The next great U.S. Soccer player – guaranteed!
by Steve Davis on Aug 12, 2010 11:35 AM EDT
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Also file under: don’t get carried away with Yura Movsisyan madness
We supporting members of the U.S. Soccer scene – officials, fans and media alike –can be a funny breed sometime.
Far too often, the greatest
We see it time and again. It’s not a bit unlike the phenomenon I witnessed frequently in my former life as a sports reporter covering a wider variety of the perspiring arts. In American football, it’s fairly common knowledge that the consensus pick for best quarterback on the team is often the No. 2.
It makes some sense, too. Fans have yet to witness the No. 2 in action at that level. So they fall back on what the man accomplished on a less lit stage, and they assume that translates to assured success moving forward. It’s also about “hope,” of course, which we all know is a good thing, “maybe the best thing,” because we’ve all seen Shawshank Redemption 16 times.
So, back to soccer and presumptions of impending awesomeness. Remember when Michael Orozco was going to be the next great
That was back when he played for San Luis in
Let’s see, who else? Oh, yes … Danny Szetela. He was definitely bound for super stardom. He was … right? Well, he certainly was if you believed the breathless rhetoric coming from some prominent media platforms along the East Coast.
Media hype definitely plays its part in feeding the cycle.
Well, uh, someone send me an email if they know where Szetela is today.
How about Lee Nguyen, who spent two years at PSV in
Anyone remember Johann Smith, a speedy track star in soccer shorts?
Here’s where I’m going with all this: I see the early development of the “next best syndrome” in Yura Movsisyan.
Movsisyan, 23, was Armenian born but came to the
And we’re starting to hear a few calls for him to get into the
I saw the majority of Movsisyan’s matches in MLS, and here’s something everyone should know: he’s got talent and speed, and that will always give a player a chance. But he’s also one of these guys who possess that confounding ability, when it comes to the critical moment in an offensive surge, to make the wrong choice almost every time.
He shoots when he should pass, dribbles when he should shoot and only occasionally passes, albeit frequently to the wrong target. But don’t believe me. Look at the data:
Movsisyan had 20 goals in 81 league matches. That’s not terrible, but it’s hardly a prodigious strike rate in MLS.
Consider that Robbie Findley’s strike rate is better at 27 goals in 91 MLS matches. And we’ve seen that Findley, at least at this point in his career, is not up to the job internationally.
Movsisyan may be headed to the Armenian national team anyway. But I would wager my autographed Pele soccer ball that someone in the blogosphere, playing to populist sentiment, will criticize U.S. Soccer for not aggressively pursuing Movsisyan.
He’ll be seen as the one who got away.
When you see that sentiment roll across your screen … and you almost surely will somewhere … be sure to douse it with a heaping helping of good, old fashioned skepticism.
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Nice article
You see this all the time in sports though (and not just soccer in America). Everyone is always looking to be the first to uncover the next big thing, which means some unwarranted hype can spiral out of control.
However, someone like Ike Opara (sp.?) is a guy who should get a chance
I do think the squad doesn’t turn over enough in the meaningless friendlies. I would have preferred to throw out the U-20 team at Brasil than a bunch of known quantities. We don’t really learn as much as we need to, which is what friendlies are about (making sure players are more than just practice field stars).
"Voetbal is pas totaal als je wint"- Coach Adun
"The greatest sin is to spurn the gift"- Coach Alistair
Ike Opara
is a stud and he has been great for my Quakes but he will need some seasoning at the international level before I would be confident of capping him in a World Cup. See Omar Gonzalez vs. Brazil two days ago. He is a stud in MLS but was lost out there against Brazil (in his defense, most int.’l defenders can look lost against Pato and Neymar).
On the plus side, Opara is really good coming forward and is second on the Quakes in goals, so could help make up for USA’s anemic forwards.
Win or lose, we will always be here for you.
by johnjahafanclub on Aug 12, 2010 2:46 PM EDT up reply actions
The Movsisyan debate is probably moot
I can’t find the match report, but if things went to plan, he was capped yesterday for Armenia.
After reading that list of here-todays, gone-tomorrows, all I could hear was Dennis Green shouting, “They are who we thought they were!!!”
i couldn't find it either
but the point is the same. the momentum was in motion, and folks will insist that US Soccer missed on a can’t-miss. in fact, the Movsisyan legend may now grow stronger!
by Steve Davis on Aug 12, 2010 12:54 PM EDT up reply actions
Iran 3 - Armenia 1
I could only find the score, and who scored. It wasn’t Yura so who knows what happened?
Looks like Iran got their feet back under them
They can be really, really good. One of my club coaches played for them back in the day.
"Voetbal is pas totaal als je wint"- Coach Adun
"The greatest sin is to spurn the gift"- Coach Alistair
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia_national_football_team
That’s the best I could find in my quick search. Lists him with one cap and that he’s on the current roster.
by chrisperry1983 on Aug 12, 2010 9:45 PM EDT up reply actions
But
I will make you a winner, because exactly how many young striker prospects (not sure things) does whoever comes into take over for Bob have? Yeah Yura is a project, but he also has talent and has only been playing organized soccer for 5-6 years. Does that mean that we shouldn’t have reached out to him and see what his thoughts were? Maybe someone did, but I haven’t seen it reported anywhere. The upside for Yura was the raw ability, when he was at KC nobody really gave him much time of day, yet when he came to RSL he took advantage of his opportunity and became a decent striker with a habit of scoring big goals in critical moments, exactly how many of our current strikers for the USMNT have done that recently?
