Phil's 4

Another week in the USL Championship and Phil is back to tell you the four players, managers, teams or events that stood out to him the most from the week that was.

Detroit City Focus on the Fundamentals

There is something so satisfying about watching a team get back to winning ways through what we know them for. Detroit City FC have had a rough run of things in the League of late and it was a return to familiar attacking patterns that seemed to bring Detroit back against Rhode Island FC.

Detroit has always felt at their best when they are building up through wide areas and it was the dynamic that developed between Matthew Sheldon and Ben Morris that gave Detroit both of their breakthroughs on the night. The first goal is born from a 1-2 between that pair which leads to a Victor Bezerra shot that is blocked straight into the path of Maxi Rodriguez to tap home. This is the sort of pattern you would expect to see from DCFC but oddly enough they have not been able to recreate over the last month or so.

The second Detroit goal comes from something else Detroit has been known for which is the press. It was Morris again who was able to make the interception and play a great cross to Bezerra who showed the composure that has gone missing recently for Les Rouges. This was evidenced by the fact that Morris recovered possession for Detroit no less than 14 times which is patently insane for a forward to achieve in 90 minutes. His bit of quality in the cross was only matched by the two touches that Bezerra took to score. The first kills the cross dead and the second bends it beyond Koke Vegas in the RIFC net.

Rhode Island are in a difficult moment of their own for sure but this result for DCFC should not be overlooked. To go on the road and get three points is always a tough task, the benefit for supporters in Detroit should be the patterns that were on display from Danny Dichio’s squad and this return to a familiar attacking approach could get the squad’s momentum restarted in earnest.

In the Nick of Time

The big news of this week in USL Championship was that Justin Portillo joined Sacramento Republic from FC Tulsa on a free transfer this week. I posited last week that something was up in Tulsa and it clearly was. The loss of Portillo will be felt sharply in Tulsa and I’ll get on to just how big a move this is for Sacramento but it also led to the most comedic result of the weekend which was Tulsa beating San Antonio FC despite all this noise. Once you’re done laughing, lets talk about Justin Portillo, Sacramento’s midfield and how the big beneficiary of this move is actually Nick Ross.

Mark Briggs went and got the guy that he thought could unlock his midfield by bringing in Portillo and my word was he vindicated in their 2-0 win over Monterey Bay. Nick Ross, who has been utilized primarily in a double pivot with Luis Felipe was able to join the attacks at will as part of a midfield three and had a huge impact. He actually should have scored early on and created a couple of amazing chances because he had the comfort of knowing Portillo and Felipe would cover his forays forward. The shape immediately made Sac Republic more dangerous and the only criticism that you can level still is that they were not out of sight at halftime despite numerous presentable chances.

The opener comes from Felipe intercepting a Monterey Bay entry pass and finding Ross who is able to spray a ball into space for Damia Viader to run onto. Viader eats up the yardage and gives himself two options as he reaches the edge of the 18 yard box. He picks the harder pass and rather than squaring to Cristian Parano in space out on the right he plays an inch perfect through ball to Kieran McKenna who flicks the ball over Antony Siaha first time. When I tell you this goal made me feel things from a footballing perspective, the midfield structure supporting what ultimately happened made me emotional.

The assist that Ross will get is from one of his most instinctive moments of the match as he flicks on a header for Parano. You might not think much of it but he simply isn’t in that position in the old midfield setup. This is a better and more dangerous Sacramento team that is a couple clinical finishes from being the best team in the League by far and they have the players in the squad to do it.

What Else Can You Do?

I’m really not sure how else to start this except to say that Memphis 901 had 20 shots inside Colorado Springs’ penalty area and still drew 1-1. This could absolutely have been an article praising Memphis for the volume of their chance creation and yet they don’t have the result to show for their efforts. You simply can’t ask more of an attacking unit aside from scoring the chances. So this section will likely frighten Memphis fans and calm them in equal measure.

I’ll start with the comforting thought. The more difficult skill is creating chances rather than converting them and they had chance creation in absolute spades. Carson Vom Steeg and Akeem Ward created seven chances between them from the fullback positions, Emerson Hyndman had a couple from midfield and the duo of Luiz Fernando and Bruno Lapa had a whopping ELEVEN. The system works as it is designed. Stephen Glass has this side connecting in the ways it should between the boxes.

Image courtesy of Memphis 901

The team was able to find a variety of routes to goal against a CS Switchbacks side that has been really reliably good. Memphis found joy in wide areas which is where the goal ultimately comes from, and in the press as well. The best chances came from isolating CS defenders out wide and playing the ball into the space behind them.

The downside for Memphis is that this finishing issue that seemed to plague them early on is popping up at random intervals even in their best run of the season. They seem to have these issues when they face a lower block but that did not prevent them from getting into scoring positions. You could ask serious questions of Marlon and Dylan Borczak who had loads of good opportunities that they were unable to convert. Like I said, Memphis is doing the tough part which is putting the ball into good areas but they simply don’t score enough and they’ll be wondering how the 19 other opportunities from inside the area didn’t find a way to the twine. That said, CS was still very much in the game and a bounce this way or that could have really ruined a night in Memphis that 901 should have seen off comfortably.

In Good Formella

I’m realizing I’ve focused less on individuals and more on teams this week so I want to close things out by giving some flowers to Dariusz Formella who had a stormer of a match on Saturday night against Orange County. It might feel obvious to call out the player on the winning side who also happened to grab the brace that delivered the three points but Formella simply looked at a different level from where he has been so far this season.

Image courtesy of Audrea Walshire Photography

Formella was a menace from the off, his opener coming just six minutes into the match and while both goals are opportunistic you have to say the forward instinct on display was impeccable, dropping off to the penalty spot for a pull back and a tap in. This was a performance full of good decision making from Dariusz. He only misplaced one pass the whole night, put all five of his shots on target and generated those five shots from just seven touches in Orange County’s penalty area. This was efficiency and ruthlessness in equal measure and he rightly got rewarded for his efforts.

The winner for Phoenix is a move that simply must end in a goal because the idea of this team move being lost to time is just unacceptable. The decision making and calm in the middle of the field is then matched by Mohamed Traore’s cross-field pass which finds the substitute Juan Azocar who again squares for Formella to finish. The team game finding the player in form and for it to be Formella who is at the center just feels right for a Phoenix team sitting quietly 4th in the West.

- Phil Baki