While everyone wants to talk about Mathis' weight. I'd rather get to asking about Garcia. I've seen Garcia a few times, and I think he can play great soccer. He is probably top three in terms of defenders handling the ball. He can move with the ball and make the smart simple pass into space. Plus, he is a very rough player. Two years ago, when Mathis and Wolff were subbed in for Reyna and McBride, the US finally gained a swagger. I believe, that was the one event that changed American soccer. Those two players thought they were better then the Mexicans. They didn't look up to them. They knew they could play, and won the game. As a result, the team became a little cockier, and finally had a swagger. I think this was true in every position except for defense. The backline in my view, except for Hejduk, was largely too quiet. Garcia is a fiery player who will not back down, and I really like that in a player. Garcia definitely deserves longer, and more intense views on whether or not he can start on the nats as an outside or central back.
The only thing I know about Garcia is the few minutes I saw him play Saturday night. But if you want to talk about swagger...how about Chris Armas? He owns the defensive midfield and ain't nobody taking it away from him. If Garcia has the same attitude, welcome to the Nats Nick! I look forward to seeing more from Mr. Garcia.
The only concerns I have about him is that he could end up being a tweener like Suarez. He generally plays in the middle for KC, but I don't think he has the size to do it on the international level. Not sure if he's suited for right back, although I know it is not an unfamiliar position for him. He is a smart player with a definitive mean streak going for him. He's not afraid to go forward as well.
I've seen him mark many of the top MLS strikers out of games. He and Ruiz had a great go at it last season and he did pretty well until the last playoff game. He doesnt have the size for the middle, but he certainly has the speed to play on the outside of a 4-4-2. The drawback of that is that he doesnt have the offensive skills of Sanneh, Heyduk, Convey or Victorine to make the overlapping runs and cross the ball. In three seasons in KC he has, I believe, ONE point. An assisnt last season.
I liked what I saw from him defensively. But, defenders have to do more then just defend now. But what we seem to forget is defenders have to defend first, and attack second not the other way around. Actually, the future is now and it has been now for a long time . You can't be a wing back now without the ability to attack and attack well. The real future will have center backs getting into the flow of play more then just once or twice a game, and not just on set plays as they do now in the US. We might see that when McBride becomes a back for the national team in the future as I think he will. Funny, moving backs into the attack started in the 10 years years after the 4-4-2 first startered in the 60's. They did that to confuse as it is done today, but the real reason of doing that and using a lot of diagonal and other crossing runs was to screw up the man coverage that was used mostly at the time. Brazil went to zone so they would not have to chase all the time. Now everone uses a zone.
Oh, he'll do more than just defend, he'll pummel the crap out of an opponent if he pisses lil' Nicky off. That's what I love about him, though at the international level that's a bit risky. He's a fast, good marker who is also smart and tenacious. But it is true how he doesn't have the offensive skills that he should have at this level. He's still young, and potentially has two world cups ahead of him. Watching Klein and Nick running the sides for the nats would be a great site to see for us Wizards fans.
A tweener is a player, in Suarez' case who Arena thinks is not quite a central defender and not quite a left back in a 442. Maybe he would fit the left back in a three man backline but as we haven't played a 352 yet (well not exactly) a guy like Suarez is SOL. Possibly Garcia as well. You can also have tweeners between forward and midfield. In fact the US tends to have loads of these. You could call them withdrawn forwards.
how good is garcia? chance to be a star? cuz i got an autograph from him on my program n theres always ebay. btw i had no idea who he was.
Suarez would be a right back, not a left back. Regardless, I do see Suarez being good in a three man back line, though not as the center back. Garcia is a better defender and would be a better choice in a three man defense, in my opinion. I don't think Garcia is a tweener. I think he could be better going forward than Suarez if given the chance, though not as good as Victorine. Somebody brought up Convey and the fact Convey is better going forward, but Garcia certainly is a better defender. There is a trade off. What people seem to forget is that Gansler doesn't use Garcia in anything other than 3-5-2 as one of the three defenders (usually on the right). Sometimes KC has gone 4-4-2, but Garcia has played a center back role there as well. Garcia has really never been used as a right back in MLS or at Indiana (where he played d-mid and sweeper). Given 51 more caps and another 141 MLS games and Garcia will develope into a right back just as good as Gary Neville with Man United/England. BTW Neville had 237 league appearances with 3 goals and 52 caps with 0 goals going into 2002/03. Garcia has 96 with 0 goals and 1 cap and 0 goals. I think Garcia could score goals from the right back position for the U.S. He's been a stay at home defender with Kansas City, which hampers is scoring chances.
If we haven't seen Garcia on the wing at IU, KC, or for the US, how do you come to the conclusion that he's good at going forward? And how do you come to the conclusion that he could get as good on the wing as Neville if you haven't really seen him play there either? Strikes me as baseless speculation. At this point, I think the fair optimistic prediction could be that Garcia emerges as the consensus top defender in MLS (he's certainly not even that far yet) and gets into the back line rotation for the Nats. More than that, I don't think we have any evidence.
