Niko is really one for the future. [By the way, son of former USYNT coach Shaun Tsakiris.] He wasn't released for the ongoing U20 camp/tournament, so we were pretty sure he was going to play a lot this week. I mean, Niko was 16 when the season started. Only turned 17 a few months ago. Its not some sort of crime that he's only played ~500 minutes for the first team. His playing time has been ramping up. He was the youngest member of our U20 CONCACAF Championships team. He missed a number of first team games while at that event. Almost a month in preparation and then the event itself. Just as a comparison, Niko Tsakiris is a year younger than Quinn Sullivan of Philly. He's a full two years younger than Jack McGlynn, Caden Clark, Diego Luna, and players we think of as youngsters just breaking thru. His playing time is fine...................
I said based on the Quakes season being over einstein. They have had single digit probability of making the playoffs since May. And we know in MLS those final playoff spots are pretty much sacrificial lambs. I can tell you as a Quakes fan that in recent history when do make the playoffs it's to go on the road for one game only to be crushed 5-0 by the Whitecaps or whatever. Do you know what the odds of making the playoffs are when the odds are in the single digits? They're in the single digits. That's really really bad odds, in case you are not a statistics whiz. Their season has been over for four months. (Actually it was over after like 4-5 games, but trying to use an objective measure here.) And yet Tsakiris often gets 0 minutes, or 20 minutes at the end of games. You have no idea how much better he would be adjusted to the MLS level by now if he was playing consistently. But of course that won't keep you from giving your reasonable take which weirdly is always whatever is the status quo.
Could Tsakiris approach starting with a different mentality than getting 20 minutes at the end of some already decided game? I guess we'll never know! Niko Tsakiris on his pass to Cristian Espinoza that got the San Jose Earthquakes a penalty,” As a number 10 and it being my first start, you always want to create as much as you can, the opportunity came and it felt right.” #Quakes74 #MLS pic.twitter.com/Zcdoq1DkDI— Favian Renkel (@FavianRenkel) September 26, 2022
Shrug. Tsakiris has actually played the same MLS minutes as Quinn Sullivan. Sullivan is older and better. How many 2005s have played in MLS this season, and how many have played more minutes than Tsakiris? I think to the second part is Obed Vargas. That's it. Anyway, you can call it realism if you want. As if that's an insult. He was 16 when the year started, he's been gone a lot with the U20s (the April camp, June/July at the CONCACAF Championships) and his playing time is now increasing.
I have made two comments about this, both of which you have read. Both of them say far less about Tsakiris' abilities and more about the Quakes season having been over for months. And yet both times you completely ignore this aspect of what I'm saying. Let me lay out for you the primary difference between Tsakiris and Quinn Sullivan: Niko Tsakiris plays for San Jose who last played a meaningful game in May Quinn Sullivan plays for Philadelphia who are contending for multiple trophies One of the two worst teams in MLS vs one of the two best teams in MLS. Is the other worst team, DC United, giving more minutes to young players than the other best team, LAFC? Why would that be?? Think mcfly think... Frankly the Quakes should be playing guys who are nowhere near as good as Tsakiris as well (Bouda, Haji etc, and at least giving minutes to guys like Walls, maybe even a Media debut in the final game), just to see what they have for next season when they play games that actually matter again. On the other hand no reasonable non-youth-focused person could even blame Curtin if he barely played Sullivan while going on to win Supporters Shield or MLS Cup. But keep ignoring that realism, obviously if you ignore the context, it will magically not matter...
