I love this kid's humble attitude. It'll serve him well, and it'll serve him well with the team and Bradley Sr.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEWFHdDjE6s"]YouTube - Juan Agudelo vs. Argentina 03/26/2011[/ame]
the late game Chandler run to Agudelo cross was nice to see .... looked almost like Dani Alves making a late game run ... with a cross to Leandro or someone else ... the way by the way to pick Argentina apart is to spread their defense out ... whether Chandler and Agudelo knew that or simply went with that play would be a nice question for an enterprising reporter.
Do we have an enterprising soccer reporter? Whenever I watch Agudelo play, I see a lot to like. The self-confidence to take chances (and fail, sometimes spectacularly) but with very clear indications that he is first and foremost a team player. His quickness - in both thought and movement - is exceptional, at least for us.
This is the second Nat goal he has scored by lifting it over the keeper in a goalmouth scramble rather than blasting it into him. Nice instincts!
BB's post-game quote ... http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Mens-National-Team/2011/03/Quote-Sheet-US-MNT-vs-Argentina.aspx
A somewhat different look at Agudelo's goal, one that I had not seen before ... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuK4pFPY-mY&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube - March 26, 2011: MNT vs. ARG - Behind the Scenes: Agudelo Goal[/ame]
I don't know where this kid's career is going to go, but even in real time it looked like everything slowed down for him for a split second so he could scissor the ball into the net. Unreal. His focus and execution on that play was very good. In the run of play I still think Altidore is a better striker, but man Agudelo just knows where to be when and how to finish. Now let's see if he can do it in National Team games that matter. All signs point to "no problemo".
Watching that finish in slow motion makes it look even more impressive. Agudelo's momentum was taking him past the ball and was rapidly reducing the shooting angle. It was definitely not a simple tap-in and many of our other forwards probably would have missed it. It would have been extremely easy to nail the post or the side netting.
I don't think that's as far off in the future as some think. RBNY/MLS had to fend off interest from Atletico Madrid this past summer after the Gen Ad trip to Spain. http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/soccerblog/rbny_says_juan_agudelo_interest_kr0Wyz3Db7JcTMbdNXPzPM I believe Jozy was sold to Spain when he was 18..........and now Juan is that same age. With the way this kid is playing, I don't think the offers are going to stop rolling in. Especially if he plays really well at a competition this summer like the Gold Cup or U20WC. At some point an offer might come in that's too good to refuse. So far Juan and his representation have done just about everything right, so I trust their judgment on this. And he's surrounded by good people at RBNY, who'll hopefully have Juan's best interests in mind. [Personally, I bet he'll stay in MLS thru the 2012 Olympics...........and then it's adios.]
Yup. Not an easy goal to score. Of course, Andujar should have saved the header from Bocanegra (which the Argentine media is eviscerating him for)...........but that's another issue altogether. Juan needed to anticipate a rebound there, and get in the right position. He did so. It definitely wasn't some golazo wondergoal, but also not a simple tap-in. There's the unmeasurable "instict" quality that some forwards have, and others don't. There are some forwards like Samuel Eto'o that ALWAYS seem to be in the right place at the right time. It's not luck.
I've been critical of Donovan's service on set pieces in the past (heck, even in the game i was critical), but he delivered an excellent ball.
Backe said last season that he predicted having to beat European offers off with a stick. Looks like he might be right. My personal preference is that he gets 2 full seasons of MLS/Henry and then goes to a decent league in Europe to get more PT. I think Holland would be a good choice. It would be good for him to get consistent goal scoring opportunites at a higher level and their league is attack happy.
I'm sure this has been commented on before, but if you go to the 2:30 mark of the Agudelo highlights ... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEWFHdDjE6s&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube - Juan Agudelo vs. Argentina 03/26/2011[/ame] ... his recovery is even more spectacular than his failure. Astonishing recovery - I'd probably still be there lying in a heap.
Yeah I was astounded how quickly he got up from that. You never see a player recover from an attempt like that to maintain possession, but he did.
Juan Agudelo, the real deal? http://www.socceramerica.com/article/41740/juan-agudelo-the-real-deal.html
This is what I like about him more than anything. There are lots of promising young players out there, but not enough of them that do things like that. Obviously he was overambitious with the attempt, but I think that was a result of the confidence he was feeling and that confidence served him well on many other plays. If he had not got up quickly from that and won the ball I would have been upset with him. It was a better idea to bring that ball down and knock it back or put it back in the box rather than try the bike. He realized it and made a quick decision to make up for it. There were a couple times in the game when Jones, Dempsey and Altidore went down, stopped chasing the play, then yelled at the ref and that made me furious.
I'm not sure what a good "next step" for Agudelo would be. Given his age and lack of experience, I think most would agree that he should stay in MLS for at least 1-2 more years. I definitely think he should. He needs more games against professional competition. Beyond that, he might have a dilemma. Going to a big team right away would be risky. We've seen how guys like Carlos Vela, Jozy Altidore, and Giovanni Dos Santos have watched their careers stall on the bench of gigantic clubs. It's just so hard to crack the lineup for that kind of team. You really can't afford to make any mistakes or learn on the fly. I think the best thing for Agudelo might be to join a mid-table team in an elite league. Not a relegation struggler, but a team that doesn't have the budget to constantly re-shuffle its deck. A club like Sunderland, Newcastle, Bolton, Stoke, Fulham, or West Ham would be about right. I think he could get minutes for those teams. If he performed well, it would earn the respect of the bigger clubs.
After another season or two of developing in MLS, I'd like to see him go to a Mallorca or Santander type (ala Gio Dos Santos) team in La Liga. I just hope he isn't forced out so the league can make a profit off of him while he's still hot...
I agree, a good la liga side where he can get some PT would be nice. More realistically a lower level side though is what he'd look at. But spain should be the place to hone his skills, he is a better fit IMO for spain then any other country.