Dallas with another win last night. Slowly creeping back into the playoff picture. Logan Farrington and Kamungo started on the wings. Sealy came off the bench. I didn't watch the game, so have nothing intelligent to say. Logan assisted on Arriola's goal. Nice vision from him. He has a goal or an assist in 5 of FCD's last 7 games. 1813738955923460409 is not a valid tweet id
Has the stuff of a guy who's going to have a long and lucrative MLS career, without perhaps getting more than a January camp look. But hey, you never know. Our domestic forward pool isn't deep. I wish he was playing more as a #9, but hell....................Musa is on a tear. Petar Musa is now tied for 4th in MLS in goals. It took him a while to settle in, but he hasn't stopped scoring goals since he has. FCD is a really mediocre team this season. But you can see a couple of building blocks being secured for the next couple of years. A forward trio of Musa, Ferreira, and Farrington is quite nice. We'll have to see what Velasco is like when he comes back. If you can get an actual honest-to-God playmaker with vision behind those three, that's pretty exciting. But we'll have to see it. Paes is REALLY good. I mean, REALLY good. If he was on a better team, he'd be a Goalkeeper of the Year candidate.
Vo, Molomo, Kaakoush, and Saucedo are comfortably in that group. The fifth would be one of Rosales, Wostl, Gibson, or Vega (or maybe Bronald, who I'm still trying to get my head around). If you told me you really liked Fuentes or Jordan, I wouldn't have much to say in response.
FCD U17/18s v Chivas, 7/15/24, L 1-3 Lineup (L-R, where applicable): Lynch; Dozier, Guzman, Charles ©, Cortalessa; Hickam, Kaakoush (’08); Outman; Contreras, Salazar, Guandique Subs: At halftime, Mendonca comes on for Kaakoush and Scabin comes on for Charles (Cortalessa takes the armband). Luccin and Orejarena came on for Outman and Salazar around the 44th min (Guandique goes to the #9). In the 62nd, Witis-Hughes, Torquato, and Arteaga come on for Guandique, Dozier, and Cortalessa (Scabin’s now the captain). Goal(s): · 25:26 – Chivas in settled possession in FCD’s half. As Hickam strafes left to get close to a CM, FCD gets stretched between the midfield and defense, leaving some space for the Chivas AM to receive 35ish yards out. Kaakoush fouls him from behind. Chivas plays quickly and square to another CM, who cuts back to the middle past a closing Kaakoush and shoots from about 29 yards. Lynch gets a hand on the shot (hard and over his head but barely out of his silhouette) before it goes in. Would hope for stronger hands from Lynch there and better awareness following the foul. · 34:17 – Chivas goal kick taken from the left corner of the six by the CB to the GK on the right corner of the six. Contreras gets on the GK quickly, takes advantage of his panicked touches, strips him, and scores. · 39:36 – Chivas FK after Guzman gave the ball away near midfield and fouled a guy to stop the counterattack. It’s quickly played to a checking CM, who turns (without pressure because Outman reacts late) and finds a ball between the lines in the left sided half space. That CM likewise turns and tries to chip a ball into the box for the ST, but Scabin blocks it. There’s a shout for a hand ball, but the Chivas player quickly plays wide left to a totally open LW, who settles and sends in a whipped cross to the top of the six. I think Guzman can get to it, but he doesn’t, and there’s a Chivas player right behind him to pound the header home. · 67:10 – Orejarena gets a throw-in to him on the LW, sidesteps one defender, and tries to flip it inside to Luccin, but he doesn’t put enough power on it and Chivas intercepts. That CM dribbles around Luccin, past Hickam, and shoots from five yards inside his own half, curling the ball around the retreating Lynch and into the goal. Other Key Chances: · 7:01 – Dozier blocks a cross near the edge of the box, collects, and manages to shape a pass up the line to Contreras, who cuts inside and puts a ball into Kaakoush’s path down the middle channel. Kaakoush does a great job to play out in front of Guandique with his first touch, giving him space to run at his defender. He goes past toward the endline before