Post Draft Player Analysis: Tony Schmitz

I hate being surprised.

I expect players in division II, division III and NAIA schools to fly under my radar, because there’s no way that I can sufficiently cover the players in these schools. While I will periodically take a look at a player (such as Kai Kasiguran and Andrew Wheeler) if it fits in my schedule, for now, I must concentrate on division I players.

There were a few division I players that were chosen in the 2008 MLS Superdraft that I did not rank remotely as high as they were selected. For example, Matt Marquess from Santa Clara and Tony Schmitz from Creighton University were both surprises to be selected on the first day. Should they have been? I watched a tape of Santa Clara with Marquess last month in preparation of the combine. I was concentrating on Roberts (who wasn’t invited to the combine), Hatzke and Lowry. But Marquess didn’t do anything that significantly impressed me during this game. I hadn’t reviewed Creighton game tapes recently, so I decided to concentrate my efforts on Tony Schmitz to answer the following question:

Did DC United make a good decision taking Tony Schmitz with the 53rd pick of the 2008 MLS draft?

As a side note, Brennan Tennelle isn’t a surprise for me since I watched him live several times. I expected that he would be picked by the 5th round.

Tony Schmitz is a 2007 MVC 1st team member. He scored 4 goals with 5 assists in 20 games in 2007. He was a starter in 2006 but scored only 1 goal with 3 assists. In his sophomore year, he was a consistent starter scoring 1 goal with 5 assists.

With 14 teams in the 2008 superdraft, comparing the 4th round from earlier years don’t align directly, for example in 2004 with only 10 teams, the 5th round is closer to the pick selection then the 4th. In the last several years, there has been one player in that area of the draft that has had some success. For example, Adam Cristman would be this candidate in 2007 as would Jonathan Bernstein in 2006. So this leads to the next questions:

Is Schmitz this candidate for success in 2008?

If Schmitz wasn’t the best pick, who would have been the alternative?

I reviewed 4 tapes of Creighton games from the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Below are my impressions of Schmitz’s performance. I will be concentrating on Schmitz, but others who may stand out – I’ll comment on, too.

Game 1

Yale at Creighton on 9/17/2006

Schmitz played a wide midfield/right sided defensive midfield. Creighton switched after 20 minutes in the first half from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3.

He didn’t do much in the first half, subbed after 30 minutes.

In the second half, he came in after 15 minutes and the only thing that he did was a left footed shot from 30 yards that was wide left.

The odd thing that I noticed is that Schmitz jumps into a defensive position rather than just assuming a defensive position.

A defensive position is the position for any sport (tennis, basketball, baseball, football linebackers) to best be prepared to move in multiple directions based upon reactions. It can be characterized by bent knees, chest forward, head up with arms out for balance.

Schmitz would take a little jump when he did this. It’d be something that professionals would be able to capitalize on. FYI-in later games, this deficiency was corrected.

2nd Game

Creighton at Bradley 2006 MVC final on 11/5/2006

In this game, Schmitz played right back in a 4-4-2 initially. When Creighton was behind with 20 minutes remaining, he pushed forward in central midfielder role to aid in the attack.

He was able to stay even with speedy Bradley forward Chris Cutshaw. This was impressive. If he has this speed, this could be an important fact.

He was good on the ball and much more involved than in the first game.

He was able to defend a Bradley corner kick by elevating in the box.

With seconds remaining and Creighton down, a long cross was sent to the far post. Schmitz’s shot was blocked but the rebound went to nearby Dacy who scored with 4 seconds remaining. Schmitz got an assist on the play.

As an aside, Bradley’s Brust looked pretty good in the back.

3rd Game

Bradley at Creighton on 10/10/2007

He played a much bigger role in his senior season. He started as a withdrawn forward in a 4-3-3 alignment. He was involved early providing searching through passes.

He was partially responsible for the 1st Bradley goal. He let his man (Bigelow – who had the assist) in the box too much space and then didn’t close on him. Compounded the error by not closing on the rebound, either. I noticed that he looks around rather than re-acting to action in the box.

He was active up front, displaying a good touch, a dribble to beat a defender and a then a terrific cross that his teammate was unable to convert.

Because of substitutions, he moved to defensive midfield late in the first half. Still, he was able to serve a great pass deep in the box with a few minutes left in the first half.

In the second half, he continued to man the defensive midfield. He supported the attack by taking a shot in the 53rd minute with his right foot. In a previous game, he took a 30 yard shot with his left foot. Willing to shoot with power with both feet – nice.

