The Town FC in MLS NEXT Pro

Should be entirely possible for Ochoa to suit up on the bench Saturday and then play Sunday. Though that won't work on weekends when they're in different cities.

 

Quakes 2 had Max Arfsten last season, he did pretty well for them, the Quakes didn’t sign him or draft him, Columbus did draft him, and Arfsten just made his MLS debut and scored his first MLS goal minutes later.

That's 6️⃣ for #Crew96

Max Arfsten scores on his MLS debut! pic.twitter.com/Wa3n880usz

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 26, 2023

 

Thanks! I was wondering what will the parking situation be like for a Quakes 2 game?

 

Free parking in the Audi lot.

 

Free innies in the Audi?

 

Weather much nicer than last night.

 

So imma report on what I saw from my eyes on my first Quakes 2 game. First of all, the environment was great. Also sat like 5 seats away from Nathan Scott so I cracked a joke and was like "Shouldn't you be in the game?". It was so great being able to see the players of the families be so happy to see their kids playing whether if it was a Quakes 2 layer or a los dos player. Also said hi to Salinas who walked past me. Also my favorite part was when I talked to Martin Kwende Jr.'s family and then when he scored it was so nice to see the family especially then uncle very happy. Very fun atmosphere if I wasn't in SoCal for college I would be at so many more games.

Bouda in this game looked like the best player on the field and was definitely on a different level than the others. Unfortunately smacked the post twice (I think?) and was also very good at getting by players and getting a great finish on his goal. Richmond was like how I expected which is really good at crossing and working that left flank. Although it really helped how compact the Galaxy backline was and how their right back kept leaving Richmond to get free runs down the line. Tingey did alright, did not have to face much defensively on his side so most of his game was connecting with whoever was in LW so I don't think he got tested much. The center backs played pretty well and were good in possession although Munie completely whiffed on a header that gave the Galaxy a golden opportunity that was beautifully saved by De La Cerda who had some amazing saves that game. Cilley like Tingey had an alright game but it seemed like Cilley had a really Cilley mistake (haha see what I did there.....) when he had a terrible giveaway that led to a one on goalie chance that De La Cerda saved. Cruz came on and was alright and to me was playing a lot better when he was with the other U17 players. Kwende played with some good pace and also looked like he has some good muscle on him, one to watch. Also, I was very impressed by Alex Chow. I had never seen him before and he has some skill and speed on him, very good player and if he wasn't already committed to Stanford he would be a player I would want to be one of the next potential HGs.I guess like Viviani gotta wait for him to finish college.

Overall great game and a great clean sheet from the team and a great showing. Not gonna lie the players had some horrendous tackles and fouls that if it were the other way around the crowd would be screaming for red cards. We definitely looked like the better team and is a great start to the MLS NP season.

 

Richmond’s pace and his ability to beat guys on the dribble are just average so he can be neutralized by a good defender. But he does have the advantage of being comfortable going either way, so he does keep guys guessing. And against mediocre defenses he can look like a terror.

I think the best way for him to take his game up a notch is to improve his shot. He’ll usually go for the cross but he’s a righty and can also cut in and shoot. Last year his shooting didn’t look great - usually off frame, but if he had a good far post curler that he can get on frame or could shoot with good pace he can make himself more dangerous and possibly get out of “good Q2 player / borderline Quakes 18” purgatory.

 

Yeah Cilley definitely had one of those really bad tackles that I saw. He does seem more like that b2b player.

Yeah I think if Viviani was available he would have been the HG signing and Tingey would have gotten a Q2 contract.

 

Yeah I was talking to my dad and we thought Richmond was "NCAA fast" but not anything amazing in the pro game. The best part of his game has always been the crossing he can do with both feet. I dont know how much faster a player can really get at his age but if he could get more speed and continue playing the way he is im sure he will get his chance from Luchi soon.

 

Well realistically he’s not going to get faster. That’s why I was thinking about what levers he has to get better and I thought of shooting. Maybe another thing is to get a little trickier with his dribbling to allow himself to buy a little space when he can’t get it with quickness. I'm thinking of a guy like Justin Meram, who is not fast but tricky with the ball and can shoot, and has nearly 20k MLS minutes and 51 goals and 51 assists.

 

Leitch stated last year before Quakes II started that their intention was to only use local players, with the exception of first-teamers getting Q2 time. They have done that, if you give them a generous definition of local. As long as they use this plan they don't have much need for MLSNP international slots.

 

Yeah, I look at it as dealing from a position of strength. Our academy is strong enough (+ local college prospects) that we don't necessarily need to draw intl players.

I do think we should be leveraging U22 slots more though, for the 1st team.

 

If we get international kids, wouldnt they green card by the time there on the first team?

Also would say a Mexican born kid, but lives in america count as an international?

 

Seems like we’d want to get them in the academy first and if they show well enough use intl slot for Q2 or HG signing.

 

I agree. I think we wasted time with Ochoa as a personal opinion. His intentions were never to be a US player, or even a long term Quakes solution. He wants to play for a Mexican Team. Which im cool with. But i dont want us to turnout stars and gold players only to lose them almost immedielty.

I hope Tingey and Cilley turnout for us though.

 

No international roster spot:

• US citizen (born in the US, born to US citizen, or naturalized)
• green card holder (permanent resident)
• aside from those two there's only some recently created exception for Canadian kids who come through MLS academies or something like that, basically they don't want the Canadian MLS teams to be at a disadvantage when trading the players they develop.

International roster spot:

• Anyone who isn't a US citizen and doesn't have a green card, Mexico is treated the same as any other non-US/Canada country

Usually MLS teams can get foreign players a green card within a year or two, so guys don't take up international roster spots for that long. We haven't seen it yet because MLS Next Pro is so new, but I would expect it to be the same... the MLS=2 teams probably even use the same lawyers as their MLS teams.