crossing low at the top of the six, where Salazar meets it and diverts the ball toward the back post, barely wide. · 33:01 – not all that key of a chance, but wanted to highlight the FCD possession in the build up. Lots of getting the shape large and threatening on both sides. In the end, Dozier’s cross from deep misses Salazar’s open head in front of goal by a foot or so. · 38:15 – It’s a Chivas FK inside their own area immediately after a yellow for simulation against Contreras. They play it to a CM who takes a bad touch and slips, allowing Outman to get on the ball 30 yards from goal. Honestly, I think he’s gotta just shoot first time before the GK recovers (probably with his left foot), but he takes a touch and (still has an opportunity to shoot but) slides a ball to Salazar in the right side of the box. Salazar gets an unchallenged shot from about 12 yards that he puts right at the GK. CK to follow. · 49:05 – Chivas building out of the back. They break the press going to a CM who turns and sprays a pass out wide right to a RB. The RB pokes a ball forward to the RW, who collects and scoops the ball up the line into the path of the onrushing RB. Lynch, for some reason, thought he could get there before the RB, so he rushed out toward the ball on the sideline, but he wasn’t even close, stopped and retreated, but by that point the RB had already shot from about 50 yards on the sideline and just past the far post. · 71:53 – FCD stretched at the end of the game. The Chivas GK hits it long from inside his box, the ball bounces through midfield over Hickam and behind the defense, where there are two Chivas attackers. Guzman tries to clear but pulls out once the Chivas player gets too close, and the ball gets to the top of FCD’s box. There, the Chivas attacker collects, cuts back across a recovering Guzman, and pokes the ball at the far post, dinging the outside of the post and out for a CK. Notes: · 13:20 is a funny frame. Soccer being the beautiful game it is, both of these kids are probably pretty good pro prospects. · Starts raining heavily sometime late in the first half and for a while into the second. · All following time stamps are game time not video time. · Hickam and Kaakoush have started 4/4 games. Charles, Cortalessa, and Contreras have started 3/4. · FCD seems much less willing to build out of the back in this one. Lots of Lynch going long. Is that because Lynch is back there? Or because of some change in tactical instructions based on their prior games or for this specific game? · Five goals for FCD to this point in the tournament: one goal, three assists, and a “PK assist” for Contreras. I think that’s down to (i) Contreras is pretty good, (ii) disappointing tourney for the attacking mids like Luccin, Outman, and Mendonca, and (iii) Sylvester’s been injured twice and Salazar/W-H aren’t sharp after their injuries. · Lynch looking awkward sweeping behind his defense: 7:45, 8:43, 10:53 (okay he looks pretty good here), 41:28, and, of course, 49:11 and 67:15. · The cross is awful, but full props to Cortalessa for the dribbling at 16:28. Inventive stuff. Great defensive recovery at 47:51 too. · On the one hand, really competitive games against really good competition are exactly the type of data points you should fixate on. This tournament, GA Cup knockouts, DC Super Group, etc. None of the usual caveats apply. On the other hand, I think there’s an analogy such that you can unwisely “buy”/”sell” players based on this data in the same way that pro clubs can unwisely buy/sell players based on World Cup performances. · Idk if it’s good or bad that Charles and Contreras are Bad Body Language All-Stars. · Luccin and Hickam HAVE to burst forward once they get the turnover at 50:40. They turns a 4v3 into a 2v3. · Again struck by Scabin’s ambition in possession. FCD consistently goes out his side rather than Guzman’s in the 2H. · FCD gets really frustrated with the ref. She, in turn, gives them multiple yellows for diving. · Frankly, FCD is better in this game. Individual brain farts at fault for every Chivas goal, and otherwise they didn't threaten outside the last few minutes as FCD was desperately chasing the game. FCD had more, better chances throughout.
