"NEWS: Earthquakes Sign 20-Year-Old USYNT Midfielder Eric Calvillo" (SJEarthquakes.com - Saturday, 1/20/18) (SJEarthquakes.com) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
"FEATURE: Four things to know about midfielder Eric Calvillo" (SJEarthquakes.com - Saturday, 1/20/18) (SJEarthquakes.com) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Unless you're playing Centerback or Goalkeeper I don't see why height matters. Some of the better players out there are short.
I doubt it, but geez, we are stacked with young midfielders: TT, Yueill, Wehan, Felipe, now Calvillo, not to mention all the more veteran mids we have: Hyka, Godoy, Alashe, Magnus, Vako, Dawkins, etc. Calvillo can be more of a #6, though he is pretty slight of build, whereas all the other young guys are #8's or attacking mids.
For midfielders, size is a push. Height has some advantage in ball winning, lower center of gravity means quicker turns and smaller mass can mean faster acceleration.
If you're a ball winner. But if you have good technical ability you can pressure and cause turnovers or steal the ball soon after.
Baca was a good example of the latter. Very quick turns and movements in small spaces. He is listed as 5'10" I think, but I think that may be a couple of inches too high, and he was very slight of build.
I imagine this is just a prospect right? We sure are bringing in a lot of young guys with only lower division (or college) experience.
Based on Jesse's post draft interview, it sounds like he's more tightly aligning Reno with us (a very good thing). I have to assume some or most of these signings are for them.
If a strong breeze comes along it would blow him over. Good thing we're looking at another midfielder, we're really short on them at the moment.
I'm thinking restocking Reno since we signed two of their mids...maybe open competition with the new Reno mid signings to see who'll start off the season with the full side. Looks to me like we're picking up players that can play multiple mid positions as well as wingback. Marie looks like a flat out attacking wingback...probably backing up Lima. Who's to say Calvillo wouldn't be thought of in a similar fashion down the road. I trust Jesse's opinion. When he says he had Marie rated as the fourth best overall player in the draft I get very very excited. Overall , it looks like we're bringing in fundamentally good two way soccer players that understand the game...really stoked about that...no more one trick ponies that can't read the game. Regarding TT and Yueill... I can guarantee Yueill isn't going anywhere...that would be a truly epic "Doyle style" blunder. I don't see the Quakes moving Tommy in the short term. Besides it would break poor Jazzy's heart...can't have that.
I had been prepared for TT to go to Sacramento, but they lost out on the latest expansion slots. I can deal with it, cbp, I just want to see the guy get a chance to play regularly, even if it's not with the Quakes (though obviously much prefer it's with the Quakes).
Regarding Tommy... I think he's valued, even if his potential minutes might be impacted this season. We saw some wonderful things from him last season. The biggest takeaway for me was almost all those moments were in primarily a 5 man midfield where he was in the middle with the freedom to float and pick his spots to unbalance the D. I didn't like how we used him when he was outside...he's just not utilized...the defensive tracking required takes him away from the part of the field where he is most dangerous. He needs to be free to cause havoc... The competition is tough at basically an ACM position, but it is a great measuring stick. He's potentially dealing with players that can dish the ball for assists and also score by shooting. I thought he rose to the competition last season, even without a quality shot. I expect him to rise to the occasion again, but we have to primarily play him in the middle...he'd really help his case if he could get his shot off quickly and occasionally crush the ball on frame, left or right third from outside the box. I don't know if he can out compete the comp if he is strictly an assist guy...he would need to be a stellar table setter with clinical lethal forwards to make that work. Imo, he has the potential ability to do that, but if he had a shot he would absolutely be in every conversation at ACM. Part of the reason I want to see a 3-5-2 or preferably a 3-4-3 is to make it easier for Tommy to get on the field centrally.
I think TT works well in the middle of a 5-man midfield but I think he also works fine as a wide attacking mid. Of all the guys that played there last year, he's the one who can either cut inside or make an outside run to the end line and cross like he did here at 3:46. Or this: 26' - 😱😱😱😱😱😱#ForwardAsOne | #USOC2017 pic.twitter.com/gUsq8wSPd9— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) June 29, 2017 He had more than a few of those last year. Vako doesn't have much of an outside move, neither does Hyka, or Dawkins. Based on what I've seen of Magnus he doesn't really have the speed or inclination to do it. He's pretty much a straight cut-in guy. Salinas does it a lot - that is his game, but OTOH his cut-in game is not very strong. Also I have no qualms about TT having to track back on defense. He is the best defender of all those outside mid guys, and wins the ball often. Totally agree on the need for him to improve his shot. That is the missing piece for him. He doesn't really have any other weaknesses in his game. He even wins headers as a 5'7" guy with good hops. I hope he worked hard on shooting over the offseason.
Calvillo is probably the Quakes biggest USYNT prospect since Marc Pelosi (yes I know that doesn't sound very impressive now but Pelosi was quite highly regarded before his numerous injuries)... The Cosmos got into signing highly regarded USYNT prospects for a few years, with the hope of selling them on or getting their name out there or something... In addition to Eric Calvillo (the only one who did much with the NASL team) they had signed Alexis Velela (who went on loan to the Spanish fourth division) and Haji Wright (who signed with Schalke and is on loan with Sandhausen in the 2.Bl)... This goal of his for the Cosmos was their goal of the season: https://www.msgnetworks.com/videos/calvillo-puts-cosmos-ahead-with-2nd-goal/ And even then, see Fabio Cannavaro or (the guy who will eventually hold every MLS goalkeeping record) Nick Rimando... US Soccer is devastated to have just lost local kid Jonathan Gonzalez (5'9" 137lbs) to Mexico... some of the people around here would probably be like "eh he's way too tiny for a CDM who cares"
Agreed being closer aligned with Reno is a great thing. We've added: 3 guys from Reno 3 guys from college (drafted them that is) 3 others (Cavillo and the 2 homegrowns) Plus the foreign guys who should be more immediate impacts. Eventful offseason.