For those smaller teams the fan base is passionate but small and very local. You just need to live an hour away from the field and nobody even recognizes you.
Oh, that answer isn't that hard. They said it on In Soccer We Trust recently. "If you don't guard, you won't play." There are very few players good enough to not defend. For a ton of these players, they simply don't do the off ball work. Not all of them. Some of them are athleticism holes, or inability to read the game, or whatever. But Thomas Roberts? I'd bet a million to one that's about defending.
I blame the all touch video crowd for this misunderstanding. Too often we see fans gets juiced over short highlight videos....the game is 90 minutes. Most of the game is played without the ball.........
Sure, but it is also just every fan in every sport. Offense over defense, on ball over off ball. It's a natural tendency.
Sure, off ball play gets underrated. Technically speaking, a good majority of the game takes place with you on the ball or even around it. That said, your highest importance moments, generally speaking, are what you do on or around the ball. A highlight video can tell a good story for certain positions closer to either goal - like keeper and centre forward - because it's a game that's so low scoring. If you do a few major things, you ultimately were a plus. And for the position in between, your moments around the ball are going to tell most of the story, just not nearly all. You may not be getting around well enough. But if you are efficient on both o & d, you may well have made up the gap. BTW, nobody should be conflating every touch and highlight videos. These are two very different things. One tells you the good that is naturally going to make everybody appear attractive. The other gives you numerous snapshots of good and bad that you can weigh. That's been a big service to having an adequate understanding of what took place for a player in a game you didn't watch. In addition, that's true for metrics. Their contribution to the sport shouldn't be poo-pooed. Biased people love to summarily dismiss them to maintain their narrative. They clearly have their uses by now. Accept that, or get left behind with the dodos.
Good test for our young players prior to the World Cup. Final prep against some of the world's best 💪The #U20MYNT will face off against France, England & Serbia U-21 in their final training camp before the U-20 @FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/DNuX2FUeDi— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) March 21, 2023
I missed this news. Really intriguing prospect. US U17 captain at the last U17 CONCACAF Championships. Inter Miami CF Academy 🤝Inter Miami CF II Inter Miami CF II has signed Tyler Hall to a professional MLS Next Pro contract. Congrats, Tyler! 💗🖤Read more about it here: https://t.co/wsVrT5Q8wS pic.twitter.com/VjvrSHSIKO— Inter Miami CF II (@Intermiamicfii) March 21, 2023
US U20s played France U20s in a friendly yesterday. This game was a bit of a wake up call. Even with some of our fringe USMNTers like Slonina, Paredes, Gomez, Aaronson...............France won 4-0. A good wake-up call and learning experience as we approach the World Cup. Luna of RSL missed a PK, and in general also had a tough day. The CBs didn't cover themselves in glory. But hell, its France. The best of the best. Obed Vargas of Seattle came on as a 2nd half sub. Good to get him back into the fold. Other subs included Michael Halliday or Orlando and Darren Yapi of Colorado. Your #U20MYNT starting XI vs. 🇫🇷💻 ≫ https://t.co/6GulwMDs5M pic.twitter.com/2xcMkxcPMc— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) March 22, 2023
Good win for the U19s. Oregel plays for the Fire. Osundina for Orange County. Neri is at Athletico Madrid. Has a good record of scoring for USYNTs. FINAL:#U19MYNT Friendly🇦🇷 ARG 1 - 3 USA 🇺🇸⚽️ 12’ - Sergio Oregel⚽️ 30’ - Korede Osundina⚽️ 59’ - Rodrigo Neri pic.twitter.com/LW4uFNLpzo— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) March 24, 2023
week 4: 30 YNT eligible players with over 70 minutes through the first four weeks plus CCL young Americans in #MLS week 4 pic.twitter.com/zOBaf1qth1— Justin Moran (@kickswish) March 23, 2023 young Americans in the season so far.excluded players with < 70 minutes.both #MLS and #CCL included: pic.twitter.com/xtL3nTKucb— Justin Moran (@kickswish) March 24, 2023
Pretty dreck-ish game in Portland overall but 👀on this PTFC young'un Tega Ikoba, who got some #YPPOTW dap after scoring his debut MLS goal last week...https://t.co/5DkblV00Lq pic.twitter.com/w2rqB8eM7W— Charles Boehm (@cboehm) March 25, 2023
Tune in for Noah Cobb for Atlanta United tonight. I’m excited to see what he can do at this level. He’s been a missed prospect at the u20 level and I’ve been pushing that he needs more consideration.
New England Revolution starting three homegrown, teenage midfielders:🇺🇸 Noel Buck (17)🇺🇸 Esmir Bajraktarevic (17)🇺🇸 Jack Panayotou (18)All three have repped US youth national teams. Bruce Arena calling on the kids against D.C. United. pic.twitter.com/rrcixSUMZo— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) March 25, 2023
What is the wake-up call? The U20s had also beaten France in a recent WC. You win some, you lose some. And this was just a friendly.
Aiden Morris is having a good game for Columbus. Noah Cobb has definitely held his own so far. Definitely a ball playing center back. Miguel Berry is USL level. Schulte looks like a good shot stopper but he needs to be more careful in his passing. Gutman is having a nightmare game.
To be fair to Noah Cobb, I only blame him for one of the 5 goals scored against tonight, whereas, the blame for Atlanta falls on the midfield and attack which just decided not to show up tonight and allowed Columbus to attack with more freedom than Grenada gave us last night. Hard night for a seventeen year old when your entire team just decided to just a giant dump on this game.
17 year old Noel Buck with the 88th minute game winning goal for the Revs NOEL BUCK 🇺🇸🏴(2005) WITH A GREAT GOAL TO TAKE THE LEAD!!! THAT'S HIS SECOND MLS GOAL IN 12 APPEARANCES!!!pic.twitter.com/VAdDPIucfy— Football Report (@FootballReprt) March 26, 2023 Aidan Morris also has a goal today Aidan Morris has been terrific to start the season for Columbus. He looks more and more like the player people hoped he would be before his ACL tear. Really like what I’m seeing from him as a d-mid. Opens the scoring tonight vs Atlanta pic.twitter.com/3SarFUbQQH— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) March 26, 2023 Brian Gutierrez assist on the game winning goal for Chicago Javi Casas and Brian Gutiérrez combined to create the goal for Kei Kamara. Javi and Guti’s combined age equals the age of Kamara. #cf97 #vamosfire— Alex Calabrese (@amcalabrese12) March 26, 2023 Great goal by Kamari but do not sleep on Brian Gutierrez. Playing the 10, and doing it well for Chicago https://t.co/OiBOg91rvk— Paul Harvey (@Thundering165) March 26, 2023
Max Arfsten was with Quakes 2 in MLS Next Pro last season, drafted by Columbus, just scored host first goal in MLS That's 6️⃣ for #Crew96Max Arfsten scores on his MLS debut! pic.twitter.com/Wa3n880usz— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 26, 2023 USL content Blaine Ferri out here with some of the nastiest footwork you’re gonna see for @FCTulsa pic.twitter.com/2ZDHgxlQ6j— John Morrissey (@USLTactics) March 26, 2023