Beast..................... He was a beast physically 5 years ago. One of FCD's many recruits from their El Paso affiliate. If you want to talk about a crazy youth team: The front line of FCD El Paso was Ricardo Pepi and Santiago Munoz (Mexican youth international at Santos Laguna). Ricardo also has been at both US and Mexico youth camps, but chose the US for the U17 cycle. FCD originally signed him to their USL reserve team, North Texas. He scored 9 goals in 12 games as a 16 year old and FCD said "enough of that." So he's now fully part of their first team.
I saw him in last night's game and he was just shrugging aside grown men with ease an awful lot. The book on a lot of young players is to get physical with them. Not gonna work with this kid. He doesn't just stand up to contact, he initiates it. He also missed a couple open passes he should have made, missed a chance he should have finished, made some less than dangerous runs. Like I said, he looked raw, but that much skill and strength with finishing ability impressed me. I hope this one pans out.
That pull back in the open field to carom a shot off the defender who had gotten in behind was uncharacteristic. It was his forte for the reserves. He hasn't played much lately & has to build confidence at that level. I expect him to hit those at least. Luchi should have gained confidence in him last night as Pepi did in himself over the course of the appearance. Started seeing the game much quicker and clearer. Time to just take the lumps to be much better on the other side. Jara's under-impressed & is only going downhill seemingly at his age. Suspect signing. Pepi should be playing at his preferring cf spot. At least last night he was at wing-fw where he could cut in, instead of right where he's a crosser. I think the FO should give Luchi job security like Philly did w/ Curtin to just go full speed ahead w/ the project. Time for Pepi, Reynolds, & Ferreira starting in the a-team. Don't be fickle w/ them. Sealy, Roberts, Tessmann, Servania, etc.; should be key players off the bench & in rotations. Dallas' vets aren't going to win them anything meaningful now or in the future. They are the hole-pluggers.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/09/08/orlando-city-sc-forward-daryl-dike-voted-mls-player-month NEW YORK (Wednesday, September 9, 2020) – Orlando City SC forward Daryl Dike was voted the MLS Player of the Month by members of the media for the month of August of the 2020 MLS season. Dike finished August with three goals and two assists in three matches played, as his five combined goals and assists tied for the most in the month. The No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft, Dike has totaled three goals and three assists across five matches played this season. Orlando sits fourth in the Eastern Conference standings with 14 points (4-2-4 overall record).
Dallas has forwards. They don't have any good LW. Pepi playing there all year can only help him grow as a player.
He can't stay healthy. And yeah I guess he's fine but Pepi should be their priority. Let him flip wings and occasionally the CF spot but he needs to start.
This is what I like most about 5 subs. They should keep international soccer at 3 subs (I remember quite clearly when it was only 2 subs) but I really hope they make it permanent for club soccer.
The problem with 5 subs is the mega clubs with ridiculously deep benches. Man City already has an unbelievable team, now they get to go to that bench 5 times vs Fulham? Ugly. It would certainly help FCD get minutes for their kids but they're the minority and while the salary cap in MLS mitigates most of the of the disparity between clubs that isn't true for most leagues and even true for the spenders in MLS versus the cheapskates.
Yeah, but for every Man City with a gazillion dollar budget, there are dozens of clubs that can only scrape by if they are able to develop and sell talent they produce. The more opportunities they can give to their young guys the better off they'll be in that regard. If they've got a given game under control, that's when they can afford to give less experienced players some minutes. Further, poorer clubs with less quality depth really suffer when they have a few key players get injured. If they can prepare more depth ahead of time then they'll be better able to cope with injury depletion when it happens. It might actually work out better for the smaller clubs if managed well (and if they actually have the ability to develop quality players for their given level--see Portland Timbers compared to FC Dallas, for example).
In my opinion, the 5 subs rule helps the smaller team. Smaller teams playing richer teams generally stay in games, not because their starting 11 can hang in a ball-playing exercise, but by busting their tail all around the field. If that small team now knows that it can sub 5 guys while having those starters haul ass all game, all the better. Quite often we see a team hang tough for 70 minutes before their legs just gas out and they can't make enough subs to hold on to a result. To me, this helps them.
