Photo: Paul Rudderow

Editor’s note: In Philadelphia, we’re all familiar with rants about sports. So once a year, PSP’s writers take several days to just flat out rave about players. They may not be the best players, but they’re players we like. Here’s another one in our Raves series.

Let’s go back in time, to the final game of the 2017 season. The Union were hosting Orlando City, and the game didn’t really matter. Neither team was heading to the playoffs, and C.J. Sapong had already set team and personal goal scoring records (though he would still score two more). And then the Union scored three unanswered goals in the first 30 minutes of the game.

In other words, it was time to play it cool and coast into the off-season.

But Fafà Picault isn’t the kind of guy who coasts.

So when Orlando player Scott Sutter sent a defensive header off target, the Gazelle pounced.

A 😗 from Fafa after his second of the first half#DOOP https://t.co/WH6cepScyb

— Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) October 22, 2017

Look at where he starts that run: A good 10 feet behind Sutter, who is heading the ball away from him. Seb Hines, the Orlando City player the ball was (presumably) intended for started much closer, and Picault still managed to run the ball down before he got anywhere near it.

That would be enough to make this clip exciting to watch, but after Picault gets to the ball he keeps running, forcing Orlando City keeper Earl Edwards Jr. off his line and scoring a beautiful nutmeg goal.

And that’s just who Picault is. He plays as if he isn’t capable of giving any less than 100 percent.

Often, that presents itself in extraordinary bursts of speed like that goal against Orlando, embodying his personal mantra of “slow feet don’t eat.”

He’s still scoring goals like this too, like this stoppage time winner from the Union’s last trip to Seattle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4O2eI0g8TA

The Sounder’s Gustav Svensson has every reason to expect he had time to get to that pass from Stefan Frei. But he didn’t. Why? Because Fafà Picault is so fast that professional athletes are surprised by it.

But he’s more than just a flash of speed.

When Alejandro Bedoya received a questionable red card (and Haris Medunjanin a completely justified one) in Atlanta earlier this season, who stepped up to talk to the ref? Fafà Picault. Normally one of the more passionate and demonstrative members of the Union, Picault calmly stepped forward and tried to deescalate a situation that had already spiraled out of hand. That shows an awareness of what’s going on around him, and an ability to focus on what he can do to help the team, that the young players on the Union roster are learning from.

Oh, and he also scored a pretty nice goal in that Atlanta game too. And he’s kept doing it over and over again.