MLS Tourist Journal, Calendar Week 4: The Freighted Meaning of U.S. v. Panama and Pity Martinez

Why do they call me Pity, you ask?

Yeah, yeah, I won’t get to the Portland Timbers and FC Cincinnati until the end. But a little something significant takes place tomorrow evening, tomorrow night for the east coast audience, and things will just flow better if I bury that. Won’t blame anyone who spot-reads these things, ever. Moving on.

Professional soccer players (as opposed the Kombine Kids) will kick a ball around for the first time in 2019 tomorrow night. It’ll be a competitive experience, even if it isn’t a competitive event. When the U.S. Men’s National Team plays formerly lowly Panama tomorrow night – formerly, because who made the 2018 World Cup? – I can’t say how many eyes will be on them, but I expect fairly intense interest among the eyeballs they do draw. Here’s why:

“Hire the wrong coaches? Yes. Cut the wrong players? Yes. Pick the wrong teams? Yes. Fail to develop or integrate a half-decade's worth of young talent? Yes. Show gaps in the regional armor with losses to teams we should dominate like Guatemala, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago? Yes. Miss the Olympics twice? Yes. Miss the World Cup?”

That commentary, lifted from Matt Doyle’s 48-hour preview, covers just about every ingredient that led to the bad taste that’s lingered in your mouth since the U.S. Men last played. I can’t even say when the U.S. played last for the same reason you don’t go to a substitute teacher for parent-teacher conferences. Everyone understood that Dave Sarachan wouldn’t be guiding the team to 2022, so it made sense to wait until the guy who will stepped up. And, hello, Gregg Berhalter!

I read the usual handful of sources (so, so lazy) to get myself prepared for tomorrow’s game, both mentally and emotionally, but, with this being Berhalter’s first game out, no one really knows what to expect. Jurgen Klinsmann (one of my obsessions) changed my understanding of U.S. Soccer, in that he expanded the range of what is possible. In so many words, I’d grown up on steady progress, I’d internalized the idea that the team would improve, maybe without much in the way of style or excitement, and certainly with a couple set-backs, but steadily. Jurgen undermined all that in such an insidious way that one has to wonder whether he wasn’t some kind of Manchurian candidate. I remember watching Klinsmann’s first game in charge. It wasn’t pretty, but that also didn’t seem important given that Klinsmann would slowly make the U.S. his team…I don’t know that that ever happened. I’m not sure anyone knows whether that happened…

I don’t think Berhalter gets that same cushion of trust and patience; call burning his successor’s grace period Klinsmann’s parting gift to the domestic game. I read/watched four things in total – e.g., a video where a couple MLS Personalities talked about who to watch tomorrow night, plus another Doyle analysis that, I’d argue, over-inflates the significance of some of Berhalter’s final cuts – but the preview that came closest to my mindset going in came from MLS Personality, Bobby Warshaw. I wasn’t alone: Doyle nabbed a sentence from Warshaw’s piece into his 48-hour preview:

“We won’t get all of the answers in the two upcoming friendlies, but we should get a clear glimpse.”

For what it’s worth, I think Doyle pulled the wrong one. I think this one’s better:

“Not who starts, or what formation the team plays, or how they play (although I’m also very interested in those). It’s what Berhalter prioritizes.”

The second most grating thing about the Klinsmann era was the persistent sense that his players didn’t know what they were doing on the field; a metaphysical shrug seemed to precede every pass not shared across the back four. As such, that’s what I’ll be looking for: that the players look like they know how to move around the field, both offensively and defensively, and that their teammates have some understanding of their patterns. After that, I’m looking for corrections – e.g., if Panama keeps finding advantages in different parts of the field, I hope to stop seeing those same breakdowns 10-15 minutes later. I could be misreading Warshaw’s point, or stretching it to fit my own interpretation, but that’s what I get out of it.

Oh, and Doyle’s commentary on Kellyn Acosta in that final cuts piece is worth reading. I think Acosta got cut because he’s a known quantity – i.e., Berhalter needs to learn more about the other guys who play a similar position – but Doyle’s also not wrong in his comments on Acosta.

Pity and No Pity

Rather than list every transfer that caught my eye over the past week - but, I did like the Philadelphia Union picking up Aurelien Collin, the Chicago Fire re-upping with Johan Kappelhof, and I’m seeing healthy ambition in enough parts of Major League Soccer – I wanted to draw a strained comparison between one of the biggest (or most expensive) arrivals in MLS history, Atlanta United FC’s signing of River Plate’s Pity Martinez, and what the move means for a specific set of players coming into MLS.