Yup. He's out with a hamstring. And Mosquera is decent, but has never really grown into an MLS starter. I expect FCD to go out and do something about the left wing in the next transfer window. This happens with a lot of young players. When you first break into a first team, get minutes when you can. Even if its slightly out of position. If there's an opportunity; take it. For now if its on the wing for Pepi, grab it. Do the best you can. It sounds like one of their forwards, Ondrasek, is leaving. So Pepi moves one rung up the #9 ladder.
Another slate of games tonight. Too much soccer to watch so I am going to make my summary for yesterday super short. Big winners: Cole Bassett - Goal and assist Sam Vines - LB that I have been very down on but has put together two good games in a row. Nice run for a goal [even better pass]. Paredes - Loses 2-0, but the 17 year old was the centerpiece of the 1st half attack at ACM and looked the part. It wasn't all perfect but the kid has real talent and may already be the best passer on the team. [Although DC United sets the bar pretty low]. Bryan Reynolds - FC Dallas has their replacement for Cannon at RB. The speed is ridiculous and he is not a small kid. Honorable mention to Tessmann who finally played a decent game since the return. Sands - Played another fantastic game. He did pick up his 5th yellow... so he will be sitting the next one out and FC Cincy isn't the toughest opponent... but I love watching this kid break up plays in the midfield. Perhaps more importantly, I feel really confident that he won't make the wrong pass that leads to a counter and that is so important for a 6. Aaronson, Fontana and Real - Aside from Mueller, Aaronson may be the most improved young attacker to go along with his crazy talent. He is getting so much calmer on the ball in the final 3rd. Real needs to be the LB while Wagner is injured as Mbaizo can't use his left foot and appears scared to take players on one-v-one. He had his 1st goal in the last game and I expect more minutes in the near future. Fontana comes off the bench after Wooten unimpresses. He proceeds to score a brace to win it. Mueller - What can I say? The guy has been a beast this year. His passes have been so impressive and he had another assist to win it against Miami. Another honorable mention to Bello and Vazquez for scoring in losses.
Good post. Bassett looks to have rebounded from a poor(ish) last 12 months. Still can be an interesting prospect. sands is just a really solid soccer player. Hopefully gets sold soon. Aaronson continues to have 2-3 moments per match that will just make you think he’s destined for champions league soccer. Still needs more refinement tactically. Going to buy some more bello stock. He’s beginning to show why Europe’s elite were looking at him. Still just 18. tonight- busio is a deep playmaker. That’s his spot. And he’s really really good at it. Serie a inbound
It is really a testament to just how talented he is with respect to skill and mental aptitude to be able to switch to the 6 and excel immediately.... especially given his age. Just unreal. He is already one of the best CDMs in the MLS IMO.
I was never a believer in Busio in the many years (it feels like half a decade already!) he's been around MLS and YNTs... until now.
I can’t even keep track of all the dudes worthy of this thread, much less watch them all. Thank God for all the comp videos.
Plenty of time for these younger players to mature in time for Qualifiers. #usmnt GM Brian McBride says Nations League semi and final is on for June 2021. Gold Cup is 710 -8/1 of next year. Also spoke of WC qualifying maybe starting in September of 2021.— Jeff Carlisle (@JeffreyCarlisle) September 12, 2020
2021 is incredibly congested. We'll also perhaps have the Olympics and the U20 World Cup (should we qualify for those events). The same pool of player is eligible for the Olympics, so it'll actually be a U24 event. Basically a huge portion of the pool is also eligible for the Olympics (Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, Dest, Sargent, Robinson, the list goes on). We're unlikely to be able to send players to both the Olympics and the Gold Cup. Hell..................Reyna is eligible for all three events. So are players like Llanez, de la Fuente, Indiana Vasilev. I wonder if there's ever been a youth player getting minutes in the Premier League that's discussed as little as Indiana Vasilev. 2021 will be an exercise in pool management. There are going to be a lot of players that will get an opportunity to show their stuff before WCQing starts in the fall.
If you watched the game you would know that Alvarez plays for Mexico and that he considers himself Mexican. The announcers kept repeating it over and over again. They even went into how "mexican" Araujo is but that he is an American. Funny... Alvarez was also born here. Now, I am not sure how much of that was just the announcers' opinion... but I am positive that Alvarez defected from the US Youth Teams to play for Mexico's Youth Teams. And I am pretty sure he wants to play for Mexico. That has not always worked out well for Dual US/Mexico players but at this point I don't consider Alvarez a US Prospect. Araujo is though and the dude is a pretty great defender at a young age and serves some good crosses into the box. I am pretty high on him.