Great result by the boys vs. Cuba! The longer the game wore on, the better the boys played. It was exciting to see such good technical skill by ALL players on the field. However, there were two items that I noticed where a slight technical 'tweak' could bear huge results. The first was Mix's corners. He failed to clear the defenders and I've run into this in the past (myself included, not just my players.) Mix is striking the ball slightly too high, which means he is taking his eye off the ball too early and slightly lifting his head. He needs to keep his eye on the ball until he strikes it. He won't have any trouble clearing the defenders then. The second were a few of Opara's passes when they were not right to his target with little or no pressure. (This may not be applicable when pressure is present!) His balance is slightly off. He needs to avoid allowiing his weight to shift off his support foot and should only use his passing leg as a lever for striking the ball. If he shifts his weight off his support foot, he loses a slight bit of control and the passes go awry. Opara had a good game and Mix had an excellent game IMO. These are just a couple of tweaks that could improve their overall quality and consistency. Thoughts?
Is it just me or is everyone else only able to see the 1st page of this thread? (Just kidding. Captain10, nice observations.)
Nice comments ! We're entering the nit picking zone here, but....despite Mix's overall great performance, not only on the corners did he struggle, but I noticed he is not too mobile swiveling his hips. As a result, he mishit some passes when quickly opening up his hips and really shot poorly. He makes up for it by an incredible engine and very good vision but he isn't always the smoothest looking player out there.