First, if you didn’t listen to Friday’s ExtraTime Radio, they had some interesting, even lightly deflating things to say about Martinez; if you don’t want to take the time, the short version came with questioning whether he’d prove better than Miguel Almiron; also, if Martinez does pull that off…oh, shit. On the pedigree side, though, Martinez really is a monster signing: a player in his prime, leaving one of the hemisphere’s biggest club for the U.S., and as the reigning South American Player of 2018 – i.e., last fucking year. The opposite of washed-up, in other words; this is a case of MLS signing an actual name that means something, while also sounding like a character in a movie (“why do they call you Pity?” [Cue: an achingly slow smile, followed by a pile of exotically flayed corpses, then a one-liner, and…scene.]).

Over the past week, and for whatever reason, it was the signing of homegrown players that really caught my attention. I don’t know any more about these players than, say, the “Romanian attacker” (Alexandru Mitrita) that reportedly has New York City FC on his tail than I do about (to name two) Justin Haak for NYCFC or Cade Cowell, who, at 15, became the youngest-everhomegrown player signed to an MLS team, in this case the San Jose Earthquakes. The future might be unknowable - both Haak and Cowell could be frying your churro in 10 years’ time – but, in the present, they both just signed with teams in the same league as Martinez. That idea is what caused this stray thought from Doyle’s 48-hour preview to catch my eye:

“With the US there is currently no true No. 10 to pick from (Mihailovic would probably be the closest on this roster, while kids like Alex Mendez, Richie Ledezma, Andrew Carleton and Gianluca Busio – to name four – are all in the pipeline and are experiencing/have experienced various degrees of success).”

I know where three of those guys play, so I also know (or believe) they’re not getting a ton of minutes. Another thing: a player that fits the title of “a true No. 10” is a Holy Grail type guy, the “CAM” that every team will talk about “needing” for as long as there are soccer teams, which is funny given how many teams don’t actually have this allegedly necessary “true No. 10” on its roster (to clarify, there are as many ways to skin a cat as there are ways to get to goal). I wouldn’t be surprised if not even one of those players comes good; youth development ain’t the lottery or anything, but, with all the intangibles in play, it’s definitely more art than science.

But that’s the beauty of this moment: if any of those players do come good, they’ll have made it in the same league where Pity Martinez plays, or Almiron, or Sebastian Giovinco, or even Diego Valeri. They’re coming into a league that, each year, the bar for starting minutes keeps rising, or has recently. The implications of that go beyond the “true No. 10s” to every homegrown player who makes it in MLS: it’s not just American creative players who have to improve to keep up with the influx of foreign talent, it’s the defenders who have to stop that same foreign talent – or, eventually, the homegrown talent who beats out that foreign talent. I’m in no way claiming that tipping point has arrived, or even that the idea that American players will face better competition in Europe has been upended. What I am absolutely saying, though, is that these homegrown kids are stepping into the sharpest proving ground that has ever existed in United States Soccer. And, by extension, the guys who survive that will be better players for it.

Speaking strictly as a fan – and not, say, as someone who wants to see a better pool for the U.S. Men – more, please. I want to see American players succeed as much as the next guy, but watching better soccer week in and out works as compensation for me.

Portland Timbers: Identifying Baby Steps

Over the past week, the Timbers either officially signed or re-signed Claude Dielna, Andres Flores, Steve Clark, and Tomas Conechny. Raise your hand if you believe those slick maneuvers will win the league for Portland. Anyone?

To be a bit of a shit about it, I would have foregone announcing the signing of Flores or Clark and hope people just sort of accepted it the same way they accept the weather. I’m a little more invested Conechny, if without reason or evidence, but expecting a great 2019 out of him feels like using lottery tickets for investment purposes, something we’re all explicitly warned against doing (if in quickly-mumbled background voice-overs). As for Dielna, I think Gavin Wilkinson made a pretty good case for embracing the signing – specifically, that he’s not coming in as a building block, but as an experienced hand to carry the Timbers through a season, maybe two. He also talked about it in terms of giving Bill Tuiloma and Julio Cascante – two young-ish players – time to grow into starting center-backs…you be the judge of how well you expect that to come off.

It’s the other side of the field where the news gets…complicated. The Timbers have been linked to two forwards, Julian Quinones (currently with Mexico’s Tigres) and Ezequiel Ponce (currently with AEK Athens). One player (Quinones) is 21, the other (Ponce) is 23, and, to pose the question I asked myself in my notes: Am I excited about either player? Meh. Do I hate that Portland might sign either of them? No.

