Cade played wide on the right almost the whole game. Couple of nice runs in the box, and finishes with his left foot, and an assist with his left foot also. Still lost the ball pretty much every time he tried to attack 1v1 with a defender but hard to argue with 2 goals and an assist. Forge is not very good. They had lots of issues with their offside trap, and almost never threatened on the attack. On Cade's assist there were 2 Chivas players sitting deep in the box and when Cade's ball came in, the defender ran up to try to play them offside but it was too late, and it was an easy goal. Two different guys could have scored it. And on Cade's goal the left back, who was away from the play, blew the offside trap by lollygagging too far deep. I have to believe that playing with Chivas, where pretty much every player has good technical ability - good close control, good first touch, is going to help Cade. He's by far the worst on the team in that regard but he's gotta get better playing with these guys just by osmosis. Haven't seen that improvement yet, but he's just getting started.
Or... "Play him against Forge FC some random Canadian team from friggin Hamilton and look what #@%*ing happens." I'll wait until he does it against a quality opponent. Are Canadian Premier League teams even better than USL Championship teams? Genuinely wondering.
Here are the two goals and assist vs the mighty FORGE Cade Cowell’s 1st Chivas GOAL vs Forge pic.twitter.com/polhZvuRk1— Kranks (@dis_possessed) February 8, 2024 Cade Cowell’s 1st Chivas assist vs Forge pic.twitter.com/K5Orm4ffGE— Kranks (@dis_possessed) February 8, 2024 Cade Cowell GOAL #2 vs Forge pic.twitter.com/GZBO9jPQd2— Kranks (@dis_possessed) February 8, 2024
That pass for the assist with his left foot was pretty nice for a righty. Sometimes I feel like Cade is a player who can make the hard play, when the pressure is off and there isn't much of a decision matrix for him to navigate, but struggles with the easy play, especially when decisions are involved.
I feel the exact same thing with Jebo...ball played behind him...contorts his body and somehow puts it upper 90...uncontested 10 yard shot with time...off frame or into the keeper's gut.
He's been getting playing time in the Liga MX games, including one start. I think he's played in every game. Still, I think he might have been in danger of sinking to full-time bench if not for this game. This will buy him some more time to try to make his mark more in the league games.
#Felizjueves 🌤️Hoy en tu #ESTO 📰🐐Con un Cade Cowell brillante, Chivas derrotó al Forge FC en la Concachampions 👉🏻https://t.co/l9S8Gath60 🥉Osmar Olvera gana bronce en trampolín de 3m en Campeonato Mundial 👉🏻https://t.co/7rizJZgpmC📲https://t.co/5YZljwSqmk pic.twitter.com/pTcwxZN8Nc— Esto en Línea (@estoenlinea) February 8, 2024
I do love that Fernando Gago has lots of different ideas for how to deploy and develop Cade, shuffling him between left wing and center forward, and in the Forge match as a second striker drifting around the right half space in a 3-4-1-2-ish shape. It's certainly more enjoyable than watching him try to dribble through people every week as a conventional LW.
I knew and said we should have used him as a CF and this way i think a year ago and everyone said blahh
He hasn’t scored yet against any team other than a mediocre Canadian Premier League team, whether he’s been wide left, right, or center. Plus he’s playing with a bunch of technical players who can give him service. It wasn’t going to happen on the Quakes. If we played a 4-4-2 I could see it maybe but he wasn’t going to be a back to goal lone center forward like the Quakes use.
Cade came into Chivas's game against Juarez today at around 62' and should have had an assist on a blistering run from midfield and nice pass to put Alvarado thru. But Alvarado messed up the chance - not usual - he's a good player. Then Cade made a nice move into the box like he'd done to score against Forge and forced a save that Guzman put in. In the celebration Guzman(?) put Cade on his back and rode him around a little bit - maybe a reference to them calling him "cowboy"? Anyway, seems like Cade is having a good time!
saw that, easy to spot Cade these days. I thought he had good placement on that shot but goalie made a good initial stop, nice to see him settling in there and contributing.
He's still losing it pretty much every time he attacks from the wing. But where he's having success is just standing at the offside trap at the top of the box and running onto passes thru. Why didn't that ever happen with the Quakes? The Quakes haven't been an attack from the middle team. Everything's a cross from the outside. Yeah, we need that CAM. I'm guessing this is what Chivas saw in him. Yeah he loses it all the time on his attack from the wing but he's fast and strong, and we just need him to stand at the offside trap and run onto little thru balls. They know he can finish OK with both feet from short distance. That said, I think he has like 7 Liga MX games now as a wide or center forward and still no goal or assist, but I'm sure it'll happen sooner or later. He had another chance like the one that wound up as a goal, and his first touch was OK but the keeper was just barely able to get a touch on it and snuff it out.
Jebo didn’t play that way either because we don’t have any attack down the middle. Everything comes in from the sides, generally in the air. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Cade head a ball. As such he was not a good candidate for the Jebo role on the Quakes. Chivas attacks a lot more down the middle, with the ball on the carpet.
Oh ok, that makes sense. Quakes in general gave up on dribbling up the middle I think like 3 seasons ago. I only recall seeing Cade head the ball with direction only once at PPP, towards the end of last season. Hubby and I both remarked at the same time, oh Cade is learning how to head the ball!