NTX just signed '07 CB Kaka Scabin to a contract through 2025. He is not very high on my list of 2007s at the club, but has been involved with NTX more than most. This deal takes him through age 18, though he has an Italian passport (according to NTX's press release) so he could leave for Europe today if he wanted, theoretically.
Under-the-radar: Illaramendi was scratched from the roster in warm-ups, Twumasi replaced him in the starting lineup, and ‘05 Anthony Ramirez replaced Twumasi on the bench. Officially, Ramirez is just signed as a NTX player, and this was his first time making a game day roster for the first team.
I mostly agree. I think for me it's Molomo, Kaakoush, and Saucedo as the first three, and then I don't know. For the next two, I like Bronald, and I like Moreira, who unfortunately I didn't see play during the Spring, so I don't know what's up with him, but I liked him during the Fall. I think though that it drops off a lot for me after the first three. Really even first two. I am not at all convinced about Saucedo being even the level of like an Anthony Ramirez. Vo has just never impressed me. I could be missing something. Anyway, I think the club has a bunch of work to do right now with this age group. It's looking BAD. '04 levels of bad.
1-1 draw on the road thanks to a stoppage time PK won by Tarik Scott. Remarkable substitute appearance by him without ever doing anything especially good with the ball. Three important, quality defensive moments. Won the PK and another FK in a good spot (led to a great delivery from Sealy). Does a lot of little things that get you on the field, even if I think he needs time on the main thing (threat creation with and without the ball). MLS debut for Anthony Ramirez (kind of taking Norris' minutes in midfield for the time being). Had a nice moment soon before the PK where he nipped in front of Polster to win a clearance, but the game was bypassing the midfield mostly by the time he got in. Farrington had a more quiet game, but also had a hand in the PK by getting open down the left and playing quickly across goal.
Under the radar: Antonio Carrera made the bench over Jimmy Maurer. With Paes potentially on the way out this window, you wonder if they’re prepping for Carrera to take the job for the second half of the year. If Paes leaves and they’re comfortable with either Maurer or Carrera starting, I’d expect Collodi to get a first team contract at least through the end of the year. If that happens, they would need another NTX GK given their precedent in recent years of two GKs on that roster, in which case watch for ‘07 Nico Montoya to sign.
Not sure why Tarik Scott is being discussed right now, but 1815062700302770597 is not a valid tweet id
Consider pulling up this game at the top of the hour. Starts for ‘06s Baran, Garcia, Urzua, and Molina, yes, but also bench debuts for ‘08s Molomo and Gibson and ‘09 Cook.
Believe he’s one of three 08’s (Berchimas and Guerra), so just a matter of who was born when in the year.
I learned a new name today, Jonah Gibson. What’s his game like? Kind of expected for Cook and Molomo. Again, I’m not convinced the club rates the 07’s that high. It could be that they are at that tournament right now, but if you could play them in the pros over some random youth tournament wouldn’t you just hold them back from going to that tournament?