(Again) ExtraTime Radio talked about both players, and they generally agreed that Quinones (a winger) makes more sense for what the Timbers need; Ponce is, apparently, just a No. 9, and that just confuses me because having a good No. 9 would solve a lot of problems for Portland, etc. The quest for good forwards continues on a parallel track to the Portland Trailblazers eternal quest for a good center, or at least one who doesn’t break so damn easily, so maybe that’s where that fixation comes from and maybe that’s why it’s best to ignore it. Still, and no disrespect to the still-developing Jeremy Ebobisse, even one quality, consistent, 12+ goal forward/striker could turn Portland’s 2019 into the glorious swan-song that would provide the perfect second act and/or ending to the sterling careers for Valeri, Diego Chara, and Sebastian Blanco.

And, sure, maybe Quinones (or Ponce) will pan out. Delusional as it is to hope for Portland to land a big, name-worthy signing, it remains perfectly natural to hope for that. Absent that, though, what you hope for is a little hype – e.g., the buzz we (or just I) got when Blanco signed. I’m not getting that yet and, if I said I didn’t want it, I’d be a goddamn liar.

With preseason kicking off any day now (but which happens to be as soon as January 30*, HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH!), speculative posts like this will stop and get replaced with sweet, sweet data. The business of building a soccer team isn't unlike running scientific experiments: putting together a roster and getting the best out of it is the "materials and methods" portion, but you only find out how all that worked with, yes, results. For the Timbers, we'll be getting results, no matter how tenuously meaningful, on the following dates: @ Deportivo Saprissa, February 4; @ Herediano, February 7; the Seattle Sounders in Tucson, February 13; against the New York Red Bulls in Tucson, February 16; at Phoenix Rising (close enough for them), February 20; against RSL in Tucson, February, 23. I'll watch and report on as many of those as I can get to. Personally, I'm hoping to get a lot of the looks at the depth in those games, for that is my greatest area of concern.

(* A couple teams have already played preseason games, but I went with January 30 for an official start on the grounds that that's the first time two MLS teams will square off. Speaking of one of them...)

FC Cincinnati: Is That All There Is? Just the One Position?

After sand-bagging for a month or so, Roland Lamah finally signed with FC Cincinnati. If current trends hold, he might be the generally attacking player FC Cincy will sign for 2019 – or, on the evidence, ever.

It has been a puzzling week of roster building for the Queen City franchise. In a fun twist, the singing that made the least sense on paper – e.g., American midfielder Caleb “Two Panko, One” Stanko – drew the least ire. His signing grew the glut of defensive and box-to-box midfielders to the conceptual/experimental art heights of whether a team needs players at any other positon in order to succeed (e.g., “playing a forward is a bourgeoisie extravagance! wingers lack a purity of intent!)”. All in all, FC Cincinnati seems to be building a team that will neither lose nor win a game through 2019. As such, you’d think that the strangest thing they did all week. Nope.

When FC Cincinnati rescued Nick Hagglund from Toronto FC’s (potential) garbage heap, the general take was that they spent drunken-sailor money in a thrift shop. Writing in Goal.com, Ives Galarcep worried (overly, forme) about market-distorting impacts. To note the price paid for Hagglund, “Cincinnati traded $300,000 in allocation money and the top spot in the MLS allocation ranking, a valuable asset estimated to be worth another $250,000 in allocation on the trade market.” Is that a lot of money and/or resources, and for a cast off they could have got cheaper? Probably.

I came at Hagglund’s signing less from a price-point argument than one that followed from seeing this as filling a position of need. Based on my read on their roster, FC Cincinnati needed another CB. And, by signing Hagglund, they got one – 26 years old, and a hometown kid to boot. (Not that I care, but I’ve read that people do). In other words, this checked a big box for me and, so long as it didn’t mean forgoing signing other players in positions just as needed (e.g., their best-possible attacking midfielder), I don’t see why they wouldn’t go for it.

As with Portland, I wanted to list the preseason schedule for FC Cincinnati. Again, I’ll watch as many of these as I can (please archive the goddamn video streams!) and pass on notes when I do. Anyway, here’s the schedule: against Montreal Impact in Florida, January 30; against Colorado Rapids in Florida, February 2; against DC United in Florida, February 7; at Indy Eleven (where they’ll play former teammates, bring tissues!), February 12; at Charleston Battery, February 16; against the Chicago Fire in Charleston, February 20; and against Columbus Crew SC in Charleston, February 23.

For the record, I’ll be more excited about what FC Cincinnati does during the preseason than the Timbers, on the grounds that the learning curve, both theirs and mine, is steeper. Where conflicts arise, I’ll probably focus more on them. That’ll change, however, when the regular season kicks off.

Right. Gotta cook. I’m out. Talk at all y’all tomorrow after the U.S. v. Panama!