Which Players Are the Stand-Outs on Las Vegas Lights FC?

Big news this week. Arsene Wenger announced he would step down as manager of Arsenal over in England. The reason I bring this up here, of course, clearly not because it's a bye week and therefore I am struggling a bit for a topic and intro for this post. No no, it's really because this means we'll never get to see anyone ironically bring a "Wenger Out" banner to a Las Vegas game, which I think is a bit of a shame. Oh well. On to the bye week.

Since we have a two-week break, I thought it might be a good idea to sort of pause and take stock of how the season is going. I kind of talked about the team as a whole as part of the lead-up and review of last week's game. So this time around, rather than the team as a whole, I wanted to talk about some of the individual players who have really stood out so far this season.

Joel Huiqui - Oh captain my captain

Huiqui was clearly one of our "star signings" of the preseason. He has had a great career in the game, spending about a decade with Mexican giants Cruz Azul. He also has 14 caps for Mexico - no small feat when you think about how much talent Mexico has had down the years.

If there was one thing that was a question mark around him coming to the Lights (and was probably the reason we signed him), it was probably his age. At 35 years old, he's not exactly in the prime of his career.

But so far this season, he has been a great reminder that for defenders can still be very effective even in their mid thirties.

He was always going to bring a wealth of experience and organization to the team (qualities that are invaluable in an expansion defence). But he has also kept up physically. So far he has made tackles with a 78% success rate (one of the highest on the team) and made a solid 11 interceptions. He has also shown that his technical skills and decision making has stayed sharp, as he has made 90 successful passes at a 70% success rate, which looks merely solid until you remember that the team as a whole averages closer to 50%.

And finally, he has already scored 2 goals in just 4 games. A goal every other game is the kind of rate you want out of your starting striker. While Huiqui is clearly not going to keep this up all season, any goals from defence that he can contribute are going to be a big bonus.

Carlos Alvarez - The Playmaker

Carlos didn't exactly come with the same kind of pedigree as Huiqui - but he is still a solid professional with USL and even a year of MLS experience. And, at 27, he is smack in the prime of his physical powers. And his quality has really shown this year with the Lights as he has shined in a creative midfield role.

He only has the one goal to his name so far (but 1 in 4 is still decent for a midfielder). But his real contribution has been in setting them up. He has 2 assists already in 4 games (only three players in the entire league have more) and has created 12 chances (only seven in the league with more). Also, he completes his passes at a 74% rate, which is pretty decent for any creative midfielder, and especially for one in a team like ours.

If the Lights are going to ride their attack to any sort of success this season, you can bet that Alvarez is going to be a big part of it.

Ricardo Ferrino - Shot-Stopper

Now I am on record as saying that our goalkeeper makes decisions that are occasionally - shall we say "eyebrow-raising." And I know that I'm not the only one who would be a little more comfortable if he were slightly more conservative in his decision making and his distribution out of the back.

But you have to admit, the man has performed for the team so far this season. In a team that doesn't really top the leaderboards in any one area, he is tied for second in the league with 16 saves in his first four games (you can come to your own conclusions about what that says about how the defence looks at times). And those saves haven't all been routine or meaningless - just last game you can think of a few shots that Ferrino managed to keep out that meant we kept on equal terms with Sacramento.

And, since the Lights are definitely shaping up to be a defend-and-counter team, Ferrino is going to be asked to keep up his good shot-stopping record.

There have been more players who have caught the eye, of course, but I'm not looking to write a novel here, so I think I'll just leave it at those three for now.

The Lights don't play again until next week. Until then, I guess we'll all just have to find some non-Las-Vegas soccer to tide us over.

Viva Lights

P.S. - You'll notice that I got a pretty sweet new logo for the blog. All credit for that goes to the excellent Jack Whitefoot, who has my sincere thanks. Give him a follow, if you aren't already, @Whitefoot44 on Twitter.