December 13th, 2008 . 4:24 pm . By: Buzz Carrick

Don’t talk to me about aesthetics or tradition. Talk to me about what sells and what’s good right now. And what the American people like is to think the underdog still has a chance. - George Steinbrenner

On Friday the NCAA College Cup kicked off in Dallas for the first time up at Pizza Hut Park.  SMU was the host school with a little help from FC Dallas.  These games are always a load of fun and one can hope this is the first of many College Cups at PHP.  Hey Hitch, the men’s College Cup 2010 has no bids in on it yet!

El Bueno (The Good)

The revelation of the day for me was Maryland’s Graham Zusi.  Early on in the second game I wasn’t too impressed.  He’s playing as a attacking mid but doesn’t really have nifty feet or terrific passing vision.  What he does have is a terrific shot and an amazing ability to turn and get it off and on net.  Even more impressive is as the game went on and players tired, he began to impose himself on play.  Will power is not a teachable skill.  A passing comment from another scribe solidified it for me, he’s playing out of position.  He needs to be a second striker or slashing kind of high wing.  IMO He’s got enough for the next level if he plays up top but will be a bust in midfield.  Zusi was the clear Man of the Match in the second game.  His game winner on the free kick was a pure class and would have beaten any keeper in MLS.

Arguably the best player on the field got the game-winning goal.  Graham Zusi was outstanding. – Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski

We’ve been working on those all season. I just wanted to give it a chance. – Maryland senior midfielder Graham Zsui

The Wake team from last year was the best College team I had ever seen, and this team is even better… and they lost.  Advanced tactics, terrific coaching, and superb talent in the first 11 (almost all of whom are pro prospects) make for a terrific team.  They are one of the few college teams that plays like pros do.  Marcus Tracy, Sam Cronin, almost certainly Ike Opara, and perhaps Corben Bone & Cody Arnoux are all headed for the pros this year.  Seniors Lahoud, Adams, and Brown all have a shot at making the next level but are less assured.   That’s a boat load of skill, will we ever see a team like this again?

Impressive tactics and game plan by UNC.  They needed a few standout individual performances to make it work, but it worked.  On paper the Tar Heels were overmatched, but games aren’t played on paper.  They pressed Wake high up the field and took the Deacons out of their game in the first half, much like MLS teams did to Morrow’s FCD side in the first half of 08.  UNC dared Wake to go over the top and/or wide and that worked.  The tactics ruined Wake in the first half, the second half was a different story as Wake pounded the UNC net.  UNC held on, thanks mostly to the next point below.

Congratulations to North Carolina and their chances to win a national championship – hats off to Coach Bolowich and his boys. We just didn’t play the first 45 minutes, and the value of the first goal is just huge. – Wake Forest coach Jay Vidovich

I think the team overall was out of rhythm.  As a result we weren’t getting the ball up to the forwards and playing at the speed that we are used to playing. It was a combination of us being a little nervous at the beginning and Carolina throwing us off our game. – Wake Forest senior forward Marcus Tracey.

Brooks Haggerty was the Man of the Match in game one.  What a performance.  He’s a bit slow of foot, but his positional sense is superb and he looks a solid shot stopper when in position.  Full credit to him today as he was completely on top of his game.  Having suffered a concussion prior to this year, he missed the bulk of the regular season but had come in and re-taken the starting job just before the ACC tourney.  Faith from the coach paid off in this one as his seven saves won the game for UNC.  Just a remarkable performance.

Wake Forest had a lot of attacks – I am real happy with how our team played. I just concentrated on not letting the ball in, not letting anything in. – UNC junior goalkeeper Brooks Haggerty

Wake is a rare team these days as they have top flight senior talent.  Due to Generation adidas, most the truly bright and talented players in college are underclassmen.  Maryland & UNC for example are keyed by and stocked with young talent.  For UNC you have the boat load of US Youth players: Billy Schuler, Cameron Brown,  Kirk Urso, and Sheanon Williams.  Add to that Dallas Texans forward Bill Dworksy, FCD’er Dax McCarty’s little brother Dustin, and FCD Youth player David Rodriguez and they should be good for some time.  Maryland starts with Jason Herrick (Their best talent IMO) and Casey Townsend, plus they have Red Bulls youth product Matt Kassel, who I thought was better than the senior that started in front of him, and a freshman starting keeper Zac MacMath.  A freshman keeper in the title match?  Good grief, that’s Chris Seitz kind of territory.