The headline will be that Houston wins 4-0, but, maybe I'm crazy, NTX sure seemed like the better team for the large majority of the game. NTX's offside trap failed three times in the first hour or so, and Houston converted two of them. From there, due to some combination of game state and bringing on subs, Houston got more joy playing in behind. Still, the first goal was an own goal, the fourth was a huge deflection, and the third was a save Collodi's been making this year. On the other side, NTX played some beautiful possession soccer and was, like, 18" off on the final action all night. Kind of a one-game reversal of all the luck they've benefited from this season. Baran definitely had a poor game and maaaaaybe Zanne too, but otherwise I thought everyone was quite good overall. '07s and a couple of relevant '08s are in Mexico, the first team was on the road yesterday, and NTX seems like they have a bunch of injuries right now. Of their best starting lineup to begin the year, Norris, Scott, Pondeca, Sali, Pedrinho, Parker, Endeley, and Korca are all unavailable for the second team right now for various reasons. Again, maybe I'm just a huge homer, but I was super impressed with this game in the face of those personnel issues (decisions? are they cutting bait with some of the older players?). I think you're underestimating the quality of that youth tournament. And yes, they probably think getting 3-6 games against those teams at the cost of missing one NTX game is worth it. Maybe Molomo sticks around, but I'd expect both Cook and Gibson (and Baran and a few others) get supplanted by '07s in the remainder of the season. It was around this time last year that the '06s and young '05s really started seeing playing time. Thread-eligibles -'01 Collodi - somewhat at fault for the third. Looked a little shakier than usual playing the ball. -'06 Molina - above-average game. Found 3-4 quality moments of attacking play. No major issues in defense that I saw. -'06 Garcia - came out like a house on fire. Dominated the middle 30min of the first half, then got kinda average for the rest of the game. -'06 Urzua - my MOTM. Took a 15-30min to get going, but he played circles around HOU's midfield for most of the rest of the game. Progression again and again. Hugely encouraged by his play since coming back. -'06 Baran - couldn't get anything going against a RB that matched him athletically. Nothing was coming off for him. -'01 Henry-Scott - lots of composure and patience around the PK area. Close a few times to a goal or an assist, but it didn't work out. He's pleasantly outperformed my (low) expectations. Not a first-teamer, but a potential pro. -'04 Pepi - quite good for most of his minutes. Still lacks the ability to get clear chances around the box, but he was a definite positive on the night. -'05 Lacy - as per usual, jitteryness, technicals, and outside-the-box thinking. Just so wispy physically. Plenty of upside, but not MLS upside. -'08 Jonah Gibson - Joined from Texans last summer. Interested to know when his birthday is, but he got played all over for the U16s - I saw everything but ST and GK this year. Came on as the RB in this game. Quite two-footed, plus athlete, developed a ton tactically this season (to my eye). He's a Jamaica-USA dual nat. Didn't look up to the level in this game when he got around the ball. -'08 Molomo - Played LB and seemed mostly fine (comfortably best of the '08s and '09s for both teams). HOU played almost-27-year-old Ifu Achara, a former first round college draft pick, behind him a few times and Molomo kept up with him for speed but got shoved around a bit. -'09 Cook - Pretty anonymous. Of note, Cook ... wait, I thought he was the third youngest debutant in NTX history, but maybe he's the youngest? Yeah, Corcoran and Diego Hernandez were ~6 months older. For context, Molomo's a year older than Cook and about the same age that JoGo was in '19 (the youngest player to get a real run of games in the club's history).