Gutierrez Chicago Fire and Colombia int'l Jhon Duran (18) now has 8g/3a in ~1250 mins. At 18 years old. In a new league/country. Not long for MLS. Big talent.(oh by the way, another assist for USYNT Brian Gutierrez there, who now has 2g/7a in ~1550 mins) pic.twitter.com/8soKPCVb4a— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) October 2, 2022 Brian Gutierrez (US U-20 who's having a masterclass performance as Chicago's No. 10 tonight) is gonna be way up there, too.Neither guy was getting much time this year when voting took place. pic.twitter.com/DYUPmXdsZN— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) October 2, 2022 A brace for Duran, 1g/2a for Gutierrez.Not the greatest moment from Celentano! pic.twitter.com/xZ6V8w3Txh— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) October 2, 2022
Tsakiris starts again, looks good again, Quakes win 2-0... no one could have predicted such a thing would happen and always looking to push it forward. He has been secure with the ball, composed and has shown up in good spots in final third. Two good strikes that were unfortunately blocked. He is making a great case to have a much bigger role next season.— Marcus Chairez (@chai_asc) October 2, 2022 Tsakiris really good tonight for #quakes74 excited to see what Luchi can get out of him next year— David Gass (@empiregass) October 2, 2022 Tsakiris is WAY too calm on the ball for a 17 year old. He looks like he’s been playing professionally for 10 years. Hopefully San Jose gives him good minutes next season #USYNT— USMNTrev (@Eyesandvibes) October 2, 2022 I love Niko Tsakiris game man, glad he finally getting minutes now.Starting to see him grow too.— Jason🇺🇸🇸🇻 (@JasonAS07) October 2, 2022
Luca Sowinski Sowinski appears to be the third-youngest player in USL Championship history to record a hat-trick.1. Efrain Alvarez2. Jesus Ferreira3. Luca Sowinski4. Tyler Wolff— ChuckMe92 Soccer (@ChuckMe92Soccer) October 2, 2022 the goals 17' | @LucaSowinski scores his first professional goal to open the scoring!! GET IN. 👊0-1 | #INDvTUL pic.twitter.com/s6xnfzOKfG— FC Tulsa (@FCTulsa) October 1, 2022 2️⃣ 𝗚𝗢𝗔𝗟𝗦 in 2️⃣ 𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗦. @LucaSowinski with a brace tonight already! 💥#ForTulsa | #INDvTUL pic.twitter.com/PMeQb5jiZu— FC Tulsa (@FCTulsa) October 2, 2022 LUCA SOWINSKI. REMEMBER THAT NAME. 🔥#ForTulsa | #INDvTUL pic.twitter.com/rxfgUcZkye— FC Tulsa (@FCTulsa) October 2, 2022
Re: Tsakiris, can't underrate the speed of development with young players. I wasn't particularly impressed at the u20 level and now he's playing a lot more impressively at a higher one. Entirely possible he's just packed a lot of improvement into a very short time.
Yep. There's a reason why his age was noted. It also may be that Niko's a connector-type. Where a Paxten Aaronson is more like Reyna or Pulisic, Niko and a few others are more passing / spacing focused, making the right play, connecting, interplay type of players. Those guys can tend to look better the further up the ladder they go because they rely so much on competence around them. Which is all the more impressive he's doing it on the Quakes of all teams.
For those that watches the Quakes-Loons game last night, how much pressure did Minnesota put on Tsakiris when he was on the ball? Be interested to see how he performs against LAFC or RBNY.. Teams that like to press/pressure and deny their opponents time and space on the ball.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/who-were-the-best-young-player-performers-in-mls-week-33 Brian Gutiérrez “Guti” was Duran’s chief accomplice, assisting on both of his goals and netting one of his own in 20 devastating second-half minutes. Handed the keys to the Fire attack, the 19-year-old homegrown was excellent beyond his years as a central playmaker, playing three key passes and completing 69% of his passes overall as he slashed open the seams in Cincy’s porous defense. Like Durán, Gutiérrez also got a boost from international duty, in his case a promising stint with the US Under-20 national team at the Revelations Cup in Mexico City. He’s now up to 2g/7a on the season and if there were any doubts about who the Fire can build around in the long term, Saturday cleared those right up. Niko Tsakiris The Quakes executed quite an ambush indeed when Minnesota United visited PayPal Park, comprehensively outplaying the playoff chasers in a 2-0 win that is simply disastrous for the Loons. Tsakiris was a quiet cog in that upset, though watch the tape and you might use a different set of adjectives to describe his game. Still just 17, Tsakiris was given his first career MLS start in the rescheduled Cali Clasico last weekend, and despite the LA Galaxy’s 3-2 win at Stanford Stadium interim boss Alex Covelo was impressed enough to trot him out again when MNUFC hit town. The technical center mid showcased range, vision and the sort of natural comfort on the ball that remains rare among US-reared players. Tsakiris logged 59 touches and two key passes in 73 minutes with an 86% overall pass completion rate. Perhaps most strikingly, he truly seems to be a ‘360-degree’ player, by which I mean that he’s already cultivated levels of vision and awareness beyond his years as he works the engine room. This is a modern No. 8 blossoming in the midst of another woeful season in San Jose, and we suspect incoming head coach Luchi Gonzalez will make him a foundational piece in his rebuilding project next year.
