What are they smoking down at Cashman?

Las Vegas Lights FC fell 3-2 away at Swope Park Rangers this weekend.

The result is not actually what I wanted to talk about. Swope Park are a good team (better than us, to be honest), so to lose by one goal away from home is nothing to get bent out of shape about.

What I want to discuss today is what we are all talking about after the game - the penalty.

Down 3-2, the Lights were awarded a penalty kick in the last minute of stoppage time. It was a gift-wrapped opportunity to steal a point, on the road, against one of the better teams in the division, with the very last kick of the game. But instead of taking the shot, the Lights did this:



What? Why?

A penalty kick is literally a free shot from more or less the perfect position on the field. As in - the team spends the entire game trying to get the ball as close as possible to the penalty spot before taking a shot. About 75%-80% of penalty kicks are scored. That number jumps up to about 85% if the taker manages to keep the ball on target.

So why in the world would you want to mess around and pass it to a teammate at that moment.

Now I know what you are saying: Messi and Suarez did it, and it turned out fine:

Yes, they did but (1) they were already two goals up with ten minutes to go, not a goal down with seconds remaining against a better team on the road, and (2) it's Messi and Suarez (we can all admit they are on a slightly different talent level than Alvarez and Ochoa).

It the end, Ochoa and Alvarez's attempt turned out to be less "Messi-Suarez" and more "Pires-Henry."



After the game, both Chelis and Isidro Sanchez defended the pass-penalty attempt, calling it "brave."

Fair enough, the coach is supposed to defend the players in public. What I worry about is what is happening in private.

In isolation, one ill-advised pass-penalty wouldn't be a big deal. But when you start to look at it in connection with this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

The goalkeeper catches the free kick and then just dribbles all the way out past midfield on his own personal counter attack! I'M DYINGGGGG pic.twitter.com/PPtg7Qe9Si

— Mike Manganello (@MikeManganello) June 3, 2018

And all of a sudden your club starts to look less like a professional soccer team and more like a 
circus.

So my main question in response to the pass-penalty is this line from the report for the Las Vegas Review-Journal: " a play they’ve practiced since their first week of training in January came up short."

In soccer, you only have so much time on the training ground before the players get tired. You don't want to run the team into the ground, as they have (at least) one game every single week, and they need to start fresh. So with your limited time, the coach has to make some tough decisions. What do we practice most? Because if you spend a session practicing, let's say, crossing, that leaves you with less time to practice corner routines, or organizing the defense, or shooting.

So the question is, what did the team give up in order to practice pass-penalties "since January"? Shouldn't we have just been practicing real penalties (you know, like every other professional team in existence)?

And what exactly environment is going on in the backroom? What is the training environment that leads to the goalkeeper thinking that it would be a great idea to try to dribble from his own six-yard-box past the entire opposing team in the middle of the game, like he is some sort of Neuer/Maradona hybrid? Is it even possible to instill discipline into a team when the technical director can't even go a month without getting banned from the touchline?

The coaches claim it is part of the "show" - but I don't know anyone that is going to renew their season ticket based on the number of weird plays that the team tries during the season. They are going to renew based on whether the team is successful, and whether they play good, quality soccer. That's why we go to games and tune in to watch, because we love the game, not the sideshows. The sooner the coaching staff learns that, the better.

-VSB

Las Vegas Lights FC: 4 - Seattle Sounders 2: 1 - It's All About the Mistakes

Man what a wild ride we've been on.

The last four games for this team have been a 7-2 loss, then a 4-1 win, then a 4-0 loss, and now another 4-1 win. Talk about inconsistency.

Here are three thoughts from the Lights' latest 4-1 win over Sounders 2.

1.  Focus on the Mistakes

Famously, Jose Mourinho's footballing philosophy is defined by a focus on mistakes. In his mind, for most matches, the team that makes the most mistakes loses, and the one that makes the least amount of mistakes wins. Therefore, not only does he drill his team within in inch of their lives to avoid costly mistakes, he also foregoes possession. The theory is that the less you have the ball, the less opportunities you have to mess up, and the more opportunities the opponent has.