In the 64th minute, he took off from midfield making a deep supporting run getting away from Bradley’s Garcia. When he got the ball, he took one dribble before delivering his shot from inside the box. His goal was sent into the lower far post side netting. Directly before this goal, a miscommunication between Creighton’s Shuler and GK Allen almost ended for a goal for Bradley’s Bigelow but wound up starting the Creighton transition.

Schmitz dribbled around Donoho and probably earned a PK. He beat Donoho again on the dribble getting a free kick outside the box.

He made another 50 yard run beating Bradley’s Degurian eventually being fouled outside the box. He was down for a long time, holding his hip. He returned 5 minutes later.

Bottom line: Very impressive game for Schmitz.

Game 4

Bradley at Creighton 2007 MVC tournament on 11/18/2007

This was a hard game to assess for several reasons. First, the first 7 minutes of the game were eliminated from the tape to fit into the 2 hour window. Second, it was a very bright day and it was difficult to see the blue numbers on the white Creighton uniforms. Finally, Creighton has several players of the same body type and height.

Today, Schmitz started as a withdrawn forward and then moved back to defensive midfield later in the first half.

He had a header on a free kick that was on-goal but was cleared off the line by Garcia.

After he moved to DM, he made a critical tackle in the box.

Again, he burned Degurian with a deep midfield run at the end of the half.

In the second half, when Shuler made exploratory runs forward, Schmitz covered his position. He built on this by making a tremendous precision pass and when his teammate didn’t control his well-weighted pass, he made the Bradley player suffer with a vicious tackle outside the Bradley box.

He was getting forward in this 0-0 game. He showed his balance in the box and using strength refused to be pushed off the ball. Schmitz crossed the ball between 3 Bradley players for Walters to make a one-touch shot that only with Bradley’s GK Haynes good reflexes kept the game scoreless.

Schmitz continued trying to score with a 35 yard shot.

He was not responsible for the late goal that gave Bradley the MVC championship. Brust continued to look promising.

Over-all assessment:

• Fast, strong with good balance
• Able to shoot with either foot
• Above-average passing
• Very versatile – has played right midfield, forward, defensive midfield, right back
• Probably doesn’t have the ability to play wide midfield as a long-term option
• Ability to score
• Played full games in his senior year
• Hard tackler
• Loses mark too easily, doesn’t close quick enough
• Needs to react quicker on defensive problems in his box

His best position is defensive midfield. He’ll need to learn to be a wide defender to have a better chance to see the field.

As a reminder, I had three questions to address.

1. Did DC United make a good decision taking Tony Schmitz with the 53rd pick of the 2008 MLS draft?
2. Is Schmitz this candidate for success in 2008?
3. If Schmitz wasn’t the best pick, who would have been the alternative?

I’ll start with the third question, “If Schmitz wasn’t the best pick, who would have been the alternative? “. I would have chosen central defender Rauwshan McKenzie from Michigan State University. Here was my draft assessment of him:

B10 1st team; 2g, 2a in 21/21 games; In Big 10 tournament (PSU), “central defender Rauwshan McKenzie is a MLS quality defender. His best attribute is his athletic ability. He’s a target in the air on set pieces. He’s a good 1v1 defender. He did have a poor clearance with his head in OT. My only question is his individual ball skills. Can he pass under pressure?”. In B10 (IU), “McKenzie was solid in the back. In the waning minutes of the game with MSU down, McKenzie went forward.”; after combine, wonderful in the middle – challenged wide; doesn’t cleanly settle ball quick enough;

McKenzie would be limited to playing in the central defense. His technical skills would need to improve. McKenzie’s a better defender than Schmitz, but Schmitz has better versatility.

For the second question, “Is Schmitz this candidate for success in 2008?“. I don’t think so, Roth is the most polished of the 4th round draftees.

I doubt that Schmitz will see much first time action unless DC United has numerous injuries. It’s possible that Schmitz may not come out of camp. However, I think that he will.

For the final question, “Did DC United make a good decision taking Tony Schmitz with the 53rd pick of the 2008 MLS draft?“

I think DCU made a good decision. I like McKenzie and his potential that he could be a central defender in the very near future. However, I see that with the limited roster size and a full schedule of games/tournaments for DCU, the versatility that Schmitz brings to the team is an asset.

After the draft, head coach Tom Soehn asked me my opinion. I responded, “horrible”. Well, that may not be accurate in retrospect. I’ll need to call Soehn and upgrade it to “disappointing”, because I still think that Ryan Cordeiro was a dopey pick.

