Para el director técnico de Ecuador Reinaldo Rueda, sin embargo, hubo argumentos y razones de sobra, y en diálogo con FutbolMLS.com, expresó que se trataba de una oportunidad única para acercarlo a la selección y conocerlo más, ya que confía en que en un tiempo pueda vestir la “Tricolor” regularmente. “Yo creo que analicé todos los factores”, expresó Rueda. “ Saber que es un jugador que todavía no ha hecho proceso de selección nacional sub-20 por uno u otro factor, e incluso conversé con el profesor Sixto Vizuete [director técnico de la selección sub-20 de Ecuador], no quiero irrespetar el orden de las cosas, pero también es la distinción a un jovencito que viene hace tres semanas siendo la sensación [en la MLS], siendo distinguido como Jugador de la Semana, siendo distinguido porque está haciendo goles y está haciendo pases gol, y creía yo que era injusto que estando Ecuador en Toronto no acercarlo, no conocerlo”, agregó. El nombre Joao Plata no es para nada desconocido en la lista de jugadores bajo observación de Rueda. El seleccionador colombiano, ex DT de Honduras en el Mundial de Sudáfrica, aseguró haberlo observado desde sus días en Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito, mucho antes de venir a la MLS. “Lo vi a la distancia en la Liga Deportiva [de Quito] cuando el profesor [Edgardo] Bauza [DT de Liga] lo colocó algunos minutos en algunos juegos”, aseguró Rueda, quien además añadió que es un jugador que invita a soñar. “Yo soy muy soñador, y digo [que] dentro de seis meses o un año me va a salvar la patria…, osea que lo quiero acercar ahora, dentro de seis meses o un año que haya madurado o jugado más partidos…, lo convoco a un partido en Quito y seguro que me va a aportar mucho, y eso es lo que uno hace proyectar hacia el futuro, y ojalá que él corresponda tremendo articulo en MLSsoccer.com quien lo ha visto jugar - de los miembros de este foro?
Thats is the only coherent thing I see here. But if Vizuete doesn't call him up, it has to be for a reason. Still, I have no faith in him (Rueda) whatsoever.
"me va a salvar la patria". And he played him for probably 5 minutes, if that, in the game against Canada.
buena forma de llamar la atencion hacia el jugador (ahora esta en el mapa y boca de muchos) ninguno aca lo conociamos, hasta que lego la sele a toronto
Joao Plata's MLS team Real Salt Lake is in the playoffs vs. Galaxy Sunday Nov. 3, 2013 at 3pm ET (6pm PT) Plata has had a great 2013 season thus far with MLS's Real Salt Lake
No one has updated this so I figure I'll do it. Real Salt Lake's season just begun and Joao is off to a hot start scoring two goals and an assist in the first two games of the season. Due to his form and injuries to other forwards he will most likely remain a starter and a key contributor. His game winner in the season opener. Ignore the commentators, better angles show he's 100% onside. Goal against San Jose Earthquakes. Hilariously he scores while the opposing team's coach is being interviewed. I'll keep you guys updated.
Apparently, Joao Plata's problem was that he looked like the real deal in Liga de Quito's practices but he would never show up during the games. If he can start doing this consistently, I would like to see him make a return to any Ecuadorian team. He definitely has the talent to be an interesting player.
Plata missed three games due to a hamstring injury but is finally back to 100% health. In his first two starts since returning he has scored 3 goals.
Joao Plata is off to his best start ever. He has 5 goals in 5 starts for 2014. Hopefully he stays consistent and maybe, if lucky, Rueda will call him up to the NT for the last friendly. He is a short striker at 5'2 compared to Chucho Benitez who was 5'5 and don't know if Rueda will consider him because of his height. Joao Plata 5'2 Real Salt Lake (USA) http://www.espnfc.com/player/_/id/150848/joao-plata-cotera?cc=5901 Short players in Europe: Maxi Moralez 5' 3 Atalanta (Argentina) former Malaga FC (Spain) http://www.espnfc.com/player/_/id/70624/maximiliano-moralez?cc=5901 Diego Buonanotte 5'4 Malaga FC (Spain) http://www.espnfc.com/player/_/id/121123/diego-rende-mario-buonanotte?cc=5901 Lionel Messi 5'7 Barcelona FC (Spain) http://www.espnfc.com/player/_/id/45843/lionel-messi?cc=5901
I forgot to mention that in the Chicago game another Ecuadorian, Juan Luis Anangonó, also scored for his team Chicago Fire. So out of the five goals scored that game, three of them were scored by ecuadorians.
I saw a bit of Joao Plata's game yesterday and it was pretty good. I have not seen him play since last season and you can tell that he's matured and taken a step up in his career. The time to give him his opportunity is now though. I was never a big fan of Plata, but it's moments like these where you gotta give players a chance. You never know what they can offer in their best moment. He plays very close to the wing in Real Salt Late, but im pretty sure he can play the role of a mediapunta as well. What I did notice is that he has gain some considerable mass which I believe he needed to counter his lack of height. So there have been some improvements. Now we just gotta see it on the NT.
He deserves a shot. I can't think of any other forwards besides Enner that are scoring regularly in a foreign league. And MLS is not a bad league, especially in terms of physical demands which is where some of our guys lack.
I live in Salt Lake City and have seen a lot of his games. Fans love him here in Utah. Hopefully he keeps it up.
anyone know when the U-20 team comes back? I'm assuming pretty quickly because Vizuete is going to give the list of the NT is about a week or week and a half for the games we will be having here in the US. I'm assuming he will include players that only play in the Americas? At least I believe that would be the smart thing to do since everyone else is adapting to their new teams in Europe (Montero, Paredes, Corozo, Ramirez, Mercado, Felipe). From what I heard we have a pair of games in September and another pair in October. I'd use the October dates to call up a few guys from Europe (if possible) and use the September date to start giving the guys from the campeonato an opportunity along with people from Argentina (Cazares, possibly Jairo Velez Cedeno if it doesn't interrupt his flow on his club team), of course the guys in Mexico, and I'd also include Joao Plata and Minda who play here in the US. Of course I'm not a fan of Minda being on the NT long term but we're gonna need to mix a bit of experienced guys into this list so the younger/newer players don't freak out in these games.