FCD U17/18s v Palmeiras, 7/16/24, L 0-5 Lineup (L-R, where applicable): Montoya; Torquato, Scabin, Charles ©, Arteaga; Mendonca, (’08) Kaakoush; Luccin; Orejarena, Gutierrez, (’08) Saucedo Subs: Hickam comes on for Kaakoush at halftime. Mass subs at about 56 minutes: Gutierrez, Arteaga, Scabin, Luccin, and Orejarena come off for Witis-Hughes, Guandique, Outman, Cortalessa, and Guzman. In the 68th, Dozier comes on for Saucedo and Torquato bumps up to LW. Goal(s): · 2:13 – Palmeiras CK after Montoya deflects a long, low direct FK out that he maybe could have caught (hard to see on the stream). It’s deflected at the near post down toward the back post, Kaakoush gets in front of it, but he and Scabin get outcompeted for the bouncing rebound as a Palmeiras player comes crashing in to head the ball down off the bottom of the post and in. · 16:16 – Palmeiras in possession near midfield. Their RB plays backward to their RCB, who waits a moment before picking out a low pass just over Scabin’s head down the middle of the field. Scabin had stepped forward to mark the RW, and it drops over him and into the box, where Palmeiras’ ST runs onto it in the box and chips Montoya on the bounce. Charles couldn’t get across quickly enough to get to the ball or disrupt the shot. Strenuous conversation between Charles and Montoya about whether Montoya should have been in place to clear that. · 19:45 – Palmeiras moving possession from right to left in FCD’s half. The LB plays forward to the LW, who cuts back onto his right and crosses from near the sideline. Scabin just misses the header, so it goes through to Torquato, who’s maybe not ready for it, and Torquato deflects it directly to the Palmeiras ST, who scores from about seven yards. · 54:48 – After Mendonca can’t run down a nice through ball down the left side from Orejarena, Palmeiras consolidates and gets possession going the other way. Saucedo gets pulled forward, Hickam gets pulled wide left, and Gutierrez doesn’t recover, so when Palmeiras swings it back to their left, there’s acres of real estate to attack. A CM drives into the attacking third and passes wide to the LW, who takes a touch toward the box, cuts inside of Arteaga, sitting him down, and stings a shot off the crossbar over Montoya’s diving hand. The ball bounces down and back in play straight to a Palmeiras attacker that has crashed the goal while Scabin was admiring the shot. It’s headed home from close range. · 66:14 – An FCD clearance is cut out near midfield and collected by a CM who plays 1:2 and then tries to scoop a pass in behind. That ball is blocked by Charles to another CM, who plays their RW into the box. The RW cuts it back to near the PK spot where the original CM gets a shot away under pressure from Outman, but it’s saved. Montoya then rolls it out to Mendonca, who tries to meg a guy and fails, and Palmeiras immediately takes over finds a shot, and blasts it into the left side of the net from just outside the box. Other Key Chances: · 32:16 – Palmeiras moving possession to the left side in FCD’s half. The LB plays forward to the LW, who lays it off to try a 1:2, but Saucedo recovers quickly enough to grab the ball. He then tries to dribble out and gets stripped, so the same result happens anyway: LW carrying into the box at goal. Shoots from an acute angle and forces a very smart save from Montoya low at the far post. · 44:10 – Orejarena gets the ball from Torquato as Torquato pulls a kid down, but it’s not called, so FCD breaks up the left sideline with a little combo play and Orejarena’s running into the final third and then the PK area. He whaps a left-footed cross at Gutierrez near the top of the six, and Gutierrez tries to reach back and flick it through his legs and at goal. Luccin (and Luccin’s marker) block the shot inside the six yard box, there’s a scramble, and Palmeiras collects and plays out. · 62:16 – Guzman on the ball near midfield. Strafes left and fits a pass between the lines to Saucedo, who skips around his defender and curls a ball out to Cortalessa on the RW. Cortalessa then hits a bending ball into the box for W-H, but a CB gets in front of it, knocking the ball down to Outman at the PK spot under no pressure. He squibs a low shot at the far post, but it’s an easy save. Notes: · Interview with Jaidyn Contreras at 7:45 of the video. · Further time stamps refer to game time, not video time. · Kaakoush is now the only player to have started every game of this tourney. · Palmeiras is the best player developer in the world right now, imo. Endrick, Estevao, Luis Guilherme, etc. Pumping out top players. Well, actually it’s probably Barcelona. Relatedly, this game reminds me of watching FCD’s U11s or U12s against top Spanish competition. Just different level. The best FCD generations at their best can compete with those clubs (like, the ‘10s beat Real Madrid 18 months ago, the ‘05s beat Bayern, Juventus and others in ’19, etc), but I have no realistic expectation that FCD will be at that level