 

Gettysburg @ York College of Pennsylvania Div III (Andrew Wheeler)

Pre-season #5, York College of Pennsylvania (YCP) thumped Gettysburg 5-1 in a NCAA Division III match-up in York, PA.

EDITOR: HUH? Why are you covering Div III? Have you lost your mind?

ANSWER: There’s a senior at York that has drawn my attention. He lit up the PDL this past year to a tune of 14 goals with 5 assists in 16 games earning All-League honors and league MVP runner-up. Last year, he was a first team NSCAA Division III All-American. He was a NJCAA All-regional in 2004. The same year that Michael Randolph was a JUCO MVP. The player that I was interested in watching is Andrew Wheeler. I wanted to see if he’s ready to be a professional. Short answer, nope – not yet.

My understanding is that he was ineligible to play Division I/II because his grades were insufficient. It’s too bad, because he hasn’t had that day-to-day competition pushing him to get better and work harder. In a competitive environment, he skills and determination could be finer honed.

After watching some of the 4 best college teams (UCLA, IU, ND, MD) in the nation over the week-end, it was a let-down to watch an uninspired first half by both teams. York did much better in the second half, combining with each other to attack more quicker and unbalance Gettysburg.

Wheeler got an early goal by stealing a back pass faking the keeper and finishing the opportunity within 2 minutes of the start of the game. Then a minute later, he settled the ball and passed the ball to an open Justin Suchoski that went just wide. Wow. I was gearing up to see an exhibit of skill. It didn’t materialize.

After scoring, Wheeler wasn’t too effective. A head flick here, a flick on, a couple of step-overs. But he was generally too static. He has good dribbling skills and is a tall target (6′3″). Kind of reminds me of Jacqua (at least for being tall). Wheeler seems to like to get wide to give himself more time for his first touch and to isolate the outside defender in a 1v1 situation.

Wheeler has a hard shot but today it was erratic killing many low flying birds in the area.

His work rate was woefully inadequate. I wonder if he’s lazy because he doesn’t need to run hard to receive the ball or is it that he isn’t challenged. Perhaps, this is his personality. At times, he tries to be too clever (e.g., unnecessary back heels) that might give credence to his being bored.

The second half was much better. Wheeler took a very wide position. On one play, he headed the ball over his defender getting behind the Gettysburg defense, and centered the ball to an open Jason Mancuso who let the ball run to give himself more space and finished. On the play, Wheeler didn’t assertively put himself in a better position (rebound, pass back), instead, he did that “fake half run” (if you have ever coached kids, you know this one – half run looking like the player is working, but going nowhere).

I observed other runs/thoughts that make me wonder about his tactical complexity. Does he make the proper run? With the run, does he attack at various change of pace? Is he thinking ahead, where is the ball going, where should he be? What could unbalance the defense? I don’t think so. He’s very competent running onto a through ball or taking on a defender 1v1. I have seen him shoot with power from speed.

Luckily, I will see Wheeler two more times this year to either confirm my initial observations/suspicions or refute them. Right now, I don’t think he’s a MLS quality draft candidate.

 

7 Unheralded Players

Here’s a list of random players that impressed me last year. Some of these players are unknown (outside of their immediate family and closest friends). Others may actually have friends that know their names. lol.

Senior Stephen Reihner, from Penn State, is a talented outside defender that was able to combine with graduated senior Simon Omekanda very well. He passes well, can get forward, but most importantly, he’s a solid defender. I look forward to seeing him play in the Big 10 tournament in November.

Sean Kelley is a sophomore goal keeper for George Mason University (GMU). He was Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) rookie of the year. Additionally, he was named to the All-rookie first team by Top Drawer Soccer. I saw him play against Hofstra in 2006 that by all accounts should have been loss for GMU in the first half. Kelley kept GMU in the game that they eventually won 3-2. I’ll agree that Kelley isn’t totally unheralded – but he’s yet to become a household name. Let’s see if he can continue to impress as a sophomore.

Another goalkeeper that I saw stand on his head in 2006, is Billy Chiles from Towson University. He, also, starred against Hofstra. Wonder if it was just Hofstra? I don’t think so. He saved 16 shots and was barraged with 26 shots. He’s very athletic. He’s a senior that transferred from Rutgers. How many people can honestly say that they’ve seen him play?

Staying with the CAA, Matthijs Maruanaya, a senior midfielder at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), has one of the sweetest touches that I’ve seen. It’s so soft and well conceived. VCU had a disappointing year, but Maruanaya still earned 2nd team CAA honors.

