MLS’s primary transfer window is open for another four weeks, but most of the buying, at least until the summer when teams across Europe start moving players, is over.
Through five weeks, these are the newcomers who have made the biggest impression.
1. Luis Suarez (Inter Miami). In preseason, the 37-year-old Uruguayan’s legs did not look like they’d last one month, but he has already scored four goals and three assists in six MLS games, plus two goals and two assists in two Concacaf Champions Cup matches.
2. Joseph Paintsil (LA Galaxy). In The Athletic’s annual survey of sporting executives, the Galaxy’s signing of the 26-year-old Ghanaian winger was voted the best move of the winter. Five games are a small sample, but Paintsil has given the Galaxy something that it has lacked, and that’s a dynamic winger who’s a constant threat. He’s tied for the league lead in progressive passes received.
3. Matías Cóccaro (CF Montreal). The 26-year-old Uruguayan has given the Montreal attack a big lift with three goals in his last two games. His first MLS goal came in Montreal’s 3-2 win at Inter Miami. The highlight for Cóccaro came afterwards when he exchanged jerseys with countryman Suarez. “When my dad sees this,” he exclaimed, “he’s going to die.”
4. Emil Forsberg (NY Red Bulls). While off last week on international duty with Sweden, Forsberg made headlines in tabloids across Europe — his wife accused him of “ghosting and neglecting” his family after being together for 19 years — but his move to New York from Leipzig is the most exciting thing to happen to the Red Bulls in years. Slotted in at the No. 10, he had a dream home debut with a goal and assist in the 2-1 win over FC Dallas.
5. Noah Eile (NY Red Bulls). At 6-foot-5, the 21-year-old Swede is hard to miss. He has been another factor in the Red Bulls’ impressive start. In the 2-1 win at Houston, he was a rock at center back and completed 93 percent of his passes.
” PROGRESSIVE PASSES” 🙂 🙂 🙂 I would love to have a discussion with some of these licensed coaching Bozos who lifes are intertwined in kind of BS….It seems like the more soccer becomes classroom academic taught by the professor types ,the further removed are the real ‘field’ nuances and thus more and more use dictionary terms come into play to explain simple concepts….
On Joseph Painstil, OMG, another meaningless coaching Jargon term created by those who haven’t played much themselves but it sounds good…
Please can anyone tell me what “Progressive Passes” entails. Does that mean passes going forwards . 🙂 🙂 🙂
it’s like xG – expected goals – I always tell my son – who cares what is the xG? Analytics has progressed in soccer – but – it has it’s limits – this is not baseball which really a sequence of individual plays – not even time bound – except now they time the breaks! – this is not American football – which is timed – but also – is a sequence of individual plays – with stoppage between each – or even basketball – where everyone shoots and defends – there are only ten players and the movement is in a small context – this is soccer/world football – the clock does not stop – the most important action a player does is frequently – off the ball – so the numbers – the stats – have a hard stop – but – here is the catch – the analytics companies – keep pimping their products – the new number – progressive passes? WTF? Same for me as xG. You cannot read this game in the numbers.
Humble, Yes, they also have a statistic that tells you how many passes that you make and completed but it doesn’t tell you the productivity of the passes themselves….This is typical of todays soccer intelligence missing the real logic…
Back on topic – Matías Cócorro – what a player. At the Montreal game in Dallas – my son put out the Uruguayan flag – Matías came over b4 and after the game and chatted him up. Super player. Top class person. He have his jersey to another player in exchange post-game – my son got his game shorts. Kiddo´s first language is Uruguayan Spanish and he has trained in Uruguay almost every year growing up. Uruguay No Más!