The bright point for St John’s was their senior keeper Neal Kitson.  He’s not a dead solid lock but he has a shot at the next level.  In particular he showed some good lateral quickness in this game stopping several terrific blasts form Zusi.  He was the best keeper at this final four today and is probably the main reason for the Red Storm’s terrific season goals against total.  I’m looking forward to seeing how he compares at the MLS Combine.

I’m very proud of these guys. They played very well the whole game. Maryland is a very explosive team to play and they played well all season. Neal [Kitson] had a great game and a great season. He had a very tough assignment tonight. – St John’s Coach Dave Masur

One other surprise for me was Rich Costanzo of Maryland.  He’s a converted midfielder playing right back and while he didn’t have to play a ton of defense today, what he did do was attack going forward.  He was able to beat multiple players at a time on the dribble and get balls into the box.  Looks like he plays with his head up and can combine as well.  That’s the kind of talent that can translate to the next level.  Can he make a Jonathan Bornstein type transition?

El Camino Central (Middle of the Road)

Unfortunately the St John’s non-existent offense meant the Maryland defense wasn’t challenged.  I really wanted to see how they would hold up to some attacking play.  I like Omar Gonzalez having seen him in Dallas many a time, but I wanted to see how he and the tiny Delagarza combined when under pressure.  Maybe the next game.

We just knew that we needed to keep them in front of us.  – Maryland junior defender Omar

What I expect on Sunday is that they are going to come at us and we aren’t going to have as much time with the ball.  – Gonzalez

Sam Cronin is a terrific player.  He has great touch and is a very good passer as demonstrated by playing a-mid last year for the champs down the stretch.  But over all, and in particular today, he’s not hard enough.  He doesn’t punish people for trying to play through the middle.  He has great range to cover the middle alone, but he just doesn’t make it painful to go through there.  He needs to take some notes from Simo Valajari.  Add that to his game and he could be special.

I was a bit disappointed with St John’s heralded defender Joel Gustafsson.  He didn’t make any mistakes or anything like that, but he looks like the feet are a bit slow, both on the ball and in terms of proper body re-positioning.  I was left with the distinct feeling that the great defense on this team is more about the tactics and the keeper than it is about Gustafsson in particular.  Granted he’s their best defender, but not nearly in the class of Opara.

No Tan Bueno (Not So Good)

It’s a shame on a enjoyment level that Wake lost.  Not to take anything from UNC, but I really wanted to see Wake play again.  Such a beautiful team.  It’s like going to InterLiga and watching that beautiful Pachuca team lose to a gritty team that beats them up.  I would have relished the Wake/Maryland final as the two most advanced teams.  Although to be fair I think the UNC/Maryalnd final will now be a more balanced game.  Should be a good one.

We are honored and delighted to have to opportunity to play on Sunday. It is a goal that we set up at the beginning of the year, to have a chance to play on the biggest stage in college soccer. We know North Carolina well and we have a great deal of respect for their coaches and their players. We have had a couple of highly competitive games with them already and we expect Sunday to be another great, tough battle against a team that is playing its best soccer of the year. We’re looking forward to that challenge, and we’re ready. – Cirovski

Wake’s Zack Schilawski is an interesting talent.  On any other team he would be a starter and all conference kind of player.  On the Wake team he’s a bench super sub.  As many shots as he got today though, he could have and should have won the game for Wake if his finishing would have been up to it.  He’s gonna have to take up for the Marcus Tracy absence next year, and maybe Arnoux too, so it’ll be a heavy burden on him.  Will he rise to the occasion?

The worst thing on this day was the horrible St john’s style and tactics.  They play a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield ostensibly, but in reality the d-mid drops into the back line and it’s more of a 5-3-2.  It’s just brutal to watch.  They sit very deep and try and steal a goal on the counter.  There was almost zero chance they were going to score.  It looked like they were playing for the shootout form the fist whistle.  Look, I’m all for doing what you have to do to try and win, but at least try and play some soccer.  The tactics form the get go just killed the second game and made it boring to watch.  I hope that was just a player reaction to the pressure and not the coach’s idea.

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