Reno 1868 FC: USL affiliate of the Earthquakes

Thank you. We hope he does, too. He shows great energy and if he keeps it under control he should become dangerous. He has a good nose for the goal.

 

I made it to the 2nd of the 2 Reno v Sac matches today. Both Gilbert and Jacob played well IMO. I hope Jacob grows a bit more as he can be an Ike Opara like athlete, only stronger. In the first half at least, he was was very difficult to stop when getting forward from RB. Gilbert got a very early yellow card which took some of the ball winning tenacity out of his game, but still a good showing.
Our last draft pick, “Nate” looked as good or better than already-signed Galindo at CB. One game is not much to go by, but I thought he looked worth keeping in the organization.

Calvillo and Haji were a mixed bag of some good and some bad. But Calvillo was playing pretty deep in midfield which I don’t think is his best position.

 

Any Reno fans happen to notice Joel Qwiberg at practices lately? I’m wondering if he’s been loaned to 1868 like Paul Marie was last year.

 

We do not have many people who are available to catch practices and have not heard anything. I will try to remember to update who are in the 18 for game days. It is very rare when anyone sent up here is not in the game day 18. Our first game is next Saturday.

 

Aw nevermind, I just saw a post that says the Quakes and Qwiberg agreed to part ways. Always strange why they wait to the last minute to announce things like this.

 

Reno does, too.

 

Prediction:

If and when Almeyda quits or gets fired , which could be in the next 5-12 months, Ian Russell will be the new Quakes coach.

Maybe he wasn’t ready in his earlier years but I think he now has enough experience to take the reigns. Anyway, he wouldn’t be any worse than anyone else.

 

He'll have better luck taking the reins to start his reign, though the forecast may be more rain.

 

Very dissatisfying loss. Controlled the game until the last 15 then a lazy pass from Casiple left JT out to dry and JT makes a bad decision to try to catch the ball instead of punch it. It could have and maybe should have been called keeper interference as the OC player ran into JT as he was attempting the catch. The ref was pretty weak on his calls. Brown got kicked in the ankle with no call and was limping around for 5 minutes at least not faking it. One of our guys bumped legs with an OC guy and got carded, OC guy was up and running like nothing happened after the contact.

 

We have been expecting this for a couple years now and will be happy for him. We have bittersweet thoughts about this potential move.

 

I think he still has a lot of close ties to this area. I use to see him at my gym in Willow Glen on Meridian and Hamilton Ave. I believe he ran an academy for a while. He didn’t know much a few years back other than placing down the cones and being Yallop’s sidekick but like everything , he learned and grew. I’d like to see him come back if and when Almeyda quits or gets fired.

 

He really has the team buying in to his style here. He appears to have a good or better than good eye for talent at least at the USL level. I expect to see a better job, starting next game, at finishing out the game better based on his history here. We believe in him at MLS level, just rather he stay here.

 

Ian is a pretty smart guy...I'm not so sure he would be willing to work with this incompetent mess that is the Quakes FO in the capacity of an MLS coach.

There was an article posted recently regarding the relationship between Reno and SJ and how Ian navigates the player situations. Ian does sound like someone who isn't going to get pushed around that easily ie he will refuse to play players from Quakes that does not match what he built in Reno and will refuse to play them if they are not good enough in his eyes (Qwiberg is a good example).

I hope that if he becomes an MLS coach, that he will go to an MLS group that will support him better and is not a dysfunctional mess like ours.

 

The last two seasons he has had to go with our FO to the SJ FO and tell them to send any players they want to have play to us on Monday. He has not played any of the SJ players once if I remember right so they must not have performed to his liking that week. I think TT was one who suffered this fate.

 

And I wholeheartedly agree with Ian's approach. Reno is our affiliate and developmental partner, but winning's first and foremost. If we send a discarded/unproven/shit player to Reno then it is in Reno's best interest to not play that player.

 

Calvillo and Fuentes started. Calvillo looked good and played all game. Fuentes started at forward and was subbed at the half. Looked decent on the ball when he got one it but still has trouble with getting ridden off of the ball. Looks to be a little taller and heavier. Bersano was in net. The one goal was a tough ask as it went against the flow and Bersano appeared to have his his view blocked by our defender.

 

So Bersano is ahead of JT now? That’s surprising as a lot of people were hoping JT would be the Quakes starter.

 

JT had an off week last week making a few tactical errors. Might be the reason. Bersano positions himself better and is better at distributing.

 

Better at distributing? That's supposed to be JT's calling card. Is Bersano underated or JT overrated?

 

JT is the flashier one and most likely has a greater upside more of a risk taker. Bersano is more of a rock solid kind of keeper plays more conservative.

JT is quite good for his age, Matt just has a lot more experience being a few years older. This may be the real difference, game experience.

 

BTW there are 6 keepers between Reno and SJ this year. So I suspect the JT and Matt will each spend half the year in SJ and half in Reno depending on whoever is deemed to need the most game time.

 

Would be difficult, unless he has a green card.