"I think Garcia could score goals from the right back position for the U.S. He's been a stay at home defender with Kansas City, which hampers is scoring chances." This will also hamper his chances of starting for the National team. I am assuming he can making long crosses from the back to the flank on the far side of the field. He has to be able to do that at least right after he wins a ball. A steady tuff defender that is not also good as an attacker is becomming obsolute. Coaches would rather convert mids and other attackers into backs like Arena is trying to do with Convey. Sanneh is a real success story doing this. As far as Garcia goes for seeing him only for a short while this once I like the way he plays defensively.
You mean "obsolete"? If so, I disagree. I wouldn't want a team with 3 or 4 defense-only players, but one or two is not a problem. --------- Nick Garcia is a natural central defender. He's got the hops, the speed, and technique to match anyone else the US has to offer. Anyone that watched the near 300 minute matchup between Nick and Luis in the 2000 playoffs will understand this. He, arguably, contained Ruiz better than any other back in MLS last season. Anyone that claims Nick is good or bad at moving forward is just making it up. Gansler's system in 2000-2001 made him a stay at home man marking right back, mostly as cover for Vermes. Last year he was finally given some freedom to move forward. He definitely played more last season over the halfway line than he did the previous two seasons combined, but Roberto Carlos he's not. It'll be interesting to see what Arena asks of him, and how he responds. As far as intangibles, you can't get any better than Nick. He won state high school championships, NCAA championships, and an MLS Cup as a rookie. He is a winner. He's also a very smart player, which in this day and age, is a definite plus.
I've been high on Garcia since watching him play for IU. I thought he had very solid skills for a DMid/defender. His rookie campaign with KC was terrific, and I think he's been quietly improving since that time. What it comes down to with Nick will be Arena's priorities in how he constructs the US defense. I agree with AndyMead that he's a solid central defender. IMO, only two CDefenders have been better since Nick entered the league - Pope and Bocanegra. Having said that, Arena clearly favors strength and size in his central defenders, which is why Califf has gotten serious looks since last year's Gold Cup. Garcia has to prove that he makes up for his lack of pure size with his will, athleticism, skill, and as Andy said - his smarts that may seperate him from every other young defender in the US pool. Right back? It could happen, but I think it's an uphill battle.
What I remember about Garcia is the Game 3 Play off game against LA. Little Fish is screaming down the right side with Garcia on his side. Fish cut's to his left, sending Garcia spinning to his left, then he cut's to his right, this time sending Garcia spinning to his right, then the Fish delivers a far post shot that beats Meola and Garcia. Classic stuff. There might be a clip at MLSNET somewhere. If Nick get's beat like this in the International Level, I don't see him playing much for Bruce. Look at Cherundulo? He hasn't played much since the Honduras ass-whipping we took in RFK during the qualifiers. He's not better than Califf, Bocanegra, or Pope inside, so yes, outside is his best hope.
I was talking about the Vodka Absolute "Gansler's system in 2000-2001 made him a stay at home man marking right back," Gansler has a system? What was his system in 1990 WC?
What I remember are the the LA @ KC games on May 4th & 18th that Ben referred to earlier. Garcia had Ruiz completely marked-out of both of those games. I think the only memorable thing Ruiz did in either game was when he ran into Bo Oshoniyi and spent 5 minutes laid-out on the field.
Nick's a very good MLS defender who will end up a fringe nat, probably because of his size. Suarez is taller, faster and his game translates better to the international level.
In my mind Garcia is a much more proven commodity than Suarez, who, by my reckoning anyway, hasn't proven squat except how to "get forward" and then send an errant pass over the end line. Also, Suarez is a hothead, making him problematic at the int'l level. He could grow out of this of course. Personally, I think Garcia is better than Califf, though I'm not sure this is saying much. Because of his size Garcia often gets overlooked, and this may continue throughout. I do remember the Ruiz goal; I saw the game. It was pretty bad as far as Nick goes. In his defense though, the Wizards were down late in a Game 3 and Garcia was essentially playing a one-man defense, and had been left exposed numerous times already. He was just trying to hang on at that point.
I didn't say it wasn't baseless speculation. It is my opinion, just as others feel he wouldn't be able to play right back because he wouldn't be good going forward. However, based on what I've seen from him and the technical and tactical skills he has, I think he can turn into a fine right back. I also said "given more games he will develope" into a good right back. Sure I'm assuming he could, but I feel he is good enough. That is how one forms an opinion. Why don't you try it once? I agree with Andy that attack only outside backs will not become the norm. It would be nice, but I don't see it happening. Salgado with Real Madrid can get forward, but he is a better defender. Since some people don't like Gary Neville - I think Garcia can turn into a player almost as good as Salgado given the time to develope. Because of his speed, technique, and smarts is why I feel Garcia can play right back. As I've explained above, I am "making it up". However, this is based on what I've seen from him as a player. I also don't think his "lack of height" would keep him from being a center back at the International level. I also think he has been a better central defender in MLS than Califf. Of course Clive Charles and Bruce Arena have thought otherwise. Do keep in mind Meola, Vermes, and Prideaux (in 2000 & 2001) helped out alot; along with Zavagnin in midfield.