That's kind of how this game went down.

The Lights' first goal came from putting pressure on the Sounders 2 backline. When their defender made a poor decision to head it back to his keeper, Ochoa was ready to pounce and make it 1-0. Same for the second goal, Ochoa put in some good work to pressure the keeper, who made a mistake, and it had a fortunate bounce to make it 2-0.

On the other hand, the Lights were diligent in keeping their own mistakes to a minimum, and keeping the Sounder 2 attack relatively quiet.

2.  Staying Alive

The coach and the team has come under a lot of pressure recently - both for the results on the field and the technical director's ludicrous antics off of it. It has gotten so bad that the owner has given the Chelis the ominous "100% vote of confidence." (For those who don't follow european soccer much, a "vote of confidence" from the owner/board of directors is more often than not following by the coach getting sacked within a month or so).

This win was exactly what the team needed to relieve a bit of that pressure.

Let's be clear - Sounder 2 are not a good team, and the Lights were at home. They should have won this game, and they did. This win keeps us within touching distance (4 points) of the final playoff berth, which is what the goal for this team should be in their inaugural season.

We need to, at a minimum, keep beating the teams that we are expected to win (such as Sounders 2). And if we are serious about challenging for that last spot, we need to start picking up a result or two when we aren't the favorites. Next weekend, on the road at Swope Park Rangers, would be a great place to start.

3.  Pick Something and Stick with It

In the last five games, the Lights have tried to play in a 4-2-3-1, a 4-1-4-1, a 4-4-2, and twice in a 3-4-2-1.

Let's just pick something and stick with it, shall we? That could go a long way to achieving the kind of consistency that the team has been lacking in recent weeks. It's hard for players, especially at this level, to get familiar with their roles and surroundings when the formation, spacing, and players around them are constantly changing. You need to build up unconscious patterns in the players' mind, and when things are always changing, that can't happen.

Out of the formations listed above, I think the 3-4-2-1 (or 3-4-3, or whatever you want to call it) is the best suited for our players. Our defense can be, to put it nicely, a bit creaky at times. While Huiqui seems to come up with goals as often as our strikers do, his backline can also look a bit slow and a bit disheveled.

With three at the back, that should give the center backs a bit more cover for when they do inevitably let someone run by or lose a runner. Think of it as a safety net.

One thing though - in the Phoenix game, we tried a 3-4-3 with Carlos Alvarez, out best #10, as one of the midfield two. And clearly, it wasn't very effective.

If we stick with the 3-4-3, we need to make sure to have two more solid midfielders in the middle, who are a bit more adept at playing defense. This will give the backline a bit more protection, and will also move Alvarez (who is probably our most effective attacker) closer to the opposition box, where he can do the most damage.

Let's hope we stick with it and find some consistency in both performance and results, starting next weekend.

-VSB

Dear Chelis

Dear Chelis,

"...I want to apologize many times. But my action and my only intention was to point to him. Without intention, and with one finger, you can’t hurt anyone. I made a mistake... It will not happen again."

That was from last month. When you received a 7-game touchline ban because you confronted a referee and poked him in the chest with your finger. You apologized profusely, and said that it was a mistake, and claimed that things like this would not happen again.

Yet here we are.

This week you were given yet another touchline ban (this time 8 days) for confronting a fan in our midweek game against Phoenix. In a bizarre attempt to defend yourself, you said this on twitter:

No me dijo puto desde la tribuna 90’. Al final me lo encontré afuera y lo enfrenté. Lo tuvieron q haber sacado del estadio y nadie hizo nada.
El me tocó mi orgullo y yo te toqué su cabeza https://t.co/2qHaxQNiMu

— José Luis Sanchez (@Elchelis) June 16, 2018

My Spanish isn't great (ok it's bad), but if I'm understanding right, you are trying to defend yourself by saying that he called you a [bleep], and so you found him outside the stadium and confronted him. "He touched my pride, and I touched his head." (I'm pretty sure something has been lost in translation for that last line).