Continuing south, Zach Shilawski is a sophomore forward for Wake Forest. In the ACC tournament, he impressed me with his speed, strength and touch. He was named to Soccer America 2nd team freshmen All-American team.

Midfielder Jeff Scannella is a scintillating dribbler at South Carolina. I saw him play a few times on TV last year and was simply amazed at his skill. He was named Freshman of the year for Conference USA.

Last year, I went to several UNC-Greensboro matches to watch their 2 All-Americans (Scott Jones and Randi Patterson), but came away more impressed with the play of Junior Defensive Midfielder Jokull Elisaberason. He’s a smart player with exceptional passing ability and terrific timing on his tackles. His corner kicks are bent with both the inside and outside of his foot.

If you knew of these seven players before reading this post, you too are a soccer junkie. Welcome to the club.   :lol:

I realize that these are all east coast players, but those are the teams that I see most often. The only teams that I saw live from the west coast in 2006 were UCSB, UCLA and San Francisco. This year, I’ll see a few more games. Live is the best way to assess. TV is ok – just not as good.

 

3 Interesting Freshmen

With the college season starting this week-end, it’s time to wrap up the players that I’m watching this year. I started this list of incoming freshmen before the U20 tournament and just haven’t come back to this until today to update.

There are three freshmen that I’m very intrigued to see play. While there are others that may be interesting, here are 3 players that I want to see if they can live up to their reputation coming into college.

The first is Anthony Ampaipitakwong. I assert that his name is larger than he is – since he’s a smallish (reported to be 5′7″ – we’ll see) attacking midfielder. His name isn’t hard to say if you break it down. I’ve been instructed that it is pronounced, am-PIE-pita-kwong. Ampaipitakwong is a five-time NSCAA boys All-American spending 2.5 years at Bradenton. As part of the Dallas Texans, he captured a national championship in 2005. He has vision and playmaking ability.

While I’m not in the “you must be tall and fast to be a soccer player” camp, college soccer can be physical. For a smaller player to be successful, he will need to be quick and alert to avoid being crushed. Ampaipitakwong will be playing for Caleb Porter at Akron. I’m planning on seeing Ampaipitakwong and Akron play at the Wake Forest tourney in September facing 2 tough ACC opponents (UNC and WF) early in the year. This will be a good test.

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Andrew Duran is the second player that I want to see play. He’s the reigning NSCAA national player of the year in 2006. He’s a two time NSCAA All-American. He’s participated with the U15 and U17 US national teams. Duran is a two way midfielder that has tremendous touch and he’s good in the air. He played for the renown Chicago Magic soccer club. He’ll be playing at Creighton University. I’m considering going out to Omaha in late September to catch Creighton play Washington and then bop over to Drake (Des Moines) to catch Northern Illinois the next day, but I can’t find a really good flight (time-wise and cost). At worst, I’ll catch them on Fox Soccer Channel against Bradley on October 10th.

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A third player that intrigues me is Ellis McLoughlin. He’s an integral part of the US U-17 team that is playing Germany in the round of 16 on Thursday, August 30 at 7am on ESPNU (congrats – if you get the channel). He has been nursing an injury and wasn’t sharp against Tunisia.

I’ve received mixed-messages about McLoughlin playing for Washington in 2007. According to this article in February 2007,

http://gohuskies.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/021607aaa.html

“…but McLoughlin will join the team in January, 2008, due to his academic schedule and a pending FIFA U-17 World Cup opportunity.”

But this preview, in August 2007, doesn’t mention that he’ll be missing time.

http://gohuskies.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/081407aab.html

“…Wurzberger notes depth as another team strength, made possible by the talented group of incoming recruits led by U-17 US national team forward Ellis McLoughlin.”

So, perhaps McLoughlin has changed his plans. I hope so, because I want to see him play in mid-September at the New Mexico tournament (UCSB, Washington, New Mexico, SMU) – Terrific tournament.

 

Three players, let’s see how they adjust!

 

O’brian White, Connecticut

O’brian White, a forward from Connecticut, received no national accolades in 2006 despite leading Connecticut in scoring for the second consecutive year. White will be a junior in 2007. This will be a very important year for him. Statistically, he has been fairly consistent in his first two years. He scored 10 goals with 8 assists in 2005 following with 7 goals and 6 assists in 2006. Sometimes stats don’t tell the whole story and the slight drop in productivity could be justified. Unfortunately, I don’t have the answer, YET. I only saw him play in 2006 on TV very early in the year. I was not impressed. He is large and rangy and appeared skillful, but he just didn’t do too much.