every year in every team (I do expect it to be more competitive than this was). · I especially don’t expect that FCD’s backups can compete, and this FCD lineup is mostly second-stringers. (to be fair, it seems like Palmeiras was also playing a lot of backups). · 4:00 – not really a chance, but it could be if Luccin scoops it to the back post rather than shooting through four bodies from a weird angle. FCD’s 4v2 at the back post. To be fair, I don’t think Luccin was expecting the CK to come to him – still would like him to be more aware. · Saucedo could draw fouls with an inkless pen. He could draw them out of a dry well. Still has to be better at choosing when to do so, but he’s so hecking good at it. · Orejarena’s asking for the ball a ton, trying to get centerpiece of the offense volume, but teammates aren’t giving it to him and his body language goes sour pretty quick. Almost everyone’s body language is awful after the third goal. The chorus of frustrated remonstration at 37:33 when Torquato slips is pretty funny. · Hayden’s doing the coaching at 18:00. I don’t see Asorey. · The amount of goals FCD’s given up in this tournament on second balls in their box (where they were the ones who got to the ball first!) is shocking. Goals 1 and 3 here are examples. Not 100% sure what to attribute that to. · More Orejarena being a dribbling fiend at 37:14. 51:10 a fun flick around the corner. · FCD is also way too susceptible to route one soccer – long passes from deep that opposition attackers seem to get onto at an unusually high rate. Charles has had issues with that for a while. Is it an awareness thing? A movement skills thing? · Speaking of awareness, the Palmeiras LB hits a pass off of Mendonca near midfield at 35:55, but Charles protects it as it goes out over the endline like it should be a goalkick. I guess that confuses the ref because he calls a goalkick, but Charles has to know the situation there. The ref subsequently gets mistaken-identitied at 47:08. Gives a YC to Charles when it clearly should go to either Scabin or Arteaga (who’s lucky this isn’t a PK). · Torquato, who is mostly ineffective in this game, has a great moment at 53:30 driving from the sideline to the endline at the six yard box and putting a super dangerous cross in. Only not a goal because one of Palmeiras’ excellent CBs recovered quickly enough to cut it out before it got to Luccin in front of goal. · Immediately after the line change in the 57th minute, FCD gets a fast break going with Guandique carrying at a single CB and Outman overlapping. Guandique elects to cut right and try to shoot back at the near post, but once he flips the CB’s hips, that ball has to be spooned back left to Outman for a 1v1. · Bad game for the team. Starters that I thought had positive games individually: Kaakoush was mostly very good in his half, Orejarena was flashy when he got on the ball but didn’t accomplish all that much, Saucedo gets passing grade, Montoya was solid (depending on if you blame him for the second). · Thought #3 for Palmeiras, the RCB, was unbelievably good. #10 subbed on and flashed a few times. Some scary talents on this team. #23 was also good off the bench.
FCD U17/18s v Pachuca, 7/17/24, W 2-1 Lineup (L-R, where applicable): Wheeler; Dozier, Guzman, Charles ©, Cortalessa; Hickam, Kaakoush (’08); Outman; Orejarena, Contreras (really drifting anywhere), Guandique Subs: Luccin on for Outman at about 52min. Dozier, Guandique, and Charles off for Torquato, Scabin, and Witis-Hughes at 58min (Cortalessa is now the captain). Orejarena, Kaakoush, and Contreras off for Salazar, Mendonca, and Arteaga in the 70th. Goal(s): · 12:59 – Guzman fits a pass into Orejarena behind the midfield, but he’s dumped to the ground by a CB and Pachuca goes the other way. The CB slides a pass into the path of a CM that Kaakoush can’t quite catch, and the CM plays in behind Dozier to the RW running free down the right side. He carries into the box and fires from about 12 yards on the right side, blasting the ball over Wheeler’s head and in. · 35:28 – Soon after kickoff, FCD recycles possession back to Charles in the center circle, and he finds Kaakoush nearby under minimal pressure. He measures a pass out to Hickam, who has slid into the right halfspace, and Hickam turns quickly, playing behind the LB and into the path of Cortalessa down in the corner. Cortalessa smashes a cross in front of goal and Guandique’s there to redirect it in. FCD’s first goal of the tournament that