Hopefully he's good enough to play so we can have a banner "Our gold digger is better than yours!" for LA next year.
I thought he got a hell of a lot better after the first 10 minutes he was on the field. I agree with your assessment, though. He seemed to have decent pace and doesn't seem like an absolute disaster. Comparing him with the USOC game I saw David Stokes play years ago at the Sportsplex, he's a massive upgrade.
I did like his over the head pass to Kirk in open space. At this point, I'm not willing to throw him under the bus, but I think he'll see him only in USOC and reserve games. I was surprised not to see Zaher - I really like his passing ability.
He did well for his first time out with the main squad. No major gaffes. Played the position well in the last third. Was afraid to send in a cross on offense. Kept back passing to Devon when he could have tried to drop in a cross at least once. Not complaining. He did just fine. Not a big fellow.
I thought he played pretty well, but I don't see him playing for the big boys any time soon. Rochester went at him trying to send long balls into that corner. He got beat on the first one, and then decided to run faster and I don't remember him getting beat again. He headed the ball alot for a short guy, and unlike many of our players, actually seemed to direct it at other United players. He had good ball control in tight spaces and seemed like a decent enough passer. He seems to have Mike Slivinski's hair. First time in my life I have ever yelled "Orediggers" at someone
Don't know. If he isn't hurt, I have to bow to the judgement of the coaches who see him every day in practice. I have liked what I've seen in reserve matches. Overall, I like a handful of our reserve players: Cordeiro, Stratford, Barlow, Zaher, P. Carroll, and a couple of others that I recognize but can't identify. They're not ready to step onto the big stage (Cordeiro excepted) but they show promise.
I thought the opposite; I was surprised how often he went forward. I remember a cross and a semi-long ball into the box, one of them went about two or three yards too far toward the Rhinos keeper with Fred chugging in. And for a brand newbie, he seemed to link up well with the midfielders. I may have been isolating on him because I thought it was a dumb move by Sohn to send him into a knock-out game after he just joined the team. It worked out well. But yeah, he's a little dude--maybe two inches BF (Beyond Franco).
I thought he was solid. Good game and knows how to compensate with smarties what he doesn't have in size. Good tactical awareness. I wasn't ready for that.
I posted in the post game thread, but Thompson's been with the team for a little while and playing with the reserves. They just decided to start actually paying him.
Speaking of Franco, was he there last night? I was walking around pre-match near where some of the DC regulars were hanging out and could have sworn I saw him walking around. I really doubt it was him, this guy looked to be a little taller, but it was still odd.