ASN: Mix Wrap: Pink Bulls, Larin, Ignacio Maganto

As MLS watchers shift their gaze from the mix in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., to the SuperDraft in Philadelphia, ASN’s Brooke Tunstall shares his insights on the league’s high prospects.

BY

Brooke Tunstall

Posted
January 13, 2015
10:22 AM

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SOME LUCKY MLS TEAM, possibly even its cross-town rival, goes to be the beneficiary of the New York Pink Bulls’ glut in central midfield.

Due to its depth on the place, the Pink Bulls didn’t prolong a homegrown provide to Maryland central midfielder Dan Metzger, a product of the membership’s vaunted academy program who turned an All-American this season and one of many few faculty gamers right here who’s a member of the U.S. U-23 nationwide workforce pool.

“Really like him,” stated an assistant coach for an Jap Convention workforce. “Among the seniors, he and the (Nick) Besler kid from Notre Dame are the best central midfielders in the draft. Metzger is really smart so he isn’t too far away from being able to play right away.”

The Pink Bulls have already got Dax McCarty and Eric Alexander, two fringe U.S. nationwide workforce gamers, in central midfield and final month it signed Sean Davis, a central midfielder from Duke, to a homegrown contact after his senior yr.

Pink Bulls spoke with Metzger a couple of deal however no contract was supplied after Metzger assessed the scenario and opted to enter into the draft.

“It by no means actually received that far,” Metzger told American Soccer Now. “I’m positive in the event that they actually wished me they’d have supplied one thing. I don’t suppose it might have been nearly as good as I’d have hoped for. I talked to (Pink Bulls assistant coach John) Wolyniec and he informed me they had been . I don’t suppose I essentially received that far to speak to them about signing. They’re an excellent group. My time there was nice. My coaches there—Paul O’Donnell, John Wolyniec, (Mike) Petke—had been nice.

“That being said, I thought what would be best for me would be to go into the draft instead of signing and see where that takes me.”

Metzger stated the prospect to get extra enjoying time performed a giant function in asking the membership to not pursue a homegrown declare on him. “That definitely had something to do with it. Obviously they have Dax in the middle, Alexander, and just signed Sean. They definitely have a lot there in that position. I thought there’d be more opportunities for me to make an impact right away if I went into the draft.”

Metzger stated he holds no sick will that the membership opted to signal Davis, with whom he stated he’s “actually shut.”

“Not at all,” he stated. “They were great. They just made a personnel decision.”

Apparently sufficient, Metzger is commonly in comparison with McCarty, the engine of the Pink Bulls midfield who sometimes performs in a deep-lying place. “That’s where I’m most comfortable,” Metzger stated. “I played other positions in the midfield, but I feel most comfortable in the middle in sort of a deeper role, doing the dirty work and then setting up the forwards to look good.”

He had conferences with a number of groups yesterday, together with Columbus and enlargement New York Metropolis FC, which might current an apparent sub-plot on Derby Day if it drafted Metzger. “That would be fun,” Metzger stated with a slight grin.

New York Metropolis at the moment picks second within the draft however there are talks they might transfer down in a commerce, which might make choosing Metzger in the midst of the primary spherical extra of a risk.

MAKING AN IMPACT
Within the second day of video games Sunday, the sort out of the day occurred within the early sport when Staff Adi Zero’s Sergio Campbell, a mammoth six-foot-four heart again from Connecticut who has already been capped by the Jamaican nationwide workforce, went in laborious in opposition to Staff Nitro Cost’s Otis Earle from U.C. Riverside.

Campbell received nearly all ball on the sturdy problem however it made a big thud that reverberated within the stands and despatched the five-foot-ten Earle, whose father Robbie performed for Jamaica within the 1998 World Cup, sprawling.

“I was like, ‘Come on man, Jamaican heritage,’ ” Earle stated with a smile. “However my head was spinning for like 10 minutes after that.”

Earle got here into the mix as a possible first spherical choose and has completed nothing however solidify his standing with two sturdy video games.