He’s a player to watch in 2007. I would not be surprised if he had a breakout year, leaving school early. Though he’ll need to make a impact with double digit goals and assists.

 

Omar Gonzalez, Maryland

Omar Gonzalez, an imposing defender from Maryland, didn’t receive any accolades in 2006. He will be a Sophomore in 2007. As a freshmen, he scored 1 goal and had 3 assists. Gonzalez can play central defense and forward. Because of the lack of size of the Maryland back line, he was a key component in solidifying a transitioning defense. In 2005, Maryland graduated 3 defenders (Lancos, Bertz and Glaudemans though he wound up coming back as a grad student). Gonzalez is equally adept as a forward. Sasho Cirovski, Maryland coach, would typically move him up to forward if Maryland was behind late in games – and risk giving up a goal by compromising his defense.

Gonzalez is a sturdy 6′ 5″ player that seems to enjoy playing. He is an intimating presence in the air. Additionally, Gonzalez has tremendous dribbling ability for a “big man”. He appears that he will not be on the U20 roster in Canada in July, but was in the picture earlier this year. His body positioning on defense and his acceleration need to improve before he’s ready for the MLS. He’s a player that may make a consistent contribution. Watch him.

 

Spencer Wadsworth, Duke

Spencer Wadsworth, an outside midfielder from Duke, earned 2006 Top Drawer Soccer 4th team and 2006 All-ACC 2nd team.  He will be a senior in the fall of 2007.  In 2006, Wadsworth scored 8 goals to accompany his 14 assists. In 2005, Pope scored 7 goals with 9 assists.

He is consistent and honest.  He’s pretty quick and crosses the ball well.  I think he’s going to be a player – not a star.  He runs hard and makes very good smart runs.  This type of player can be valuable for any team.  He reminds me of Wells Thompson (Wake Forest grad that New England chose with the fifth pick).

 

Zach Pope, Duke

Zach Pope, a midfielder from Duke, did not earn any accolades. He will be a senior in the fall of 2007. In 2006, Pope scored only 1 goal to accompany his 9 assists. In 2005, Pope scored 5 goals with 4 assists.

To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure why I included Pope in my watch list. I like his speed and his passing, but I’m not sure that he’s a professional candidate. In reviewing my notes, I didn’t say much about Pope, except that he’s fast but small.

I will be watching him this year – his senior year to assess. I don’t expect a lot from him.

 

Mike Grella, Duke

Mike Grella, a forward from Duke, earned 2006 Top Drawer Soccer 1st team and All-ACC 1st team honors. Grella will be a junior in the fall. In 2006, Grella led the ACC champion Duke Blue Devils in scoring with 13 goals and added 6 assists. In 2005, as a freshman, he scored 4 goals with 7 assists.

Grella is a very “shifty” player with a tremendous first touch. He plays with confidence and style. He reminds me of Clint Dempsey. His OT goal against Wake Forest captured the ACC tournament championship for Duke. He is not easy to knock off the ball and he has exceptional dribbling ability. He doesn’t have blinding speed but uses his body and deception to make space for himself. He passes very well and has above average creativity.

Grella should make a national name for himself in 2007.

 

David Estrada, UCLA

David Estrada, a 2006 freshmen forward from UCLA, was awarded Soccer America’s 2006 Freshman of the year.  Impressively, Estrada joined the UCLA team as a “walk on”.  In 2006, he led UCLA in scoring with 12 goals and added 4 assists.  In the beginning of the year, Estrada didn’t get a lot of minutes.  He only started 13 of UCLA’s 22 games. 

Against Maryland and Virginia (labor day week-end), Estrada only had a few minutes on the field.  The injury to Maxwell Griffin provided an opportunity for Estrada to get minutes. 

Against UCSB on October 5, he got his first start and scored his first goal.  By the end of the year, he had established his starting position.  He had 2 terrific goals in the NCAA final four against UVA.

I have only seen him play on TV (excluding the handful of mop-up minutes), but it’s apparent that he has tons of talent.  Estrada has terrific quickness and dribbling ability.  He shoots very accurately.  He’s someone to watch very closely.  Teams will be watching and defending him much more closely in 2007. 

I’ll make one more prediction – I bet that UCLA has him on scholarship, now!

 

Kyle Nakazawa, UCLA

Kyle Nakazawa, an attacking midfielder for UCLA, was named to the 2006 Soccer America 1st team all-Freshmen team. He was highly acclaimed coming into his freshmen year at UCLA partly because he was the starting attacking midfielder for the US U17 team that finished 5th in the FIFA U17 championship in Peru. In 2006, he had 4 goals and 8 assists including only making 1 of 3 PK. As an aside, how do you miss 2 PK? He, obviously, has skill. I question his passion. The Bruins rely on Nakazawa to start the attack. At this stage, he isn’t sufficiently competent for UCLA to depend upon as the engine.