We, and I mean all of us have to put away the past, and start thinking about 4 years from now and I for one would have loved to see Yura get his shot, he is only going to get better with the better opportunities that come his way. He did help a team that was god awful, avoid relegation and he scored a good number of goals for them. I know that Yura has dedicated himself to becoming a better player and we know the level of competition and coaching in Europe is still better than in the US, which should help him.
Here is hoping he wasn’t the next big thing for the US team, cause it would suck if he turns out to be the one that got away because nobody made a phone call.
think about Brazil
Their teen sensations were 14 or 16 at the last World Cup cycle. We would have gladly had them on our team (even thought they didn’t play for Brazil in the WC) Maybe the next great US striker is a freshman in high school somewhere right now. Maybe he just saw the world cup and is deciding to up his game so that he can be the answer for US soccer. Will he be discovered? Coached? The clock is ticking…
A thing about Brasil
It took until this world cup for Luis Fabiano to get his chance… Their team search is just as political (If your a young pro in Brasil, you better play for the right team and wear Nikes, or your chances are… slim) , the best players don’t always play, but their depth of talent allows them to be capricious. Fred never got to play for the national team (the one who used to play for Lyon) because of silly politics.
"Voetbal is pas totaal als je wint"- Coach Adun
"The greatest sin is to spurn the gift"- Coach Alistair
I get kind of annoyed with the whole next greatest thing
ESPN devotes a whole magazine every year to picking the players who haven’t accomplished anything yet but who they think will be…and then ramming them down our throats for years to come even if their play never comes close to the hype they created.
I want to see the young talent emerge…but you need to let it happen naturally. No amount of hype can make a player a great.
"Well, at least our players kept their helmets on, so that showed some intelligence"-Bob McNair
Bingo.
So true. But I cannot for the life of me figure out how anyone forgot to mention Freddy Adu. Remember all the crap Peter Nowak got for not playing him consistently at DCU? Maybe Peter was on to something.
Anyway, the Movsisyan “debate” shows we’ve got a long way to go when you have fans clamoring for someone who never really impressed in MLS. Frankly I think Bradley is making the best with what’s available to him. I do hope they replace him though so that he can become DCU’s next coach.
I know!
I actually had some words about fast Freddy in the initial draft … then took him out b/c I thought the whole Freddy Adu thing was a whole beast unto itself, deserving of a different category altogether.
by Steve Davis on Aug 13, 2010 11:31 AM EDT up reply actions
Making the right decisions in the heat of the action
But he’s also one of these guys who possess that confounding ability […] to make the wrong choice almost every time.
That mental quickness is so rare. I wonder why that is. I noticed at the WC that even some big-name forwards like Arjen Robben lacked it. When you combine good talent with quick thinking what you get is a joy to watch. David Villa is probably the best example of several players at the WC who demonstrated good decision making skills. BTW, I count Donovan in that group, and I don’t think anyone else in a US uniform comes close to him. Which again goes to show what a long way we’ve got to go.
Small percentages
That mental quickness is so rare. I wonder why that is. I noticed at the WC that even some big-name forwards like Arjen Robben lacked it. When you combine good talent with quick thinking what you get is a joy to watch. David Villa is probably the best example of several players at the WC who demonstrated good decision making skills.
To borrow an example John Morgan made concerning NFL quarterbacks over at Fieldgulls.com , it is not that this skill is so rare in itself, it is that once you eliminate the percentage of the population that is incapable of being a professional athlete, all the professional athletes who chose to play other sports, and then combine the American system preference for big, tall, and fast runners over skill you are left with a very small number of people for whom taking an instant mental snapshot of where everyone is and where they will be in 3-5 seconds is extremely rare.
Mwanga is the real deal, he said in 2 years he will have citizenship
" Only build on positives , don't stack the negatives...Instead of criticizing , what was a positive?" - Donavin Darius
"There is nothing like a wise phrase or quote to help convince others that your decision makes sense." - Anon
I read in philadelphia magazine he want’s to play for the DRC’s national team in a little mini-profile of him.
by Cole Stevens on Aug 13, 2010 2:08 AM EDT up reply actions
He said he wants to play here when he was drafted and will get a citizenship when eligible
""Yes, (playing for the U.S.) is something I’ve thought about," Mwanga admitted. “My family lives here. It would be an honor to represent the United States. Playing for the U.S. in a World Cup would be a wonderful opportunity.”
" Only build on positives , don't stack the negatives...Instead of criticizing , what was a positive?" - Donavin Darius
"There is nothing like a wise phrase or quote to help convince others that your decision makes sense." - Anon
didnt jermaine jones play in a friendly for germany before he committed to the usa? besides this, movsisyan is not born in armenia, he is from azerbijan. shoot, if people can call for sebastian legeat to be a big player for the usa, if we are lucky, then we can call for the armenian american. im still calling for ej myself.
Very good point on Findley
I cheered when Findley got the yellow card against Slovenia. Bradley seemed determined to start him and only the refs could help us out in getting him off the field. Talented in MLS (and it was like karma for me when he scored against the Chicago Fire on July 8th) but not a guy who can burn up the international scene.
by Chicago Illinois on Aug 15, 2010 2:58 PM EDT reply actions
