They say that Paulo Henrique Chagas de Lima might be the new Waldyr Pereira or Artur Antunes Coimbra. Brazil might have a new Manuel Francisco dos Santos coming up, also.
I love it how us fans are so desperate to have their own "chicharito" that they just hype up anyone with decent performance like agudelo. Theres only one javier hernandez, sorry usa.
Not to quibble or be a contradictory jerk, but depending upon the troll, usually some combination of fire, ice or acid is effective. http://books.google.com/books?id=xN...lient=opera#v=onepage&q="mind flayer"&f=false "the troll is the players' first introduction to a regenerating monster - a creature that's almost impossible to kill unless you've got fire handy".[22]
Your inner geek runneth deep. I have actually read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy as well as The Hobbit. That places me somewhere on the geek continuum I believe.
Great display of Agudelo's abilities in todays match. His development would suggest that he could take his poaching skills to all-action displays. His ability to get back into the midfield and distribute the ball was promising. He was giving Paraguay the biggest headache in square pass situations. I'm not sure about speed wise, but he knows how to use his body in a very Charlie Davies like way. His chip to Dempsey was something that I thought was pretty nice to see. Agudelo has made the case as the number one forward in the pool. Its a bit scary considering he has more international caps than club matches. Its sad that he may be forced into the international game so soon. Hopefully it does nothing but add to his development. Hopefully...
I am little wary of putting too much on Agudelo right now. OK, he's done well in his few games but so did Eddie Johnson and Jozy Altidore. I'd prefer if he was not called up for the Gold Cup so he can concentrate on his day job and learn the basics. He's 18 and played just 3-4 games for NY, he is not ready yet. Give him time, there is no need to rush him.
I think the way he is deployed for the Redbulls could impede his development. From what I have seen, he plays on the last defender while Henry drops into the hole to receive the ball. But he showed last night that he is capable of getting the ball, turning, and creating something with flair. There was a gap with Bradley/Jones/Edu sitting too deep but Agudelo had the soccer sense to find the ball.
If he does not go to the Gold Cup, then I assume he will be with the U-20's for the WYC or whatever it is called now. The comparisons to Johnson/Findley/insert fast striker here are really unfair. He is a different kind of player. I would compare him more to Dempsey at this point.
His skills are much different from Eddie & Jozy, he can actually keep the ball for more than 3 seconds.
Although Agudelo is still very ROUGH.... he brings something that no forward in the pool has. Confidence in his dribbling (anyone see that nutmeg cut between a back tracking/defending defenders legs?), holding which earned probably most of our fouls, and his ability to keep the ball to one side and guard with his body on the other. His other skills will get better, but just based on what he does in what I said above, he is already 'different' and IMO better then all our strikers.
Good article on Red Bull's plans for bringing Agudelo along. Interesting comments from Henry as well. http://www.newyorkredbulls.com/news/2011/03/red-bulls-wary-crown-agudelo-star-just-yet
I was fortunate to be able to attend the game in Nashville yesterday. A few thoughts after watching Juan Agudelo play in person: His possession is very purposeful - he seems to think a step ahead and he is pretty decisive about whether to hold up play or push forward with speed. When he pushes forward with speed he has some dribbling trickery but he is very utilitarian about using it - he doesn't seem to put moves on to put moves on - he is deliberate about applying a move to open and use a piece of space. This is a sign of maturity in a young attacking player, IMO. As might be expected for a young player, he could really benefit from adding some upper body strength. That being said, he uses his body well to shield the ball or hold position. He does a good job of checking back for the ball and distributing the ball laterally from a checked back position. His off the ball movement in attack need some attention and development. He is sometimes "hidden" behind defenders so he is not available for a pass. He hasn't really developed full awareness of how to make a run in order to move a defender and make space for another attacker. The timing of the off the ball runs he makes into an attacking position is not quite synchronized with the flow of attack - usually just a little early or late. Some or most of this could just be familiarity with the national team players and adjusting to the speed of the game at the international level. Sadly, it wasn't really possible to evaluate his finishing acumen because he never got a real clear shot that I recall. This was more a product of the style of defense Paraguay played (aimed to disrupt the run of play and inhibit offensive flow), as the U.S. only produced a handful of quality chances in the run of play all night. The Paraguay defensive strategy does produce a significant number of set pieces, from which the U.S. rarely threatened, and Juan didn't really have any opportunities on set pieces. This is probably one area where adding some upper body strength would really help Juan Agudelo be more of a factor. (The U.S. generally just looks much less dangerous without Gooch and Demerit on set pieces. This is one area where Ream is less effective than other central defense options, but that is another topic) In all, he appears at this stage to have the right mentality to continue to progress. Definitely one to watch.