February 27th, 2008 . 10:26 am . By: Buzz Carrick

I don’t understand. All my life I’ve been waiting for someone and when I find her, she’s… she’s a fish. – Allen Bauer

We found out this morning the scrimmage would be on field 8 out at PHP.  Man was it cold standing on the side line.  I’ve withstood  worse, but my socks were to thin and that sucks.  And the sprinkler debacle didn’t help.

FCD again red hoops and a 3-4-3 formations, SMU is in their blue uniforms and play in a flat 4-4-2 as apposed to their usual diamond four.

FCD

SMU

I didn’t bother to track all their subs, but here’s the starting lineup.  Some of their players I know well enough to know I got right, a few I had to use the SMU roster so I just assume they are right.  Arguably three of SMUs better players, Leone Cruz, Scott Geppert, and Ryan Mirsky, were notably absent; or at least when I was looking I couldn’t find them.  I did notice #13 Paulo da Silva in the second half.

so on with the notes…

SMU 0, FCD 0

El Bueno (The Good)

FCD, particularly in the first half, was playing very quickly.   The mental pace was superb and fast, notably through the right side between McCarty, Rocha, and Alvarez.  Moor also combined on that side, although I want to see him pass just a touch crisper.  I love the high mental pace of play and the danger it created.  The left side needs to match this speed.  FCD controlled the possession in the first half.

“I thought for the first half, we controlled the game for the first 30 minutes and created some chances. The only thing that was missing for us was a couple of goals. There were a lot of pleasing things and it was a good workout.”

Anyone else on board with my Rocha love fest now?  He was really good in the first half, showing terrific touch and ball skill as well as good vision.  He made one or two misreads of Alvarez and Dax and immediately owned up to them and shifted his timing playing in combination there.  He had the best shot on goal in the first half about 10 minutes in from about 35 yards.  Really strong performance.

“I thought [Rocha] did well. He’s starting to settle in and we’re starting to see his qualities. He has great range, great fitness and gets around the field well. I would like to see him get forward a little more as well. He’s a good passer, works very hard and is a very honest player as well.” – Steve Morrow

David Wagenfuhr has been playing well, he continued with a solid game tonight.  He’s never going to be a game breaker but he can run all day and is looking quicker this spring.  Not a lot of danger came down the left side, but Wags is solid enough to make it very difficult for Wagner, and apparently Wallace, to win the starting spot at left wingback.

Roberto Mina did more in first 5 minutes than Ricardinho did in the first half.  Mina played higher and made it more of a two man front with Rico a lone winger who would change sides.  It would have been nice if Mina had scored, but he got in more dangerous spots and created more dangerous chances than any other forward.  He’s capable of that high speed mental play that I was talking about above.  Morrow wasn’t as generous as I was, admittedly Mina should have scored and his fitness still isn’t good enough.

“He had one or two chances. He could’ve done better with a couple of situations. He did OK.” – Steve Morrow

Duilio Davino is always there for the timely tackle or boot out of bounds.  It will take some time but I want him directing traffic more.  Drew Moor was doing more of the talking in the back.  Since Moor and Serioux are not native Spanish speakers, the communication will take some ironing out.  If it’s going to be those three they need to play together every game till the season starts.

Boy howdy was it nice to see Pablo Ricchetti get some minutes.  I could immediately see the class he brings in the middle with his touch and ball control.  He dictates pace breaks up plays and tackles well.  There was some rust as he had one or two giveaway passes, but I thought he was better than Saragosa. 

“I feel good. I need more games but for right now, I feel OK. There’s not too much to say. The field wasn’t good and it was too cold. It was good for us to play a little bit but we need more days and more work. I need more games and more minutes but I’m OK.” – Pablo Ricchetti

I really liked the swapping of sides by Ricardinho and Alvarez, and later Mina and then Oduro.  I would like to see some of it on the run and playing off Cooper, but in general the movement kept SMU on their heels in the first half.  Thompson and Cooper both stayed very central channel.

SMU has one clear MLS level player in Bruno Guarda who was a monster today.  He outplayed one or two FCD midfielders as usual.  He also got into a lot of smack talking with FCD’s Brazilians as well as Dax McCarty.  My boy Jeff Harwell, who I really love to watch and has possible MLS potential in my mind, was sharp as well.  He caused McCarty and Moor to work very hard.

El Camino Central (Middle of the Road)

Unfortunately SMU had almost nothing up front to really challenge Davino et el, and didn’t get much of anything on net to give Burse and Kennedy any work.