For starters - that's a horrible excuse. You are a 59-year-old grown man. That is supposed to be in charge of the Las Vegas Lights FC organization. I don't care what some drunken fan calls you at a game, the technical director of an entire football club should not be trying to meet him outside and fight it out. Get a hold of yourself.

This is the second touchline ban you have received within the space of two months. Let's try not to continue the streak, shall we?

Second, what exactly is the demarcation of duty at the club. My understanding is that you are the technical director, and your son, Isidro Sanchez, is the coach. So why are you even on the touchline in the first place? Isn't it his job to conduct the in-game management (pick the team and formation, make subs, yell at the players in general)? Isn't your job to oversee the direction of the club. As in work on transfers, manage the academy, oversee contracts, etc.?

Wouldn't it be better for all involved if you just kind of took this touchline ban as an opportunity to take a step back and work more within your role? that would give you more time to focus on your specific job, and would give your son more control to focus on his specific job. Plus, as an added bonus, no-one would yell names at you, and you wouldn't have to try to get into fights in the parking lot.

Sincerely,

A concerned fan.

-VSB

Las Vegas Lights FC Back on Track?

Las Vegas frankly surprised everyone with a convincing 4-1 victory over the visiting Colorado Switchbacks this weekend. The Lights came into this game on an absolutely terrible run of form, but they somehow managed to turn it around on a night that reminded us how fun it is to win a game now and again.

Two early goals (both from set pieces) certainly helped the Lights to get over the psychological pressure of the losing streak, and you could almost visibly see the pressure lift as the team started to play with more confidence and swagger.

So now is all well in Vegas? No, we're still earning just over one point per game, nowhere near the playoff picture. But having been pretty harsh on the team for the previous run, it's time to give credit where it's due and recognize the importance of the win. Here are my three thoughts from the game:

1. Timing is Everything

The Las Vegas goals in this game could not have come at more perfect times. When a team is on a bad run like the Lights were, goals are almost more important for their psychological effect than their effect on the scoreboard. If the Lights had conceded the first goal, it almost certainly would have made their heads drop, and they probably would have gone on to lose yet another game.

Instead, the Lights scored first. From a well-worked throw in by the corner flag, the Lights worked the ball to Christian Torres, who crossed it in for who else but Carlos Alvarez to head home.

Just as important in this game was the second goal. When a team is struggling like the Lights were, confidence can get shattered in a moment. Take for example the game against LA Galaxy II - we scored first, but they equalized shortly thereafter, and the game really went south fast after that.

That is almost certainly what the Colorado coach was telling his players at halftime. They would have come out int he second half really up for it and ready to make life difficult. So when Freddy Adu scored his birthday goal within two minutes of the restart, it redoubled the confidence of the Lights, while shattering the belief of the Switchbacks.

2. The Perfect Goalscorers

You could not have asked for better players to pick up the goals in this game.

First, Carlos Alvarez scored. If it wasn't clear before his goal, it should be clear now - Carlos is our best attacking player, and his form is vital to the smooth operation of our attack. When he's on, the Lights are on. When he's not, the Lights struggle.

Second, Freddy Adu scored. We all know Freddy's history. He's been a few places and seen a few things in his career. If he can gain some confidence here in Las Vegas, I think he has a lot to contribute to the other players who maybe haven't had the experiences he has had. This goal will hopefully help him to step out a little bit more and take a little bit more responsibility.

Third (and perhaps most importantly), Sammy Ochoa picked up his first goal of the season. I don't think I'm being too harsh here to say that so far, Ochoa's season has been disappointing (he'd probably agree). He does a lot of work for the team (knockdowns, running off the ball, etc.). But the fact of the matter is that a striker's first job is to score, and we were ten games into the season without Ochoa picking up a single goal. Some strikers are patchy scorers, meaning that they can go ten games without a goal and then rattle off ten goals in the next ten. Let's hope Ochoa follows that pattern over the next section of the season.

Fourth, Matt Thomas scored right at the end with his second of the season. With Ochoa struggling recently, it is important for the Lights to have alternate methods of scoring (you can't rely on Alvarez and set pieces from defenders all season).

