That was a decent half. A little sloppy with finishing and defensively, but we were the clear better team, and played well. This is a fun team to watch because of the passing of Araujo and Booth. I think those two are the best passers of the football at their positions in the YNT system. Both were a little sloppy though defensively, although not too bad. Costa Rica only really had one or two chances, and they scored on one of them. Llanez is much more explosive than I remembered, but I'm a little disappointed in what I see from his play that isn't dribbling. I've never seen a ton more than dribbling from him. Excellent dribbler and he can finish, but I'd like to see some better chance creation for teammates. Konrad had a poor half, I thought. He got himself into some good positions, but the finishing was really poor. Duke looked good, I thought. Mixes athleticism with skill on the ball, he had the nice layoff for Vassilev's goal. Hoffman was also pretty good, especially going forward. He put in a few excellent crosses.
We scored in the final minutes and it's tied 1-1 at the half. We've looked the better team and are able to pass out of pressure well but some of the build up has been predictable. Does anyone know who scored the goal?
So de la Fuente is 9 and Hawkins 7? Still trying to make sure I have all the players and numbers straight.
I thought Reynolds was the best player of the first half. Drew what should have been a penalty, forced a yellow card on another dribble as he blew by 2 defenders, and picked up a hockey assist on the goal by making a lunging header on a cross to center the ball back in the box. Looked like easily our most dangerous player with the ball at his feet.
Also we probably could/should have had 3 or 4 that half. Their keeper made some great saves, but we had a few one touch opportunities on dangerous balls in the box where the keeper was forced out deep and we couldn't knock it past him.
21 (Stojanovic?) came in for 7 at the start of the second half. De la Fuente to right wing, 21 to the center forward position.
Not that I’m complaining but I was at halftime and then suddenly I was at 43 mins and then suddenly I was at 67 and it was 2-1. What’s wrong with using YouTube?
3 subs were made around the 74th minute. De la Fuente out for 20. 24 (Otasowie?) in at LCB and 23 in at left back. Edit: My bad. 20 must have come in for a different player. De la Fuente still out there. Looking forward to the match report to help get it all straight.
Konrad has been much better at right wing. He's too good to get isolated up top. Agree on Llanez, he's looked good dribbling, but he seems to try to dribble into the box without the objective of a final ball. Any idea who 15 is? I like what I've seen out of him the past few minutes.
Otasowie doesn't seem like he'd look out of place if he were lined up outside the hash marks for for the Green Bay Packers
I thought we were the much better team. We didn't finish that great, but played pretty well. It could've been a 2 or 3 goal win, but a 1 goal win isn't bad. Ochoa was fine, not really many saves to make. Hoffman was pretty good, I thought. He's rather technical, and has a good motor going forward. He sent in a number of decent crosses. Araujo had such an inconsistent match. He had a number of crucial passes to spring attacks, he made a number of key defensive stops and he even one time nearly carried the ball all the way down the field to create an attacking chance, but he also made a number of mistakes, most coming from risky passes. I've seen him play better. He's a very unconventional CB, so it'll be interesting to see if he can stick at the position, height being the main question. Benalcazar was okay, as was Ritchie. Booth didn't have his best game, but he showed off some flashes, especially with his passing. I like him better in a #8 role than a #6 role. Still, he was so key in the team's build up, created a few attacking chances and had what looked to be a 25-30 yard shot off the bar. Duke was excellent, I thought. He showcased high level mobility along with technique and good dribbling in CM. I was very impressed. Vassilev was better in the second half and he did score in the first, but he wasn't very involved in the game. Hawkins wasn't very involved in the game either. Llanez dribbled by players a lot, drew fouls, put in some decent crosses, but I still think his chance creation is lacking. Konrad looked wasted at CF. He got some chances in the first half, but finished poorly. In the second half when he was playing as a winger (and then centrally as a #10), he was excellent. He created most of the team's attacking chances, and scored on a FK. As for the subs, it was hard to figure out which players were brought in, considering it was very dark, and they had no field lights. I was only able to tell which one Reynolds was. He was erratic in his play. Some good, some bad. I don't like him used as a winger. The subbed in CB and LB were fine. The subbed in DM got a few minutes at the end. The back up CF looked pretty good. Drew the foul for the second goal, showcased good mobility and ball control.
Is Cameron Duke related to Christian Duke, who was with Sporting Kansas City (but didn't play much) and now plays in the USL?
What I saw. The keeper was very poor. The worst player on the team easily. the top players on the team Konrad and Booth started at wrong positions. And Booth played the whole game there. Konrad isn't a target forward. Booth isn't DM. His creativity and skills are great, defensive anticipation is severely lacking. He is #8 and a half. RB was good, LB lacks skills as always with our LBs. #4 was erratic. Another CB was OK, but no better than that. Vasiliev was good, #15 was very good. Llanez should get to Europe as soon as possible. He isn't the kind of player that will be appreciated here. Very individualistic, brings a lot of good and some bad as well. On a right team with a right coach he might become a star. #7 was OK, but team was much better after he got subbed as #21 was very good. Never heard about him, seemed very quick with good strength and touch. Was able to play target forward despite being not that tall. Konrad was much better on the wing in the second half.
They needed to turn on the auto iris on the camera. Still, it was nice to have a stream. I thought Konrad was the best player on the field. It seemed like he was making some nice crosses but no one was there to receive them. Actually, that’s something I’ve noticed is consistent with the US version of the 4-3-3. If we don’t have 2 guys up top, most crosses go right at defenders and aren’t even difficult to defend. Llanez was pretty good, but he still makes some stupid decisions. He gets the ball just outside his own box with about 9 teammates behind him and 2 defenders right in front of him and tries to dribble around them instead of making the safe play and passing it back. He constantly tries to dribble through opponents instead of making the easy pass. He also just isn’t very good at making the easy pass when he does actually try it. Still, we would’ve been better off with him instead of Ayo in the u17 wc. He’s pretty dynamic and at least puts pressure on the defense. He got some decent crosses away in the first half, tho he was less involved in the second. #6 (booth? Vassilev?) had some similar bonehead plays to Llanez. Had some nice passes but doesn’t seem like he has a clue how to defend in the middle third. Once, the ball was coming to an opponent and #6 was on the right with his teammate to his left. They both overpursued the CR player and he ran right between them. Another time, a ball bounced and took a high hop. #6 had no chance at the ball but still tried to head it instead of playing it conservative and staying on the man. I thought Ocampo was pretty brutal for the first 60 minutes. Thought he could’ve done better on the goal and was scared any time he had to play it. He looked more comfortable toward the end of the game tho. Araujo was pretty disappointing. He made some nice passes, but some of his plays were just awful, too. Duke was awesome. He actually looked even better after Konrad moved back to CM.
I'd caution its just one game. A few are criticizing Booth's defense, but he's shown well defensively many times before. He also got absolutely no help from Vassilev and Duke defensively, they barely entered their half of the field, so its a hard role to play. Araujo is another one who had an inconsistent game, and thats fine to acknowledge, but I wouldn't say it means much. He's shown much better in the past.
Booth looks like he's gotten even better since the U17 World Cup. I think he is a future starter with the USMNT. Uly really needs to improve his game.
Of course it’s just one game. Except what I said about Llanez includes all of the 5 or 6 of his games I caught last year. Besides that, I’m not making more of this than what it was. I still have no idea