Campbell, regardless of his dimension and caps for Jamaica, was a little bit of a query mark however he’s impressed with two sturdy video games, displaying good mobility for a giant man and a willingness to speak. “The biggest thing for me is to show I can play with the smaller, faster guys,” he stated. “Obviously I’m pretty good in the air. But I need to show I can do more than that, that I’m good on the ball, read the game and can handle the pace of the faster guys. I think I’m doing that.”

EYE ON THE USA, AND LARIN
Nearly all the coaches right here have made it a degree to spend a while attending to a TV monitor to look at the CONCACAF qualifying event for the U-20 World Cup that’s at the moment being held in Jamaica. The video games are being proven on Fox Sports activities 2, which the mix’s official lodge doesn’t have on its cable bundle…so that they’ve needed to discover native watering holes displaying the video games.

Connecticut’s Cyle Larin is on the Canadian U-20 facet and North Carolina State’s Conor Donovan performs for the U.S. Each are Era Adidas signings who might be in Thursday’s draft, so all of the scouts are hoping to catch a glimpse of them.

One observer right here with a vested stake within the end result is midfielder Cristian Roldan, a Era Adidas signing from Washington. At 19, Roldan is the one American participant right here on the mix who’s younger sufficient for the U-20 workforce.

He has been a part of the pool of gamers U-20 coach Tab Ramos has referred to as in beforehand however didn’t make this roster. Nonetheless, he’s hoping a robust begin to his MLS profession may get him one other shot with the workforce, supplied the Yanks qualify. (Which is not any positive factor after its 0-1-1 begin.)

“I want another chance to make the team, to try and get to the (U-20) World Cup,” stated Roldan, who has been probably the greatest performers on the mix and can doubtless be one of many draft’s high picks. “That’s a reason it’s important I get to a team that’s a good fit for me so I can play right away.”

Roldan was born in the US to a mom from El Salvador and a Guatemalan father. Regardless of being eligible for 3 nationwide groups, Roldan has little doubt about his first selection. “Definitely the United States, no doubt,” he stated. “This is where I was born and grew up. Maybe if a few years into my career I’m not getting a chance with the U.S. then I’ll consider one of them but I want to wear that red, white, and blue jersey.”

SMALL SCHOOL RISERS
Yearly on the mix there are some surprises—gamers from less-heralded colleges who come right here and lift a number of eyebrows and generally pressure their means up groups’ draft boards.

This yr, two such gamers seem like Christian Volesky of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and Ignacio Maganto of Iona.

At six-foot-one, Volesky brings good dimension to the ahead place and he examined nicely within the athletic evaluations, ending first (4.01 seconds) within the 5-meter-10-meter-5-meter shuttle run designed to check agility and second within the 30-meter sprint (3.84 seconds).

Sunday he put all that athleticism on show, rising to move dwelling a nook kick from Nick Besler. Volesky scored 29 objectives in 4 seasons of faculty soccer however by no means greater than the 9 he put dwelling as a sophomore. Nonetheless, gamers along with his mixture of dimension and pace don’t come round fairly often and a few workforce will doubtless be intrigued sufficient to take an opportunity on him.

Whereas Volesky is all about athleticism, Maganto is extra about his technical capability. A product of the Getafe academy earlier than coming to Iona, the Spain native has proven good dribbling and passing capability amid a mix crowded with giant, athletic Individuals.

In 4 seasons at Iona, he scored 27 objectives and registered 14 assists and was the Metro Atlantic Athletic Convention’s 2014 participant of the yr after logging 11 objectives and 5 assists.

He’s solely listed at five-foot-eight and his identify wasn’t discovered close to the highest of any of the athlete charts. However with technical gamers at a premium, Maganto has stood out and groups needing a inventive prompt their bench will give him an extended look.

“This guy,” one scout stated pointing at his identify on the mix media information, “has shown us something. He can play!”

Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. You’ll be able to comply with him on Twitter.