You may be right, but I think that's a pretty harsh assessment overall. For instance, I think he's already a very good and dangerous dribbler, probably his most obvious quality is his excellent movement with the ball -- such that teams do need to account for his dynamism. He's already 2nd on the team in fouls drawn and I suspect he will overtake Chicharito soon (and that's even with him going down a bit too easily frankly a lot of the time). He needs space, but that just means he needs to be smarter about when to take his runs. I think you're right, it'll depend on how aggressive he is about improving but I think some things that are off right now, like touch and finishing, are still signs of rust / confidence. Time will tell!
I usually think it takes 3 tries to win a big tournament. Maybe 2 in an optimistic scenario. I think it takes maybe a season to construct the core of a winning team, and another for the them to build experience to achieve in big situations. I also think teams don't usually win the whole thing their first attempt. So the key is to win it all when you achieve your peak (which could be too early; see LAFC who arguably had the quality they needed to win before they had the experience); great teams sustain the peak long enough to extend a dynasty. Galaxy rebuild 2008 -Cup Finalists '09 (attempt 1) -Supporters Shield, Playoffs '10 (attempt 2) -Supporters Shield, Champions '11 -Champions '12 -Playoffs '13 -Champions '14 You could chart similar paths with Seattle and TFC, whose build-up periods culminated at the same time causing them to meet repeatedly in finals. So I think the question is -- who else can we expect to peak around the time we do? Many of the traditional powers seem on the decline or are rebuilding; quite a few teams are totally new so we might have a fairly open pathway. Peaking MLS Cup contenders: Incumbents -Seattle -Columbus Upstarts -Arena's New England (hottest bet right now, IMO) -Orlando (seems like things are finally coming together for them and they have a talismanic, big game player in Nani) -Philly (though they've lost some big pieces, are they the same team?) -Colorado? (clearly a new day, but probably a year away from a serious run)
I haven't seen him juke out players with cross over moves or sharp cuts etc. - maybe he has and I wasn't paying attention. He also has trouble keeping the ball close on breakaways. But many times I've seen him get behind players and they foul because they can't keep up. Which is a testament to one of his greatest assets - his speed. I think his light weight actually earns him fouls - he looks to be about 150 lbs (normal for his age) and gets calls sometimes from getting knocked over easily. Of course getting stronger and shielding the ball would yield fouls as well.
I agree with you! This season is probably more "open" than most, given that if Seattle falter in the back-end of the season, it's kinda wide open for us in the West, as I don't think anyone else is clearly peaking right now. BUT -- Seattle has to falter, which is a big if. In a final, though, I'm not sure I see us overcoming Arena's New England, though I guess it could depend on where it's played. But a lot would also have to go right for us (Cabral finding form etc.)
Ahh...OK. If you feel down about the Galaxy now, you must have been downright depressed with them the last 5 years. I'm actually quite pleased to watch the Galaxy playing good soccer and dominating teams for the first time in years, with the exception of the odd game where Zlatan went into beast mode and made us look dominant. The fact that we don't have a backup to our killer goalscorer to go with our dominant team (and awesome GK, BTW), doesn't overly concern me at the moment. Going into games watching the Galaxy boss possession is just fun to watch. I have confidence this team will score its share of goals even without adding another forward, although ultimately, we need to do that in order to win a major title.
Not really sure what you are seeing when you watch Cabral. He has not lit up the league yet, far from it. But he is only, what, 4 games in, and it definitely looks to me like he has some talent. Definitely not a roster-filler, like Zubak or the many such guys that came before him.
I was talking about a specific match not in general. It does concern me that while possession is fun to watch, it means squat at the end of the day when you see the other team walk away with the three points. What is the point of possession if we dont even score? You score the goals, you win the games. Isn't that what Arena taught us? We need a secondary score no matter what. Wehther he comes from ranks or from abroad I dont care but we need that and it can be done this year. The summer window, is now open for business. In general and after getting a gander at the reinforcements, sans Magoo of course, I am very optimist that by season's end we are going to be in a position to dictate our own destiny. I keep one eye on day to day operations and another on the big picture. BTW, this is not Cabral's 4th game. At 4 games I wouldn't even have an opinion on him.
True about possession not meaning anything if the goals don't go with it. But it was one game, and we were missing our biggest goalscoring threats (and I include Steres in that group, considering the modest production after Chicarito). I also know that we will never win any cups without dominating possession. And we never have, as long as I have been watching this team. Watching the Galaxy has gone from almost unbearable and hopeless over the last 5 years, to fun and confident in a win, this year.
Being able to control the ball at a high speed is itself a technical skill. Lots of guys are fast. It's not simply that Cabral is fast, it's that he has great mobility with the ball at his feet; he can literally just glide past guys. He's gonna get to the endline a lot, in MLS at least. I also see that he's not necessarily behind the speed of play; he can get his head up and pick out the pass and he puts in a solid cross. I feel in the present moment some of his issues can boil down to form / confidence, but it seems like he has a good foundation of abilities. Granted, my basis of comparison is say, Zardes, just because it's as easy benchmark. He was roughly the same age as Cabral in his rookie season in 2013.
I would agree that Cabral has the touch of Zardes at that age. And has more speed and less strength. Will be interesting to see how he develops. Hopefully a good interesting.
Noooo. I was comparing him to Zardes just because they came to the Galaxy around the same age, nominally playing the same position / role of wing forward / 2nd striker. In his rookie season Zardes was already developing a reputation (unfairly) for being poor technically because of a handful of "highlight reel" nightmarish touches and inability to keep shots on target. I think a lot of that was him still adjusting to the pace of MLS...but he grew a lot as a player, too. A long ball to him that first season was 50/50 shot at lost possession. For me, Cabral is already a level ahead in his readiness to contribute. Cabral has had some bad touches and finishes, but he also has done things beyond what Zardes was doing at the same age, which give me the impression his poorer touches are just form / confidence. I do think if he had Zardes' strength and lethality, he'd have more goals by now. For example, in his 2nd game, Cabral has a carry that starts in midfield, where he shoulder drops and just dusts two SJ defenders and tries to chip the keeper in the box. I doubt Zardes could've done the first part in his first season, but from that position he probably just stabs it home for the goal.
Just for a bit of perspective tho. My man Zardes payed his dues before he was pocketing 1.5 mil or more. I don't mind being patient with a project player if the bucks flow out accordingly. 100k I can live with for a long while. But you take 1.5m and I expect results sooner rather than later. I don't know if that make sense to some. Jast saying... "According to data from Sportrac, in 2013, Zardes had a basic salary of $100,000 and a guaranteed cap of $173,000 in his debut year with the LA Galaxy. Similarly, his basic salary with Columbus Crew in 2018 was $630,000, and his guaranteed cap hit was the same."