Wake Forest @ Duke

I expected to be heading to Greenville for the night to get ready for my trip to Norfolk. There was a little screw up in the assignment schedule. The ODU-George Mason match is actually in Fairfax, VA. That is a longer drive that I necessarily don't want to make. So I'm canceling that trip. I get to see Old Dominion when they come down to North Carolina next Tuesday.

I decided to make the trek down I-40 West to Durham and watch Duke take on Wake Forest. This is my first time watching Wake play. I've seen Duke two times already in their tournament.

Duke won the match 4-1. Wake started off brightly and faded towards the end of the half. A Jonathan Aguirre penalty kick gave Duke the lead. Also James Belshaw (DU) saved a penalty by Luca Gimenez (WF) to keep the lead to 1-0 at the half.

The second half was pretty much dominated by Duke with Andrew Wenger scoring twice and Joe Pak rounding out the match. Wake got a consolation goal from Ben Newnam. Also Wake was down to ten men due to a red card by Jared Watts with a studs up challenge on Aguirre.

Duke's play seems to revolve around Andrew Wenger. If they didn't have a player like Wenger, I think the match would be equal. Jay Vidovich tries to incorporate his slick passing style with this crop of players. The problem is that as of right now this group isn't good enough to do the things that Marcus Tracy, Zack Schilawski, Sam Cronin, etc.. could do. This Wake team is definitely in rebuilding mode but they do have some promising players.

Duke:

Andrew Wenger:

The Junior forward pretty much does it all. He is a good passer, has a powerful shot, decent pace, and does a good job in leading his team. I didn't notice how fast he was in the first two games I watched him until I saw him ghost past Sam Fink, WF Center-back on numerous occasions. He doesn't mind tracking back also.

I believe whenever he comes out, he will be a top 5 pick in the MLS SuperDraft. He's one of the best players I've seen play this season. He is pivotal to the success of this Blue Devil team.

Sebastien Ibeagha:

Tough Center-back who is pretty good in the air. Very aggressive tackler. Possibly too aggressive. He fouled Luca Gimenez to set up WF's PK. Decent technically. He can pass or dribble out of the backline.

His Communication was much better than that of the SMU game. He was barking out orders that were more constructive to his teammates along the backline. Has some pace and reads the game well. Able to intercept passes or put players in an offsides position.

Wake Forest:

Danny Wenzel

Tenacious Defender. He has leadership qualties. Very vocal. Another aggressive tackler. A solid defender overall. His passing was inaccurate. He couldn't make the longer distance passes to a forward checking to. Has average technical ability.

Doesn't mind putting his body on the line. Made a couple of goal-saving tackles. Also he put his body in front of a couple of shots.

I think he will make a MLS roster but I can't see him making much of an impact as a center-back. He isn't dominant enough to play in the CB position. He might need to move into a fullback role but he will definitely need to improve with his technical skills to play the part.

Luca Gimenez

Brazilian Left-Winger who doesn't mind taking players on. He is a right-footed player so he would cut inside rather than cross with his left foot. Has some good pace and nifty moves but he isn't as good in making the final pass. He usually makes the wrong choice in either making the wrong pass or he'll dribble into defenders.

Kinda hot-headed. Let's his temperament get the best to him at times and makes the wrong choices like diving in the box or yelling at teammates when he doesn't get the ball.

Overall he is a good player who could make an impact with the Deacons in the next couple of years and can be a good professional.

Charlotte @ Elon

September 9, 2011

I ventured out to Elon. I was surprised that they were playing on their own field instead of inside the football stadium. The two times I played regular season games in Elon, they were on the football stadium instead of apparently their own soccer field they have. Maybe it had something to deal with it being UNC and that is a huge game that deserves to be on the football field.

Anyways, I went out to watch Charlotte play against Elon. That is the game I was assigned to watch. I did my research and decided that I was going to do reports on four players. Unfortunately I was only able to do two proper reports and I can summarize a couple of other players that I saw on the night.



Charlotte won 3-0. It was a pretty much a dominating performance from the 49ers. They controlled the game from the start. There were patches in the game where Elon gathered steam and got some quality opportunities. Once the Niners scored their first goal from Jennings Rex, they took full control until the end.




Charlotte:


Issac Cowles- Senior Centerback for the 49ers. One of the team's leaders. He communicates a lot with his team. Directing his backline in where they should go with the ball and their shifting along their line. He is a pretty good header. He won every header, defensive and offensive, that I saw. A very sure tackler, he tackles hard and firm making sure the ball gets cleared out. Technical ability is okay. Makes simple and short passes. When he does make those long range passes, they are often inaccurate. He is a bit slow but he makes up for that by reading the game real well by intercepting key passes.

My Opinion: Decent player if he decides to go to the next level, I think he would be better off playing in the NASL or USL Pro. MLS might be too fast of a league for him and the lower divisions often play a slower game with tons of crosses. He has shown that he can be dominated in the air.

Charles Rodriguez- Saw him against UNC earlier in preseason and he was playing CB. On Friday night, he was at the left-back position. I was not a huge fan of him in that outside position. Looked uncomfortable and exposed him as a slower player. Has decent vision able to play longer passes with great accuracy. Also is a player that can play with his left and right foot. Didn't get forward a lot but when he did, he drove in a decent cross. Got too over-agressive with his defending. An Elon player had his back to goal and Charles pushed him down multiple times to give Elon set pieces in dangerous positions.

Opinion: Not a MLS player. Technically, he is average. I wouldn't project him as a left-back. Could fit in with a USL Pro team that could use his accuracy in long balls. But I don't see him as a MLS talent.

Other Players I scanned from the Charlotte team:

Junior Forward Jennings Rex scored two goals for them. He is a junior for Charlotte. Hard worker. Likes to make runs in behind the defense. Nothing else stood out for me.

Another junior forward Donnie Smith might be an intriguing prospect. He is one of the leading scorers of the team. I didn't have a good look at him and nothing popped out about his performance on Friday night.


I wanted to look at senior forward Evan James. He didn't start the game. Even though he's started many before. He is an okay player. Has pace. Tends to over-dribble A LOT!! (had to put that in all caps). I hardly saw him make a pass. Then a couple of minutes before I was about to leave, he gets the ball at the half-field mark. He strikes a perfectly struck through ball to send Rex through. Which surprised me. He has tons of pace and he likes to dribble. I don't see him much as a pro prospect.


Elon:

Tried to watch junior forward, Chris Thomas, but he didn't get the start either. It shocked me even though he was the SoCon Player of the Year as a sophmore last year. I didn't see too much from his play. Elon were on the back foot for the majority of the game. The times he got the ball, he held it up well. But the service was lacking. So I couldn't get an accurate reading on him. I'll hopefully get to see him more this year and next. Maybe Atlanta would be interested in him, he is from there. Probably should have watched their game today, I saw on their website that he got 2 goals and 2 assist. It was against North Florida but I probably could at least gotten a better reading. I wonder why he didn't start on Friday with the Sunday performance he put on.


Nick Millington, senior transfer from Wake Forest. Defensive Midfielder. Kinda like Claude Makelele. Bull-dogish in his defending. Make a couple of key tackles to stop attacks. Okay technically. Keeps the game simple. Don't think of him much as pro prospect. He is too small for my liking. It isn't a problem with being small but definitely have to bring something else to the table.


Denzel Ogunyase, senior forward. Very quick player with decent dribbling ability. Took on Charles Rodriguez a couple of times and was very successful. Just a guy to note of.