3. Pretty Play

There was a definite re-think in the way the Lights approached this game compared to the last few seasons. I'n not sure how much of it came from the coach, who said "What we (did) today was the things we (did) the first four games... being brave, stepping out. It was difficult after six, eight weeks of not obtaining the results.” It may have been a more player-driven thing (either consciously or subconsciously).  But looking at the numbers, the Lights matched Colorado for possession and passing. 

Now that isn't some sort of crazy stat - most teams win the possession battle at home. But the Lights aren't most teams. Also, usually game states have a large effect on passing - when a team goes ahead early, they often try to sit back and counter-attack, ceding the possession battle to the team that now has pressure to score. 

Today, the Lights took better care of the ball, and seemed to make it a point to find players and play it on the ground to feet. Let's hope that it is something they continue to work on.

4. Bonus  - What was that?

I'm sorry, I couldn't write about this game without covering this:

The goalkeeper catches the free kick and then just dribbles all the way out past midfield on his own personal counter attack! I'M DYINGGGGG pic.twitter.com/PPtg7Qe9Si

— Mike Manganello (@MikeManganello) June 3, 2018

This is absolutely, positively crazy. This is not "oh he's just being an aggressive keeper." This is insane. The only time I have ever seen this happen is in indoor 5 on 5 pickup games when nobody really knows the score anyways - and even then players get annoyed because it leaves the goal open.

This was stupidity, and Ferrino was really lucky that Matt Thomas was on hand and willing to pick up a yellow card when Ferrino inevitably lost the ball at the halfway line.

If anyone reading this is, or knows someone, who is wanting to be a goalkeeper - this is page 1, line 1 in the book of "Things not to do."

Till next time

-VSB

LA Galaxy II - 7 (yes, that's Seven), Las Vegas Lights FC - 2

I know this is a few days later than usual. But in my defense, when the choice is between (a) swim and barbecue over a memorial day weekend, or (b) re-live a 7-2 shellacking by writing about it, you can kind of understand the delay.

But, as much as I think we should all just pretend it didn't happen, it did, so here are my three takeaways.

1. Free Reign in the Penalty Box

In this game, the Lights actually took almost the same number of shots that the Galaxy did (14 to 16). But, there are shots, and then there are shots, if you take my meaning. The problem this weekend was not the amount of shots that the Lights allowed, it was the quality of shots they allowed.

The worst shots to give up (and the best shots to take), are shots off the foot in the area in immediately in front of the goal - in about a semi-circle area encompassing the six yard box out to the penalty spot. These are "high-percentage" shots, meaning if you're getting a shot off from there, there's a good chance it'll hit the back of the net (at least relative to shots from other area of the field.

If you want to sum up the problem this match, look no further than this map:

The black dots are LA Galaxy II touches, while the blue dots are Lights touches. As you can see, the Lights let the Galaxy get on the ball five times in this prime area. Four of those touches were goals. (The Lights only got two touches in that area on the other side, one of which was Diego's first goal).

If you want to keep the opposition out, you can't let them pick up the ball in that zone. But that's what they did.

2. Center Back Problem?

Neither of the two Lights center backs covered themselves in any glory this match.

Usually when a goal is conceded, there are mistakes made on multiple levels (someone misplays a ball here, someone gets a bad read there). But in this game, the straight truth is that on alot of the plays, there was one glaring error that made up 90% of the mistake.

For the first goal, the LA forward (Zubak, he'll come up again), cleverly peels off of the back of our center back Jaime, who completely loses him. There are no other players close to Jaime - his one job is to keep track of Zubak, and he doesn't, and that's the first goal.

For the second, there's a breakaway - but it's being managed alright. The man with the ball is being closed down, and the runner down the middle is being tracked by Huiqui. The ball is crossed on the ground, and Huiqui is in the right spot at the right time - and makes a complete mare of the clearance. Instead of putting his foot through it, he seems to misjudge it's path, it bounces around through his legs, and get put in.