UCLA made a trip to the east at the beginning of the season to play Maryland and Virginia. A tropical storm delayed the UCLA-Maryland game from Friday night until Saturday morning. Unfortunately, it also canceled the FSC first scheduled televised game of 2006. It also, delayed the UVA-UCLA from Sunday until Monday (Labor Day).

 

Marcus Tracy, Wake Forest

Marcus Tracy, a forward for Wake Forest, justifiably received no allocades in 2006. Tracy will be a junior in the fall of 2007. He scored 6 goals and added 4 assists. In 2005, he was injured for much of the year from a hamstring injury.

He has exceptional speed and athletism. It’s easy to see why many coaches become enamored with him. I’ll state unequivocally, though, he’s a coach killer. I’ve seen him sleep walk through 4 games only to see him awake and play agressively against UVA in the ACC semi-finals (still didn’t score – but he wasn’t grazing around the field like a sheep). Where was this intensity in the other games.

I saw Tracy play early in the year against OSU and walked away mildly disappointed. Here were my impressions:

 

Jonathan Villanueva, Virginia

Jonathan Villanueva, a midfielder from the University of Virginia (UVA), was highly acclaimed when he entered UVA in the fall of 2006 after trialing with Ajax. Some people have claimed that 2006 was a disappointment – I would dispute those claims. He had 3 goals and 5 assists as a freshmen which aren’t exceptional stats. In this case, the numbers don’t tell the whole story. He earned membership onto the 2006 Soccer America All-Freshmen team.

He has significant skill and athletic ability. More important, he works both sides (defensive as well as well as offensive). A true 2 way midfielder. He’s been playing with the U20 team. His role seems to be more as a backup to Freddy Adu (as AM) and backup to Robbie Rogers (Left Wing). I believe that he’ll shine this summer in Canada. In 2006, he was on the All-ACC freshman team.

 

Yannick Reyering, Virginia

Yannick Reyering, a forward from the University of Virginia (UVA), was a 2006 pre-season Soccer America All-American and on the full and post Hermann watch list. Reyering will be a junior in the fall. However, he’s lost a year of eligibility because of his Osnabrueck’s first team appearances. UVA successfully appealed to the NCAA to apply the loss of eligibility to be applied in his senior year rather than his freshmen year. Therefore, we should expect that Reyering will be going professional at the end of this season. I was surprised that he didn’t come out after this past season. His birthday is July 10, 1984. Therefore, he’ll only have 1 year of YI classification if he enters MLS in 2008.

 

Byron Dacy, Creighton

Byron Dacy, a forward for Creighton, was on the 2006 Hermann watch list primarily based upon his 2005 MVC Freshman of the year.  In 2006, Dacy led Creighton (Missouri Valley Conference champion) in points with 5 goals and 6 assists.  He will be a junior in the fall.  While Dacy played in all 21 Creighton games, he only started 13.  I wonder why?

In 2005, he started 19 of the 23 games tallying 9 goals and 9 assists.  It will be important for Dacy to get in his minutes and continue to score.  I reviewed the Creighton versus Yale match today and I wasn’t impressed with Dacy’s play.  He didn’t start and only played 20 minutes in the first half and another 10 in the second.  He missed a golden opportunity on a driven cross that he didn’t connect from 5 yards.

I haven’t reviewed the 2006 MVC championship championship against Bradley.  Perhaps, my opinion will change after that.  I’ll update this after I review it in June.

Regardless, I want to see Creighton live this year – though it might be difficult.¼/p>

 

Rob Valentino, University of San Francisco

Rob Valentino, a defender from the University of San Francisco (USF), was a 2006 CSN pre-season All-American. While not receiving any national awards, he awarded Western Coast Conference (WCC) player of the year in 2006, adding to his 2005 WCC defender of the year. He will be a senior in 2007-2008. In 2006, he had a goal and 6 assists (not too bad for a defender). In 2005, he had 4 goals and 2 assists.

In 2006, I saw Valentino play against Penn State. He didn’t really impress me on the defensive side. This might be more due Penn State’s incompetent attack than a deficiency on Valentino’s part. He did have a very pretty assist. From a free kick, Valentino launched a 40 yard high ball to LA Galaxy draft pick, Kevin Long, for a wonderful leaping header goal.

