So Bruce starts Victorine at right back? That is like starting Meola at forward. Sure, I can see Bruce's reasoning. Sasha is big, Sasha has some ball skills and gets forward. The reality is Sasha had no idea what he was doing in defense. When he looked good he wasn't acting as a defender. He would've been punished by a real team instead of a bunch of boys. This experiment has ended. Thank you.
I'm willing to bet that BA wanted to look at certain players and juggled the lineup so that he could see most, if not all, of them on the field. Victorine played D as well as anyone else last night, and of course the goal was nice, too. Last but not least, I dare say BA knew the team he was going to be facing. If he wanted a 12-0 route he could've called in the WC squad, but what would be the point?
Sasha was constantly out of position and seemed very uncomfortable doing any marking in the rare instances that El Salvador pushed him into it. The most vivid example was when Mathis pushed all the way back on the right side and was double teamed. Clint looked for every available outlet and the pass back to Victorine should have been an open outlet. Instead Victorine runs up the field and trys to provide the midfield outlet. Mathis looses the ball out of bounds which was the best option at that point. With Sasha abandoning his post and the only outlet, a turnover would likely have resulted in a goal. Mathis yells at him after the play and points out his position. You can't blame Victorine for this to much. He doesn't know the position, but given his terrrible positioning and lack of even a basic understanding of defense I look at this as a failed experiment. What does the pulse of BigSoccer say?
It would seem that Bruce sees in Sasha: Tony Sanneh Part Deux. Namely, a forward/middie who throughout his career will continue to drift backward positionwise until he becomes a defender. In actuality, while it's a long-term project I like where Bruce is going with this one. Sasha has size and ball skill but no difference making qualities that would make him a truly prolific attacking player. If he can learn to defend he could turn into something more valuable. However, I still think Klein is a better candidate for this conversion than Sasha.
//Tony Sanneh Part Deux.// Exactly. Hey, I was as surprised as anyone, especially since Bruce had actual defenders on the roster. But credit Bruce for doing something I'll bet nobody saw coming, and picking a low-risk setting in which to do it. As many have already said, I have a hard time seeing Sasha (a player I generally like) making the team at any other position given his competition. I guess you never know. Didn't Victorine run the midfield at UCLA when he was there? I can't remember.
I saw it coming, although I figured it would be on the left. I could produce a link if necessary. I think he still has signifcant work to do, but I think it's far too early to say it's a failure. For those who say he looked uncomfortable one-on-one , I ask, did anyone turn the corner on him? Or ask Steve Ralston what he thinks of his one-on-one defense, after the war they put on in the MLS Cup, where Sasha got the better of it (while playing a de facto left back, i might add). I thought he played decent defense, although he was out of position from time to time. I don't recall him being beaten one on one after the first ten minutes, in which every defender looked disorganized and uncomfortable. He also had a few bad touches and a few poor distributions out of the back. But he also had a number of really good passes out of the back as well. It is an experiment, and the results were decent defense and quite good offense. That will earn him more looks, I think.
I don't think Sasha is National Team material. He's to slow and his ball skills are average. His shot is soft. The only thing he's got going for himself is his size and that he's versitile. He plays defense as well as offense. The right back position could be good for him in the long run, but he'll need to make up for his lack of speed with good vision. I think he earned another call up for Bruce, so we'll just wait and see how this works out.
I'm a fan of the of Victorine and the Galaxy. I agree that Sasha won't ever break into the side in the midfield or at forward, but I think his positioning is so bad that if this experiment continues it will be a long and critical one. Maybe I'll eat my words and Sasha will be brilliant for the Nats 2006. It took Sanneh that long. But I don't think so.
As far as I've seen Sasha does not play as a left-back for the galaxy, defacto or otherwise. He plays as a left sided defensive midfielder, which is a different kettle of fish. For example, a DML would be correct in making a run to provide a midfield outlet in the play Clint yelled at him about. In that formation it would be the left-most central defenders job to provide the safe pass back. So Sasha was playing out of possition on the opposite side of the field. It was, as far as I know, absolutely the first time he has played right back at the senior level. Given that, and the one week training camp he had to prepare for it, I would give his possitioning a B. Maybe it was more like a C- on an absolute scale that doesn't take his unfamiliarity with the possition into account. Possitioning is (to a point at least) a learned skill not an inherent ability so I don't see any reason he couldn't show serious improvement over time. He's clearly versitile. Now he still may or may not be fast enough for the possition. It's hard to judge on a wet field playing against an El Salvadorian 4H club. His speed has never struck me much one way or another in the MLS games I've seen him play. He never got turned, had decent clearences, made good passes and runs to support the attack and scored a goal. Yet the experiment has ended? What would he have to do to earn another look? Morph into Roberto Carlos?
The Bruce is making an early error by not putting Klein in as the right back. Let Klein spend four years learning how to defend, at least he's faster than Victorine.
we are so blessed that you don't coach !! assessing talent is best left to those that are qualified to assess talent.
You're right. I would've benched Agoos long before the game against Poland. Arena has been the best coach of the Nats so far, but he's hardly infallible. Own Goal Agoos almost cost us a chance at the second round, and even Hellen Keller could see that he was f#$%ing us. Mathis would have started along with Donovan against Germany also in my world. Arena has time to play around, but I'm surprised that he hasn't seen that Victorine's 'success' against El Salvador won't turn into effectiveness against real teams.
Victorine plays outside mid in a 3-5-2 for LA. That is the closest thing to an outside back in a 4-4-2. So this is only a small change. All of these freindlies are to see what people can do, so give Arena a chance to sort things out. Oh yeah, and remember that Sanneh had never played outside back til Arena moved him there for the USA. Good players can play more than one position.