Tag: writing

Player Rating USMNT vs Belgium

Having read some of the other websites player ratings – I am wondering if they watched the same game. Here are my thoughts:

I will start with the good grades:

Tillman – A – This is not because of the goal. He was tireless and active and of our players seemed truly in the fight.

Balogun – B – He made runs, was active, and had a dangerous chance. Strikers can’t and don’t score every game. He was active.

Robinson – B- – You knew he was on the field unlike some of our other players. Up and down and having to cover the whole left side really. Some culpability in the 1st goal but he was fine tonight.

Freeman – C – There was trouble down the right all night. Some successful challenges. Some poor positioning. Some good some bad.

Adams – C- – Outmanned in the midfield and not on his best night but was saddled with low ebb all around him but he didn’t dispel the gloom and became lost in it.

Berhalter – C- The super sub brought some fire and that shot was whisker close ….. to hitting the post! A full foot from punching it in. Good hit but those are not enough for a grade above a C. Not much else that was game changing from the son of our former coach.

Dest – C- Not as aggressive as I wanted him to be. Some sites have him ranked as a 2/10. C’mon man!

Richards – C- Had some clumsy moments. Seemed to care the most at the end – nothing objective to support that. He’s a good center back – it just all crumbled around him.

Ream – D+ – Did have some successful challenges. No one can be a hero all the time and he was ordinary tonight. Beaten on header. Clumsy on the 3rd goal when we needed a hero. The grade seems harsh based on his age but no favors for the old. I think we need another center back or two.

Reyna – D Not much to speak of and he played TOO LONG for that to be the narrative. Did he help with momemtum at beginning of second half – yes. Did he change the game? No.

McKennie – D- Forgot he was playing. I even looked for him at times to locate him. Disappearing act par excellence.

Pulisic – F – Led the team in turnovers despite exiting. Maybe he was playing hurt all along. I hate the whining for fouls which makes him hard for me to grade always but today he did not pass the test.

Coach Pochettino – As a coach my heart goes out to him. Did he pick our best 11? Probably. Do we have some talent holes and gaps? Yes. He tried his best to hide our weaknesses and for that I rate him well. BUT – we came out with less intensity than we should have and that is on him and despite kicking bottles was not able to change the game enough with subs – partly due to the roster. Was he expecting Belgium to pack it in like our other opponents (except Turkey and we lost to them). Distractions, energy, and lack of aggressiveness are his responsibilities and he must go down with the ship – D.

Looking ahead!

Some items the coaches are working on and would like to share with the team!

  1. A summer lifting and training schedule is being worked on and will be posted up soon.
  2. We are currently playing after school on Tuesday and Friday from 2:45-3:45 PM at WAIS. It’s a lot of fun and this is how we get better. If you / your child isn’t busy – come and work to get better with us! Shout-out to Harnit, Keerat, Ben and others that have played when they had a break /opportunity when their normal spring sports weren’t in action. That’s commitment and that is WABS.
  3. I have emailed out to 8th grade students looking to recruit. If you know of an athlete that has played or looks like they can play or that you think would be a positive thing for them to be on a team – put them in touch with me. EVERYONE can all help the program in lots of ways
  4. I am also actively recruiting student managers for our team this year – please let me know if someone is interested.
  5. We are going to getting a “third kit” and requesting extra varsity uniforms so everyone has the same uniforms making it easy to shuffle kids from one team to another without issue of new uniform or putting them in one from 1952.
  6. We will be running the JV and V differently. For each game we will be selecting 18 players for the “Varsity Roster” based on performance in training/fitness etc. It will be a meritocracy. If you do not make this 18 man roster, you will play Junior Varsity assuming health permits. This will hopefully provide both incentive and motivation for players to keep their positions and hope for others that if they play well and practice well, a spot on the varsity roster will be there for them.

Up and Coming:

  1. Finding out when the free physicals are
  2. Getting final designs for third kit
  3. Getting in shape. – fitness standards will be higher (more old school Stewart standards this year) so get running and working on speed, strength, and agility.

The HEAT is on!

Hot day. Rehydrate boys. Eat well. Take care of yourselves.

Eight Things I liked today:

  1. Play of the day goes to Braden and Dillard on a beautiful pass from Braden to Dillard and finish. It was an unselfish play and beautiful warrior soccer.
  2. Some nice improvements in play from Nolan L and Angel – thats our goal – to be better than we were yesterday.
  3. An awesome day for one of our goalies – Logan. You won’t make every save but remember the ones you did. Got a lot of work today.
  4. Kaarsen continues to impress with some nice work up top for Team A. Got a shout out from teammates.
  5. Roberto “Big Bert” worked very hard in the midfield and impressed me with his toughness.
  6. Jayden D has a great instinct to step and intercept balls in. I love an aggressive defender.
  7. I enjoyed seeing the smiles. NEVER forget that it is fun to play. A smile goes a long way to pick people up. Owen Miller is one of those guys that lifts the mood. Great job!
  8. Everyone is trying to play quality soccer. There is very little of “just kick it” or “go”. Steven and Harnit come to mind here but SOOOO many fit in this boat but I like to mention as many as I can. We need to be smart with the ball and take care of it and then strike. The boys are trying to do just that.

Points of Emphasis:

  1. Aggression and marking. Some points never get old and being aggressive to snuff out attacks early is essential to the blue and gold. The only things we want to make easy for our opponents is losing. Be first to every punt, first ball, second ball, third ball, lost ball, corner, goal kick.
  2. Getting to know other members of your family. Reach out to other team members. Being a part of a team is one of the best things in life. We got all sorts of folks in warrior soccer. Branch out across grades and peer groups. A team of brothers is a tight team, tight teams make great teams. And we want to be great.
  3. Thank you to everyone who is waking up, maybe shifting things around with work, and working in the rain and heat. I love that you are all there. ROCK AND ROLL!