Not a bad piece, but Boehm misses the important statistical indicators in evaluating Tsakiris's two starts. If you combine the two starts together and them average them together, it's pretty impressive. Tsakiris gives you .24 xG+xA per 90 -- which is basically what USMNT contender Eryk Williamson gives you per game. He's giving you 6 progressive passes and 8.5ish progressive carries per 90, which is really crazy. (To use Williamson as a convenient benchmark, Eryk gives teams 4.8 passes and 4.75 carries per 90 -- both around 75th percentile marks in MLS.) Go down the list of offensive categories, and Tsakiris's two games are really, really strong. Now, I cannot stress enough that it's only two games against, shall we say, less than defensively robust opposition. But the production is really strong and highly notable for a 17-year-old. He looks like a real blue-chip prospect.
10 RISING TALENTS FROM MLS NEXT PRO CHRIS BRADY, CHICAGO FIRE Position: GK Age: 18 Okay, I’m sneaking a bonus player onto this list. Chris Brady was, by far, the best goalkeeper in MLS Next Pro in 2022. It’s a little unfair that the Chicago Fire are selling a talented young goalkeeper to Chelsea and immediately reloading with another one, but it looks like that’s exactly what’s going to happen. Brady is a strong shot-stopper. Teams facing the Fire II scored just 56% of the goals they would expect to score against the average goalkeeper based on shots on target. That’s an insane figure. Brady isn’t perfect, but when it comes to the scoreline, nothing goalkeepers do matters nearly as much as their ability to keep the ball out of the back of the net. And based on this season, the 18-year-old is really good at that. With Gaga Slonina heading to Europe, Brady should get to stake his claim as an MLS starter next season. Unsurprisingly, European teams are already interested.
sounds like Chris Brady will be getting his first start EZRA HENDRICKSON CONFIRMS CHRIS BRADY WILL START THIS WEEKEND. #cf97 #usynt— Alex Calabrese (@amcalabrese12) October 5, 2022
More and more minutes is not automatically the best thing for a young player like Tsakiris. He's played plenty of soccer since he signed as a pro, and 500 MLS minutes sounds like a pretty good load for a kid who will still be 17 at the start of next season.
DC will start the kids Wayne Rooney says D.C. United homegrowns Ted Ku-DiPietro (20), Kristian Fletcher (17)and Matai Akinmboni (15) will start Sunday vs FC Cincinnati. #dcu #mls— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) October 7, 2022
Why are they starting Tsakiris when he’s only 17 and not as good as Quinn Sullivan Niko Tsakiris.He's just 17. 😅#VamosSJ | #DecisionDay pic.twitter.com/vCMhvMzMIw— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) October 9, 2022
A bunch of homegrown signings have been occurring the last couple of days. Wanna feel old? Charlotte has signed an '08. He was recently called up to the U16 national team. Achieving the dream 👑 pic.twitter.com/yhmS0mgJQj— Charlotte FC (@CharlotteFC) November 17, 2022
10 youngest signings in MLS history: Aside from Adu, all are from the last few years... other recent signings just missed the top ten list, Cincy signed Stiven Jimenez, "The 15-year-old is the youngest player in FCC history"... Someone said Alphonso Davies was the 3rd youngest signing when he was signed in 2016.
The French have the best collection of talent in the world. Here’s how their starting XI’s got their pro debuts..• Ligue 1 “B” teams or lower division first team (7)• Foreign first team (2)• Ligue 1 first team (1)• Foreign “B” team (1)This is why MLSNP and USL are key.— MLS Buzz (@MLS_Buzz) December 10, 2022 Hopefully we see more US prospects playing on lower division teams in the future... how many have we really had so far, Kobi Henry and now Josh Wynder... Diego Luna and maybe Jose Gallegos although they don't feel like the same level...