Casal for Nigeria!
By: Max J. | June 21st, 2007And now for something completely different: I am actually enthusiastically endorsing the call-up of a United player for a international tournament. Obviously the Bob Bradley voodoo doll is out and I hope he keeps his hands off of Boz, Olsen, et. al. But after some thought, I’m actively rooting for Casal to be called up to the Nigerian team at the U-20 World Cup. If he’s not going to get the minutes (and he’s not; things are generally going too well up top at the moment to justify it), there is no point in having him around RFK.
The main arguments against are about depth, but none of them hold a lot of weight barring an utter meltdown by United. It’s looking more and more like the coaching staff has Casal placed firmly in the “project” bin, which is probably right, but which also means he’s a distant choice behind deRoux and Moose as a sub on the left. And, though in my mild Yinkobsession I hate to admit it, it doesn’t seem like he has a ton of positional flexibility, especially not on defense where United will need it more in the coming weeks. A project more than anything needs playing time to sort himself out. It’s not ideal to give him his minutes away from his teammates, but the quantity is more important than the quality in a case like this; I’d rather see him suit up than “gel” with other DC players during his allotted twenty minutes a month. There’s also a decent case to be made that the talent he’d be up against in the U-20s is more uniformly impressive than playing six weeks in MLS. Here’s hoping we see him and Arguez lining up against each other in Canada.
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Category: DC United Team News
Tags: DC United Team News, DC United Team News, Kasali Yinka Casal, MLS, nigeria, Roster, soccer, u-20 world cupSubscribe
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