I'm really not going to go through all of the goals, but I will point to the one in the 87th minute where, again, the LA forward finds himself completely alone in the six yard box. (I mean completely, there is no Lights defender within 5 yards.

Long story short, the center backs need to be aware of the opposing forwards, and in this game, for whatever reason, our defense repeatedly lost focus.

3. Under Pressure

Before I write this section, I want to be clear - I am not calling for the coach or technical director to be fired because of this result.

But even with the benefit of a few days removal from the disappointment of the game, it does not look good.

The team just lost 7-2.

The game before that, the team lost to an amateur club that is two divisions below our own.

The results for the last nine games in all competitions reads DLDDLWLLL. The solitary win came against an amateur club.

That is all very bad. In fact, in other leagues in other countries, any one of those things standing alone could cause the coach to lost their job.

Here, of course, the Las Vegas Lights aren't Real Madrid - so nobody expects them to win every game. In that way, the management can probably consider themselves fortunate that at the end of the day, we are talking about a lower division club in the fifth most popular sport in the country (with no relegation, I might add).

So, while I don't expect the owner to start chopping heads any time soon, I do expect there to be some major changes in the roster, tactics, and lineup. Even if it's unlikely that the coach will get sacked mid-season, he needs to start turning things around if he wants to be considered as the long-term man for the job.

The Lights Remind Las Vegas How Expansion Teams Usually Work

This season, Las Vegas picked up three new professional sports teams. One of them has completely broken the curve for how an expansion team should be judged, playing way above the expectations, and overall been an enthralling team to watch.

That team is not Las Vegas Lights FC.

If any of us soccer fans were holding out hope that the Lights could replicate the Golden Knights, this week (really these last two months) have been like a cold bucket of reality being dumped over our heads.

Last night the Lights went to Golden State Force FC - an amateur team playing in effectively the fourth division of U.S. Soccer - and lost 2-1. That is bad.

To emphasize how bad - only three amateur teams have made it through this round of the Open Cup, Golden State and two others. The other two only made it because they were drawn against other amateur teams. In every other USL-amateur match-up this week, the USL team managed to get the job done. The Lights were the sole exception.

Now look, upsets happen in cup competitions. Every once in a while even a Manchester United loses to a championship team. However, it's hard to look at the Lights' recent form and think that last night's poor performance was just a blip in an otherwise upward trend. Let's look at some concerning numbers:

- Over the past five league games, the Lights are rock bottom of the Western Conference with only 2 points.
- Over the past six league games, the Lights have the same amount of red cards as they have goals (3).
- Over the past past eight games in all competitions, we have only won once, against a lower division side.
- We are dead last in the league in terms of attempted passes (2,482). And not by a small margin, the next lowest has almost 500 more attempted passes than we do.
- We are dead last in the league in terms of passing accuracy (63%). And again, not by a small margin, the next lowest is at 70%.
- This almost means we are dead last in the league in terms of completed passes (1,559).
- We are first in the league for yellow cards (33). The next closest team has 26. (We're also third in terms of total fouls and tied for second for red cards).

Now that all of that is out of the way, let me point out some green shoots that may give us some hope for the rest of the season.

First, the team probably isn't as bad as this most recent run makes them look. There are some green shoots to be seen - for example, we are above-average in terms of how many shots we've gotten off (12th, with 129) and about average in terms of goals conceded (tied for 19th with 12).

Second, our weekend league game is against LA Galaxy II. And while Los Dos has some exciting prospects (Efrain Alvarez clips have been making the rounds on twitter over the past few weeks), they are actually below us in the table having played more games. So we have a real chance to stop the rot and get some points on the board.

Third, the club seem to realize that the team needs work, as they just brought in a new defender, midfielder, and forward. You don't bring in players for all three of those positions if you are just tweaking a few things here and there. That kind of action means that the hierarchy knows that the Lights need work in multiple areas.

And finally, let's all just take a moment for a bit of perspective.