didn’t directly involve Contreras. · 59:09 – Guzman steps in front of a chipped throughball at the top of the box, rides a challenge from behind, cuts around a CM, and he’s dribbling into open space carrying across midfield. He plays Contreras in behind down the left channel, and Contreras catches up to the ball inside the box and finishes left-footed (going to the GK’s near post side but the ball still ends up in the far side netting? Was the GK positioned that badly?). Other Key Chances: · 6:41 – Wheeler over a goalkick, passes out on the ground to Kaakoush in the left halfspace. He lets the ball run across his body and plays a quick ball over the top for Guandique, who’s gotten goal side of the LCB. Guandique carries into the box and shoots from the right side into the GK’s feet. Could he have slid the ball across to Orejarena in the middle? Hard to tell. · 10:08 – long spell of FCD possession near midfield is continued by Outman saving a bad touch and playing backward to Kaakoush, who takes a step forward and finds Orejarena between in the lines in the right pocket. Orejarena turns and fits a diagonal pass behind the RCB and into Contreras’ path in the box. Contreras shoots first time from the PK mark and doesn’t make good contact, scuffing the ball wide left of the goal. · 46:58 – Charles has just cleared a cross way up in the air. The Pachuca LB heads the ball at the top of the box from 15 yards upfield and a ST there flicks the ball backwards with his head behind the defense. Dozier’s not alive to it, and the RW manages to beat Wheeler to the ball near the corner of the six yard box, but Wheeler blocks his shot, Pachuca moves the ball around the box a little, and then Charles clears again. · 63:10 – Contreras tries to control a high pass out to him on the RW, but just manages to touch it down to the onrushing LB, who takes it and runs up the field unopposed. The LB cuts back across Kaakoush at the top of the box and shoots from about 17 yards, going for power over placement and barely putting it over the bar. · 68:12 – Pachuca in possession in FCD’s half. It’s played out to the RW and crossed in low at the top of the box. One attacker on the front side pops it into the air toward the middle, another meets it in the air, knocking it back over his head on the volley and toward the top of the box. It falls right to a third attacker right between Scabin and Guzman, and he volleys first-time from about seven yards, forcing a fabulous reaction save from Wheeler down to his right. Guzman cleans up the rebound and works the ball out. Notes: · Time stamps refer to game time. · Pachuca would go on to win the domestic group and lose to Palmeiras in the final. This team had a good tournament. · Kaakoush continues to start every game. He’s gotta be like the Southpark “I didn’t hear no bell” meme at this point. Takes on a massive possession burden in this one and mostly delivers – same stuff we were seeing against Palmeiras, lots of playing the angles in midfield. Hickam and Charles are tied for second place with 5/6 games started. · I suppose it’s just two games a day, so not a crazy load, but this field still looks pristine after a week of games. · Yet more Hayden on the sideline in lieu of Asorey. · Continuing the theme of Orejarena dribbling highlights: 7:25 is fun. · Contreras with a lot of turnovers early. As mentioned above, he floats a lot, and sequences like 25:25 just don’t make sense to me from a developmental perspective. Like, why take it off of Charles foot in your own half just to hit the exact type of pass that Charles excels at? Aren’t you just ruining the math up the field? How is this translatable up a level? · 16:25 – failure of defensive communication between Guzman, Kaakoush, Dozier, and Orejarena, but Guzman cleans it up very neatly. Guzman then puts the SKRT on a kid at 29:40. Obviously the second goal is a nice illustration of his plus-plus skill, carrying out of the back. Very nice game from him. · Fun to watch string of possession under pressure by FCD starting at 48:50 apart from Kaakoush not checking his shoulder once. Goes through 50:12 or so. · Admittedly, it looks like it would have been a nice FK at 22:29 if it had made it through the wall, but you can’t let Charles take this. Why don’t you just hand a note to the other team saying “he’s going to shoot it”? Don’t care about team dynamics, personalities, whatever: every FK has to look the same prior to being struck. Get the non-set-piece-threats to do it.