Photo: Paul Rudderow
Philadelphia Union
Philadelphia Union beat the University of South Florida 5-1 in a scrimmage Tuesday. Of note in the starting lineup: Auston Trusty and Jack Elliott were paired at center back, Bethlehem Steel’s Olivier Mbaizo started at right back, and Adam Najem started at the 10.
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I haven’t seen Mbaizo play yet. Can he seriously challenge Fabhino or will he use be a cheaper Gaddis utility player.
I went to the open training in the good weather the last Saturday in January down at the practice fields in Chester.
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Mbaizo caught my eye during drills.
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He received a pass just as he was entering a slalom course of full body size inert obstacles, botched the first touch, put four or five touches on the ball to control as he explosively wove through the tight channel and hit the shot. As you can tell, I was impressed.
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I watched him off and on for the rest of the practice.
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Many questions remain to be answered, several on the pitch and some off it.
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There is no question of moral courage. He flew the A0tlantic to an unknown city with a language he does not speak at all apparently. His countryman Eric Ayuk is his translator currently. How he adjusts to life in these United States will matter a lot, as we learned with Noguiera.
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He had the speed to keep up with the scrimmage on that January Saturday. And he showed an attacking mentality. I did not see him much in one on one defense. The basic defensive concepts were there. I am not competent to analyze defensive subtleties the way Adam Cann does.
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Can he handle the physicality of the North American game? We have seen no tape.
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That he was tried at left back in the second alignment of the south Florida scrimmage is intriguing.
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Those are the responsible cautious caveats.
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My gut says there is a meaningful chance he may not play with the Steel this season but with the first team, and that if everything breaks correctly for him on and off the pitch, he might start. But that is not yet a considered opinion. I have seen no game tape, like you.
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Technically with the ball as an individual he’s probably better than Rosenberry, Gaddis and Real right now.
Interesting. Also that Real didn’t play last night. Curious to see if his relationship with Ayuk impacts where he plays.