How Good are the Foxes? Pt. 2

Continuing in this series, "How good are the Foxes?" 

The question for me, this time, is how good is Noah Verhoeven? 

Verhoeven is the one legitimate MLS prospect on the Fresno FC roster in 2018. At 18, Verhoeven is a product of the Vancouver Whitecaps residency training program. He's also been called in to U.S. under-18 and under-20 training camps. 

While Verhoeven profiles ahead of the rest of the roster as a pure prospect he's not the only MLS calibre player in the Foxes XI. 

Pedro Ribeiro, who's recent golazo got international attention, has logged substantial time for Orlando City SC. It was Verhoeven who delivered the ball to Ribeiro to setup the screamer from distance in the 27th minute. 

Cutting in, hard, from left side Verhoeven shows in the highlight the most appealing aspect of his game -- sudden, attacking, movement with the ball on his foot. The lay-off to Ribeiro was the obvious choice; and frankly isn't an overly impressive play in-and-of-itself (it was 99% Ribeiro's individual brilliance). However, the cutback; on to his right-foot, is really good.

For the Foxes to improve, and for Verhoeven to take the next step in his development, he needs to build on his tendency to dribble the ball for the purpose of creating passing lanes and instead push the ball to create his own scoring opportunities. 

Take a look at his chart vs. Tulsa: one shot in Zone 17. 

Now, he's playing wide in a 4-4-2, so his primary responsibility is to find Caffa (and whoever is playing beside him) in the channel he [Verhoeven] has created because of his pace and space. BUT, to truly unlock a dynamic attack Verhoeven simply has to put his head down and go at goal at least a couple of times every '45.

When he gets comfortable enough in the system to play with some ambition, watch out! He certainly has the skillset to do it.  

How Good are the Foxes? Pt.1

To answer that we have to answer, "How good is Juan Pablo Caffa?"

Fresno FC are lead by the veteran Argentinean. With two seasons in La Liga, at Real Betis ('06-'08), Caffa is--by far--the most accomplished player on the roster, and one of the most experienced players in the league.

That said, Caffa's days as a rotation player at the highest level of Europe are more than a decade behind him. While he's still the technical class of any Foxes XI, his ability to play at pace is substantially diminished. Don't believe me? Check out his separation and finishing once upon a time.

(I believe this is from the '02-'03 season with Boca Juniors)

At 33, his play is forced to be far more cerebral; and by all accounts focused on connecting with younger player.

So, how's he doing in that role for Fresno FC? 

Through five matches I'd say it's been a mixed bag. During the home--and season--opener versus Las Vegas FC Caffa was conspicuously absent from the Foxes attacking play. 

His first-half heat map was more or less what Coach Adam Smith was looking for –– heavy to the left-side and relatively prevalent in Zone 14.

However, when you overlay that with his passing/shot chart, the result isn't nearly as impactful. Takeaway the one set piece shot, which was threatening and on-frame, and Caffa only made one attacking pass from Zone 14 into Zone 17 in 49:00. 

What's more, after falling behind 0-3 in the second half, Caffa dropped deeper, and deeper, as the game progressed to pick up the ball. Here's his 2nd Half heat map:

Suffice to say this isn't what you're looking for from your best creator. Compare the LVFC chart to  Caffa's contribution in what was likely the club's best performance in a road win at Seattle Sounders 2:

Positionally, this is much more in-line with where I want to see Caffa on the ball –– though not exactly where I'd like to see him. 

(A brief aside: It should be said, the Foxes have played in several formations so far this season, and have even played a few different attacking concepts within the formations they're going to regularly; like the 4-4-2. So, doing a direct game-to-game comparison  of a single player isn't going to be super fruitful. However, from my persecutive, the relevant question to ask of any formation is, "is this putting the best attacking players on the ball in attacking positions?" With a player like Caffa in particular, the goal is to get him the ball in space with time to create.) 

Given the nature of a totally new club, with a coaching staff and players learning each others strengths and tendencies, it's not at all surprising to me that it's taking a bit of time to sort out how to get your best player(s) consistently good looks to create goal-scoring chances.

Caffa is certainly [still] technically and tactically good enough to impact every game in a positive way for the Foxes. Time will tell if he's given the freedom to do so. 

U.S. Soccer Youth Development -- Part 2

In Part 1, I highlighted two issues that are critical to solve for successful youth development: 

1. Difficulty finding quality coaching; and the cost(s) associated with accessing quality coaching 
2. As a result of the first point, youth development is still built largely around upper-middle class white families.

So in Part 2, it seems important to spend some extended time on why diversity matters both in terms of the on-field results and in terms of creating a healthy, well functioning, national soccer federation. 

In terms of fielding globally competitive teams at each age group; including the senior team, developing players of diverse backgrounds is a non-negotiable. 

As I've previously eluded to, culture influences style(s) of play in very direct ways and sets the foundational or platonic ideal of what it means to be a great player. 

Mexicans and Germans, for example, have different--if not competing--epistemological concepts of greatness on the pitch. 

If you're unread in this subject area, I suggest starting with Johnathan Wilson's classic, "Inverting the Pyramid" as well as Franklin Foer's, "How Soccer Explains the World".

Given, then, that players from diverse backgrounds carry with them different basic understandings, based on core cultural values, of how to solve on-field problems integrating America's diverse soccer playing population into a coherent soccer "worldview" becomes a mission-critical objective. 

And, to be fair, under the direction of Tab Ramos there has been noticeable improvement integrating Latino players and styles into the American playing paradigm. 

However, the fact remains Latino players in particular are not well integrated, understood or valued in on-field terms within U.S. Soccer (to say nothing of lifestyle or cultural obstacles) -- particularly at the senior team level. Don't take my word on it. Read this excellent interview in SoccerAmerica. 

Brad Rothenberg, who's as qualified as anyone to speak on this subject, details the dynamic in very plain terms. In the most telling except (for me), Rothenberg says,

I’ve grown tired of watching our federation neglect this community. We didn’t do enough, not nearly enough, to keep him. And the worst part is that it will continue if wholesale changes aren’t made in the approach to finding talent in this community.The paucity of coaches employed by U.S. Soccer with an interest in Latino style of play is a problem. Tab Ramos isn’t enough. Bring back Hugo Perez. Jonathan wasn’t the first and will not be the last player lost to the national team until major shifts take place at the federation.

Not only does this ring true based on my personal experience as a youth coach in an exclusively Latino context, it lays bare the basic reality that U.S. Soccer is not trying to put the best possible combination of players on the field.

To put it another way, by not actively cultivating, training and financially investing in Latino players and coaches U.S. Soccer is acting in direct opposition to it's core mission.

(This seems to be a good stopping point, so I'll write Part 3 about the organizational aspects of diversity another night.)

More to come...