? As I said above I thought that Strachan did a decent job. I think that the combo of Strachan and Ritaccio would be solid.

Fwiw, Carlo's younger brother, Matteo Ritaccio, is in the Liverpool Academy and is on the U18 side. He's a stud and should be on the radar of the personnel of the USMNT and US Soccer. He has an Italian passport so if he doesn't suit up for the Yanks, he could be in Italian blue someday. I wonder if he's on Jared's radar or if he is even thinking about collegiate soccer. He could decide to take the Pulisic and McKennie route and bypass college soccer altogether. I suspect with the more talented players we will start seeing that happen more often.

One other note about the Xavier game. It seemed quite a few of the Akron players were having issues with their footing. The artificial turf at Xavier had a short nap and it had rained shortly before the game so the surface was damp. I didn't see the Xavier players slipping and falling as much. It's one of the reasons I hate plastic field surfaces.

 

I missed seeing this match. I saw in the box that the early Stanford PK came about from a handling call. Did you see it? Was it a legitimate call? Who was the offender?

It sounds as if Akron had some chances but I noticed that they were outshot, 19-12 though Akron's shots appeared to be higher quality with 8 shots on frame vs 4 for Stanford. I'm not used to seeing Akron getting outshot by opponents. When it happens it is often due to giving away the midfield. Against Xavier I noticed the MF struggled at times and a few times late in the game seemed to be gassed.

I also noted that Austmann didn't play. He must be in the doghouse because of that bad turnover in the X game.

 

As is US soccer --Matteo was called up for the very first camp for the 01's back in Oct. 2014

 

I was there. Honestly Student section was not very impressive compared to what I had witnessed in years past. The TKE bell is cool, but use it! Only one drum and very little organization to chants.

Even game throughout. Late goal was only difference. I thought certain they were headed for some extra time. Would have been death march as players were cramping all over the place.

Weather was great!

 

The student section has quite frankly been on a long slide of total suction since 2012 or so. I didn't make it on Monday, but please tell me the chant leader wasn't who it was for the Michigan game...a screechy voice does not tend to gain followers. It just doesn't. She needs to focus on drumming.

At any rate, the freshmen seem to treat the experience as a curiosity for a half, then about a third of them take off.

 

Since you were there do you mind telling me about the handling call that gave Stanford the PK? Did you think that it was a good call? It sucks to give up a goal like that to a side like Stanford.

One of the funniest series of chants from the student section that I saw at a Zip game was when they played Bowling Green in the MAC playoffs I think around 2012ish. The students rode the BG keeper mercilessly. Whatever the keeper did they would make a chant out of it. He had his hands on his hips so a chant of "HANDS ON HIS HIPS, HANDS ON HIS HIPS......" ensued. It was hilarious.

 

Yes handling was right call. I actually thought there should have been 3 of them in game.

Only funny thing I heard from student section was period time when keeper was walking they would say right, left, right, left as he took his steps. Went on for about 3 minutes.

One guy was riding Standford forward who wore shorter shorts that he liked his thong. That got a few chuckles even from Stanford crowd.

But again, I don't think fans made the atmsophere very hard on visitors. Not really organized and only like 3-4 chants I can recall.

By reference, Stanford parents said their student section is almost non existent. They joked that they were busy in the library. Another parent said he suspected many of them didn't attend highschool games either...because they were studying trying to get into Stanford. I told him that a great Stanford cheer would be the oldie.. "that's alright, that's Okay, you're going to work for us someday"

 

This was exactly the same experience at Xavier during the Michigan State exhibition and the Akron match. I wouldn't limit it to freshmen, but from what I see it's all students. Can't say I am surprised.

Comparing the soccer crowd to the rest of college athletics, there is an overall trend downward of in-game experiences. Sure, at major programs football still gets good crowds. But, even with the Michigan Wolverines, their stadium is less-than-stellar for home football games. It's just where things have gotten with the "experience" anymore. Instant gratification. Expensive tickets. "Other" things to do. And, I would also venture to say the lack-of-familiarity with the players also plays into it. When no one knows the players, it's hard to have the same feeling toward the entertainment.

UK basketball has been getting lots of heat for their crowds, and rising ticket costs. Many don't want to support because of the one-and-done culture. The team has its own dorm, so it's no longer involved in the UK educational community as much. A lot of this can happen all around the country.