Post by Pounder on Oct 12, 2006 8:45:01 GMT -5
Edition #1 - How not to scout!
I actually have a notion that it's better, more often than not, to recruit the best player off a bad team than it is to get the second or third best player off a great team. "More often than not" are the key words.
This of course, provided convenient justification for me to attend a Nevada-Las Vegas home game and call it scouting. When a team has nine losses, two draws, and nada in the win column, perhaps better advice should be heeded. OTOH, I did go to the Real Salt Lake match the night before; any other trip from there would have been impossible.
Semi-local connection at UNLV: Cole McCool is one of an apparent clan of playing McCools out of Bend. Cole is a senior centerback and co-captain. He definitely kept the communication flowing out there... probably the extent of the positives I can provide, other than that it seemed to me he never got burned on the ball.
You know it's going bad when the match is right around 20 minutes and you find yourself writing about the home team, "makes Bobby Ball look refined." I've seen college games with far more pace than this, making one-touch the rule by necessity (and that's really not pretty to watch), but UNLV insisted on one-touch banging about recklessly by choice.
The other team, San Jose State, eventually brought me the note "workmanlike, but they don't work for each other." If I got any value out of this, it might be in midfielder Diego Soto, who seemed to ably transition between defensive mid and attacking mid given all the subs. I saw him jam UNLV possession three of the four times they actually tried it and create instant opportunities out of them... all of which went unfinished, of course. Thing is, I don't see his name on any of the western PDL rosters (hometown is King City, CA, not too far south of San Jose), and I know there was a dumb foul or two on his part, so my observation probably means nada.
The two SJSU goals were kind of heartbreaking. San Jose manages a half-cross/half-shot which clears the 'keeper's reach, McCool tries to glance the ball away from the goal, but heads it in instead. I thought the ball was on its way in anyway, one person in front of me didn't think so, our viewing angle sucked, so be it. The second goal for SJSU was a shot by the rather active Japanese outside midfielder that sort of corkscrewed its way between the UNLV keeper's forearm and hip into the net. A late UNLV goal was too little, too late.
Please feel free to add reports of Portland or Oregon State games here... or Washington, if you dare head up there for one of the top-ranked western teams.
I actually have a notion that it's better, more often than not, to recruit the best player off a bad team than it is to get the second or third best player off a great team. "More often than not" are the key words.
This of course, provided convenient justification for me to attend a Nevada-Las Vegas home game and call it scouting. When a team has nine losses, two draws, and nada in the win column, perhaps better advice should be heeded. OTOH, I did go to the Real Salt Lake match the night before; any other trip from there would have been impossible.
Semi-local connection at UNLV: Cole McCool is one of an apparent clan of playing McCools out of Bend. Cole is a senior centerback and co-captain. He definitely kept the communication flowing out there... probably the extent of the positives I can provide, other than that it seemed to me he never got burned on the ball.
You know it's going bad when the match is right around 20 minutes and you find yourself writing about the home team, "makes Bobby Ball look refined." I've seen college games with far more pace than this, making one-touch the rule by necessity (and that's really not pretty to watch), but UNLV insisted on one-touch banging about recklessly by choice.
The other team, San Jose State, eventually brought me the note "workmanlike, but they don't work for each other." If I got any value out of this, it might be in midfielder Diego Soto, who seemed to ably transition between defensive mid and attacking mid given all the subs. I saw him jam UNLV possession three of the four times they actually tried it and create instant opportunities out of them... all of which went unfinished, of course. Thing is, I don't see his name on any of the western PDL rosters (hometown is King City, CA, not too far south of San Jose), and I know there was a dumb foul or two on his part, so my observation probably means nada.
The two SJSU goals were kind of heartbreaking. San Jose manages a half-cross/half-shot which clears the 'keeper's reach, McCool tries to glance the ball away from the goal, but heads it in instead. I thought the ball was on its way in anyway, one person in front of me didn't think so, our viewing angle sucked, so be it. The second goal for SJSU was a shot by the rather active Japanese outside midfielder that sort of corkscrewed its way between the UNLV keeper's forearm and hip into the net. A late UNLV goal was too little, too late.
Please feel free to add reports of Portland or Oregon State games here... or Washington, if you dare head up there for one of the top-ranked western teams.