May be difficult for me to re-assess Valentino in 2007, since the USF tentative schedule constrains them to the west coast. Oh well, maybe TV.

UPDATE 8/26/07 – JM – Rob Valentino will miss the 2007 season because of knee surgery.

 

Rodrigo Hidalgo, University of South Florida

Rodrigo Hidalgo, a forward for University of South Florida (USF) has signed a professional contract with the Minnesota Thunder of the USL.  So — he’ll be coming off my list.

 

Ryan Anderson, Missouri State

Ryan Anderson, a forward for Missouri State, was a 2006 1st CSN pre-season All-American, a Soccer America pre-season All-American and on the Hermann Watch list.  It should be no surprise that he received no national awards following a disappointing 2006 season.  He did get 1st team All-conference and 2nd team All-region. 

In 2005, he tallied 15 goals.  In 2006, he had 4, yes 4 goals.  Assists were pretty consistent, 3 and 2, in 2005 and 2006 respectively.  He played in all 19 games, so I don’t think injury can explain the productivity drop. 

Anderson will be a senior in the fall of 2007.  I didn’t see him play in 2006, so it’s hard to either explain or condemn. I’ll continue watching him in 2007 to see if the 2005 stats are an aberration.

 

Mike Gustavson, South Carolina

Mike Gustavson, a senior goalkeeper for South Carolina (USC), was a 2006 Soccer America pre-season All-American.  In 2006, he had a GAA of 1.09 in 17 games with 70 saves and with 11 wins versus 4 losses for USC. He is one of the most renown college keepers and has had a few looks with the US U-20  team.

I didn’t get to see him play live in 2006.  However, I’ve seen him play against both SMU and UAB and he played very well.  He deserves continued observation in 2007.  I’m a little concerned about the number of goals that he’s given up in 2005 and 2006 (26 and 19 in 21 and 17 games, respectively).

Note. I’ve heard that Gustavson has left USC – let me check around.

 

Ben Nasson, Virginia Tech

Ben Nasson, a central midfielder for Virginia Tech, will be a red-shirt senior in the fall. He did not receive any national accolades in 2006. I believe that he fell out of public view because he lost all of the 2005 season (except for 2 games) to injury. In 2006, he scored 6 goals and added 11 assists.

Nasson is a very heady player. He makes very quick decisions and is a steadying influence in the back. He doesn’t make many mistakes and is a strong ball winner in midfield. His game isn’t to beat people on the dribble – though he was doing that against AU. This was more of an aberration.

Instead, his game is moving the ball, running off the ball and working hard. He continues to impress with his work rate and his honest effort.

I like him a lot. I’d watch him carefully. This is the type of player that New England targets.

 

Patrick Nyarko, Virginia Tech

Patrick Nyarko, a forward for Virginia Tech (VT), will be a junior in the fall. He was a 2006 CSN pre-season second team All-American and a Soccer America pre-season All-American. In 2006, he scored 16 goals and added 8 assists. As a freshmen in 2005, he tallied 8 goals and 6 assists.

Patrick has a problem staying healthy. I saw Patrick play early in 2006 against UMBC when he was coming back from injury. He was brought in to score a goal and then relegated back to the bench. He has exceptional speed and skill. At that time, Nyarko was gasping for air early in the 2^nd half. He reminds me of Dom Oduro (FCD), but a little smaller and significantly more spindly. VT only scored when Nyarko was on the field.

Against UMBC, his first goal was worth the price of admission. At 17:07 in the first half, he took a long pass on the near side, beat a defender with a good first touch, pulled the ball back, moving across the box, faking, driving (leaving defenders on the ground and in his wake), he finished with a sweet touch into the corner of the goal. Minutes later, he stole the ball from a bad pass from a UMBC defender, one move around the gk and calmly buried the ball into the net. The third goal, again, was because of Nyarko. He took a 40 yard pass, air dribbled over the goalie with his first touch, could have been a penalty, but Nyarko stayed up. He regained his balance and took the ball into the corner, leaving the GK trying to cut the angle. Nyarko calmly centered the ball to Vickers for the winning goal. In the ACC tournament, he was unable to lead VT past NCSU despite scoring 2 goals and adding an assist. He is a terror when on the field. The problem is getting him on the field – because of injury and/or fitness. In the spring of 2007, he’s out because of injury, again. He has a world of talent. I will be watching his minutes this year. If he can stay in shape and healthy, he’s a potential first round pick, even as youth international.