Serioux was average for him, but I suppose I have high standards for a player of his level.  He really covers a lot of ground and appears to have moved to top of the list at left center back ahead of Alex Yi.  There is a burden to pass well from the outside defender spots in the back three which is a place he’s much better than Alex.  Serioux and Moor both having played holding midfield in their career’s are the best choices at the outer two spots in this back three.

Anthony Wallace played the second half at left wingback. That’s interesting.  While he didn’t blow my mind, I was intrigued enough to want to see him more out there.  It also makes me think that no one has grabbed that left wingback spot and locked it down.  Wallace certainly looked good at left back for the U20s and has the tools to be a tremendous wingback.

No Tan Bueno (It’s Not Good)

The sprinklers turned on in the first half and got both teams as well as the fans on the opposite side wet.  It wasn’t effecting the game much until a set came on in the playing surface with 2 minutes left in the first half..  Seriously, that’s ridiculous.  It’s not so much the impact on play, but rather the amateurishness of it that annoys me.  Is there no field manager who’s job it is to coordinate field use with things like maintence and watering?

I also wonder why FCD is playing SMU on some ancillary field late at night.  FCD’s owner is an Alumni of the University, SMU is the only local college program and, with apologies to West Texas A&M, by far the best in the state.  FCD has built relationships with Tulsa, West Texas A&M, and Memphis which are nice to have; but SMU should be treated differently.  I want to see the SMU game turned into a spring event.  I’m not saying make it big cup or anything, but put it in the main stadium and give it a name.  Maybe even get a sponsor of two, make the small gate it would get for charity or something.  Just treat it as more than a simple scrimmage.

“It’s like Steve (Morrow) said before the game, it (the SMU game) is almost like a local derby. We play them every year in preseason and they’re always a good test for us. They came out intense and want a result. We also want a result and it’s a fun game.” – Drew Moor

Goals, or more specifically the lack of them, is a problem.  Someone needs to be able to score on this team.  It perhaps underlines the need for a marquee striker to be the focus of the attack.  Cooper will be fine as he looks strong so far this spring, but FCD needs two or three good strikers, not one.  I would have said FCD didn’t get enough dangerous positions, but morrow seemed to think they had the opportunity but just didn’t take them.

“We had our chances for sure. I think we were solid in the back. They didn’t have too many shots on goal and it was a good display defensively. We had enough shots but didn’t take them.” – Steve Morrow

Marcelo Saragosa is a solid player, I like having him in the squad.  But tonight it was clear, particularly in comparison to Rocha, Alvarez, and McCarty, that he just isn’t mentally playing fast enough.  He’s taking that half a second longer to make a decision with the ball and move it on.  Against SMU it was disjointing the flow through midfield and made the left side ineffective.  That will kill you in MLS. 

Polish defender Mariusz Mowlik played the last 20 minutes.  He didn’t play badly, I put it in the bad section because it was such a short stint. Not that I’m making the decision, but I really would have liked to see him for an entire half to try and judge what he might bring to the team if signed.  In 20 minutes you can’t tell squat about a guy.

Michael Dello-Russo might be in trouble.  When he came in for McCarty the possession vanished in the midfield and the right side stopped working.  After Avila came in for Saragosa SMU took control of the midfield and spent the most of the last 20 in the FCD half of the field.  Dello-Russo is behind Moor and Daniels at right center back, and behind McCarty, Rhine at right wing back.  Add to that the multiple reports I have gotten from staff and players that Abdus Ibrahim is having a sensational spring.  Ibbe is likely already past Dello and could soon be ahead of Rhine.

Bit of a disconnect between Copper and his two wing men, Ricardinho and Alvarez.  Not unusual for Ricardinho to be on different page than everyone else, but Alvarez and Cooper need to play together a bunch some time soon.  There is no blame here, this kind of instinctive reading of each other comes with time together on the field.  They simple need to play more together in this system.

I’m not sold on 3-4-3 system. My chief complain is the high wings.  They tend to cover up and hinder the wingbacks.  When you have talent like Wagner and McCarty on the wings they need to be able to get forward to have effect.  The 3-4-3 stifles that forward movement and is to reliant on the high wingers’ ability to play one vs one.  This system best fits a team with extraordinary world class talent for those high wings.  FCD has talent there, but not world beaters.  The 3-4-3 does allow the wingbacks to sit deeper and be more possession oriented types who can defend, but that can make for stagnate of play in midfield.  The 3-4-3 also takes a player maker out of the middle and makes it harder to hold possession up the gut of the field, something FCD really needs come August.

Off to brazil…

Categories: 120 Fahrenheit.

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