Landon Donavan, El Tri, and US Soccer's never ending issues

In the absence of actual World Cup games featuring the United States Men's National Team,  #USMNT twitter went off the rails today when Well's Fargo launched a social media ad campaign featuring Landon Donovan utilizing #MyOtherTeamisMexico.

Donavan, predictably, was on the receiving end of immediate backlash from fans and former national team players alike -- most notably Carlos Bocanegera and Herculez Gomez.

This is an incredibly terrible take. Questioning ones loyalties to culture and/or heritage because HE questioned YOU for taking marketing dollars to “root” for your SPORTING RIVAL?

You can hate El Tri- this doesn’t mean you have anything against Mexicans. ✊🏼 🇲🇽 🇺🇸 https://t.co/xF9JCI1qBC

— herculez gomez (@herculezg) June 16, 2018

Behind the social media fiasco--which takes on additional meaning given our socio-political moment--is something worth talking about, though.

There's a real tension and, frankly, ignorance around the multicultural identity of the men's national team. Wells Fargo's ad is based in the assumption that there's significant overlap between soccer fans living in the United States, but of Mexican citizenship or descent.

As a brand, Wells Fargo clearly preferred to build an ad campaign around an American team in the World Cup but weren't willing to be sidelined during the month long tournament once the USMNT failed to qualify.

The strategy was basically to put the core elements of their ideal campaign into a blender. What came out was the most iconic player in American history pimping a corporate sponsorship by endorsing America's biggest soccer rival. (Of course it's even more layered than that given Donavan's exit from the national team.)

As dumb as all this sounds, it's basically the same approach major stake holders--including U.S. Soccer--have taken over the last two-plus decades in an attempt to "grow the game" in America, and the results have been similar.

Paying lip-service to the "emerging Latino market" has landed America's soccer gatekeepers in trouble before.

Perhaps the most obvious example is the Chivas U.S.A debacle, but there are others more specific to the national team. Just look to the youth development foibles of the late. (I wrote about the Jonathan Gonzales situation on this blog.) Or at the tension around Klinsmann preferencing German-American players.

These are the direct result of cultural incompetency -- a misunderstanding of how complex the mixture of sport, culture and identity are.

My point tonight isn't to write in-depth about each and every instance of cultural incompetency, nor is it even to delve into solutions. It's simply to say: these aren't just gaffes to paper over.  This is difficult stuff that should occupy both America's soccer intelligentsia and it's executives. 

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.