 

Charlie Campbell, Virginia Tech

Charlie Campbell, an attacking midfielder/outside midfield for Virginia Tech, will be a sophomore in the fall. He’s not on anyone’s All-American list. He’s received accolades for being on the 2006 all-ACC
freshmen team. In 2006, he scored 1 goal and added 7 assists.

I saw Charlie play early in 2006 and was stunned with his poise for a freshmen. He played against UMBC and was remarkable. He was playing AM and was doing many subtle things with the ball – putting him in good position to make a positive influence. At the time, I remarked that he reminded me of a young Steven King.

The next time that I saw Campbell play was in the opening round of the ACC against NC State, the coach, Oliver Weiss, had him playing an outside midfielder. He was not exuding the same confidence that he displayed earlier in the year. I wonder if the coach’s style is hampering his psyche. Don’t know for sure – but I was not impressed with what I saw there. I recently saw

Campbell play in the spring of 2007 against American University and University of Penn – he was still playing outside. His touch was lacking and the tentativeness was still exhibited. Against Penn, he played forward and was more aggressive. I think that Campbell may not get an opportunity to play AM this year with Nasson and Reed both playing central midfield. He will need to develop to make a professional impact.

 

Stephen King, Maryland

Stephen King, an attacking midfielder for the University of Maryland, was a 2005 Soccer Times honorable mention All-American.  He was a key member of the 2005 National Champions.  King will be a senior in the fall.  2006 was a substandard year for King.   I would classify the year as a disappointment.  King scored 6 goals with 7 assists in 2006.  The prior year (2005), he scored 15 goals with 8 assists.  In his freshmen year, he scored 7 goals and tallied 5 assists.  So, his productivity was equivalent to his freshmen productivity.  He’s going to have to do better. 

The biggest difference in 2006 was the lack of an experience forward that he had in 2004 (Abe Thompson/Jason Garey) and 2005 (Jason Garey).  Graham Zusi (sophomore) and Jason Herrick (freshmen) didn’t frighten other ACC teams up top.  Also, losing Robbie Rogers (to Holland) right before the season may have affected him.  But, that’s an excuse.  King is going to need to play better if he hopes to play in MLS.

 I have watched and admired King since his freshmen year.  His passing is extra-ordinary.  He is able to give himself time on the ball by brilliant first touches.  He plays strong and isn’t easy to knock off the ball.  He is able to score goals by making good runs.  He understands the game. 

 He may have a tough senior year.  With Mo Edu and Chris Seitz both leaving early (and the aforementioned Rogers), King is going to be the only senior in the attacking positions.  With Edu gone, I wouldn’t be surprised if King is slotted back into a defensive midfielder position which might be beneficial for his professional prospects.  Zusi seems comfortable in the attacking midfield position.¼/p>

 

Kevin Forrest, Washington

Kevin Forrest, a forward from the University of Washington, was selected to the 2006 2nd team CSN All-American team. 

<== Maybe it’s me and my hair-envy – but why? You can’t think the hair looks good?? 

Forrest will be a red-shirt Senior in the fall.  In 2006, he scored 16 goals with 1 assist.  He sat out 2005 with a foot injury.  He had a slight knee injury in 2006 and sat out two games.   In 2004, he scored 9 goals and 3 assists.  Forrest was not on my watch list at the beginning of 2006. 

I have 1 game on tape that I’ll review in May to watch him specifically – I was watching Ty Harden to prepare for the 2006 MLS combine. 

Questions for this year: 

• Will he be able to stay healthy? 
• Will he be productive? 

I suspect with Ellis McLoughlin getting some attention that it might help Forrest.  Additionally, with Raphael Cox and Jo Jo Katz still providing service, all signs suggest for a very productive year for Forrest.

 

Paulo da Silva, Southern Methodist University

Paulo da Silva, a forward from Southern Methodist University (SMU), was selected for 2006 Soccer America pre-season All-American team.  In the fall of 2007, da Silva will be a Junior.  In 2006, he scored 3 goals with 4 assists in 13 games.   Unfortunately, the 3 games that SMU was on TV, da Silva did not appear in any of them.  So, I didn’t get a chance to see him in 2006.  In 2005, as a freshman, he had a hard time getting on the field due to his lack of fitness.  However, by the end of the season, he was a terror in the Conference USA (C-USA) and NCAA tournaments.  In 2006, he was beset with injuries and missed almost half the season.

 He deserves a look in 2007.  I have many questions:

• Does he do the work to be able to play the game without the coach overseeing him?  Professionalism.
• Can he stay healthy for an entire season?  Durability.
• Can he still be a goal scorer?  Productivity.
• Is he special?  Difference maker.