Sometimes expansion teams just click, and manage to put together a really special season. The Golden Knights of course are the example that spring to mind, but there's also the Chicago Fire, who won the MLS Cup and Open Cup double in their first season. Or even Atlanta United, who made the playoffs in their first season and really captivated the city of Atlanta (and many neutrals) by playing a really exciting brand of soccer.

But the reason those stories are so memorable is because in most cases, expansion teams struggle. For every Golden Knights, you have expansion teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (who went 0-14 for the season), Minnesota United (who conceded 18 goals in their first four games) and Orlando City (who despite spending all of the money on Kaka, still haven't made the playoffs).

You don't even have to go that far afield - the other new Vegas professional team, the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces, have began their life by losing their first three games (one of the them by almost a 40-point margin).

The point is, to be honest, the Lights have been outright bad over the past two months. But that is how soccer works, you go through bad runs and good runs, and most of the time expansion teams get handed more bad than good. But they don't last forever. And hopefully these transfer moves are a sign that the team is seeing the same stats we are, and have an idea of how to turn the ship around.

Here's to three points this weekend.

-VSB

USMNT Roster for May/June Friendlies - Too Much Youth? Nope.

I know this isn't about the Las Vegas Lights FC, but I heard about the U.S. roster that was announced as the USMNT prepares for the World Cup plays three friendlies, and wanted to write down a few thoughts about the team.

The full list is at the bottom, but suffice it to say that the U.S. interim coach Dave Sarachan has gone really young for these games. Like, average age of 22 years young. I'm not sure that in my recollection there has ever been a roster announced that is this young and inexperienced at the international level. In fact, the players with the most caps (20 each) are Pulisic and Joe Corona.

Here are a couple of thoughts from the announcement:

1. This Announcement isn't Completely Meaningless

Just mostly meaningless. I mean, the next "competitive" game that the U.S. will play is the opening game of the 2019 Gold Cup, which is over 12 months away. So we don't exactly have a ton of reason to play these matches other than unearthing some talent and discovering exactly what a few of our new players are capable of. On that note...

2. Coach Sarachan has 100% Made the Right Call

The only way this roster will be meaningful is to identify new talent. The roster includes a lot of players that are just breaking into the professional game - players like Tim Weah from PSG's academy, Cameron Carter-Vickers from Tottenham's, Matthew Olosunde from Manchester United's, and Josh Sargent from Werder Bremen's.

These are not players that have seen substantial professional minutes for their clubs. A few have made the odd appearance off the bench, or from the start in rotated squads. But for the most part they are what they are - academy players. And while we are all going to get excited about them after these games, and a few will probably have hype trains a month from now with people declaring them the new American Messi, the odds are pretty good that a few of these players will just not work out, fall down the divisions, and not go on to have a long and meaningful US career.

And that's alright. These friendlies are one of the steps on the way to determining which players are going to work out, and which aren't.

3. The Lack of Experience is Not Just Ok, It's a Good Move

One of the reasons this roster is so exciting is because there were almost no "experienced heads" called in. Usually, even when experimenting with new players, the coach will call in a few regulars with the idea that they will show them the ropes, and pass on their experience to the next generation of youngsters.

Here, there are none. And here is why that is good:

First, it's questionable what kind of "experience" will get passed down. While there are probably things that the older players could teach the youngsters (like how to deal with bags of pee being thrown at them in certain central american stadiums), there are a lot of things that I would honestly be concerned about what the young players could pick up. For example, the older "experienced heads" effectively downed tools this world cup cycle away in Costa Rica. And they showed a complete lack of preparation and effort in the last game in Trinidad & Tobago. This new group of players does not need to pick up any bad habits from those particular experiences.

Second, those "experienced heads" have needed a wake up call for a long time. For a long time, certain names have been written in stone in the roster and the team sheet. It didn't matter how certain players were performing, where they were playing, or how they were played in their last match. They were not left off the roster for any reason, and some were not even benched.

Hopefully this new roster is another indicator to those players that going forward, if players are not challenging themselves and trying to improve their game, they won't be picked. Hopefully those players get the message that the failure to qualify will have real consequences to their own personal careers - and if they want to get more caps for their country, they are going to have to show why they deserve it.