A freshman and two sophomores are the standouts from these rosters. When I profile players, it means I’m pointing out only those who are currently professional level material or can be in short order. So … true quality!
Joe Franco (01/26/1990)
Smooth, calm, and intelligent, the Northridge sophomore outside back demonstrates that the college game is too easy for him. If he’s attacked … no problem, he’s got it under control. When to delay, when to tackle, when to foul, etc … are all impeccable and executed with ease. On the ball, it is no different – quality touch and correct decision making.
But all of these attributes come to me as no surprise as he is a product of youth coach Rafa Moran.
Biggest criticism
Although Joe does have offensive projection, it is not as dangerous as it could be.
Overall
Technical Quality: 7
Soccer IQ: 9
Physical: 7
Jacob Barron (04/08/1991)
The lone player with quality on the UC Davis team. He embodies the essence of a holding midfielder – a defensive destroyer and simple distributor of the ball.
His touch, passes, and decision making stand out like a beacon of hope from the junk that is the Davis roster. In the true spirit of the D-mid position, he looks to feed his attacking mid or the wingers. If it’s not on, he’ll reset the play with the back line. All is done with the intention of keeping possession and commencing an orderly buildup to the attack.
To give you an idea of who he plays like … think Sergio Busquets.
Interestingly, Davis coach Shaffer started him in the offensive center mid role. I’m pretty sure the reason being that Jacob doesn’t just launch the ball forward – and Shaffer’s not having it. By placing him further up the field, Barron was forced to be more vertical.
Biggest criticism
He seems to be on his way to perfecting the D-mid role, but he needs work on that last 10% of the job. That is, the 1 out of 10 times when a holding midfielder should launch a vertical attack.
Overall
Technical Quality: 7
Soccer IQ: 8
Physical: 8
Alberto Rosas (01/01/1992)
This is my first time watching him and I was impressed. The 18 year old defensive mid gives Northridge a proper build up out of the back. He rarely loses possession and plays the correct ball just about every time. Off the ball, he is constantly looking around to refresh his “map” of the field. This type of vision and awareness is a key differentiator between elite and non-elite players.
Alberto is an excellent centerpiece to build a team with.
Biggest Criticism
I don’t see him constantly barking orders!
Overall
Technical Quality: 8
Soccer IQ: 8
Physical: 7
Who in college do you think is pro quality? Let me know and I’ll check them out.
I liked what I saw of Zarek Valentin and Perry Kitchen in the Milk Cup for the u-20s. Heard good things about Soony Saad in Michigan.
Otherwise, I generally just wait until they’ve hit MLS or whatever.
My brother was at Dallas Cup and did a complete report.
http://blog.3four3.com/2010/04/06/us-national-team-u20s-dallas-cup-report/
In short, he agrees with you about Zarek.
Kitchen:
If I’m remembering correctly, I saw him in the WC and I wanted to kill myself. I’ll have to revisit the tape…
Soony:
I know from USFC’s Discover Europe tour where one of our players participated. He has good technique, but is brainless. No thank you.
Hah. Actually liked Zarek better at right back where he had some exceptionally good crosses.
Dunno how Kitchen looked in the u-17s, but he was fairly good in the Milk Cup. Maybe he’s done some developing?
By the way, you may find this link of the u17s playing interesting (at the end of the thread): http://washingtonpremiersoccer.com/forum/index.php/topic,15712.30.html
the “Multiple Touch buildups” starts out slow but there are some nice sequences later in the video (I’m about a quarter-way through).
Yuval Barak , CSUN, just wait and see this guy in action
daf,
He doesn’t even play.
Rafa Garcia, Camilo Rojas.
I know Rafa well; and yes he is a good player.
The problem is he is not special. There are hundreds of Rafa’s around the country. And that’s just not good enough!
As a freshman, it looked like he was on his way to something and I would have listed him as a player to keep an eye on.
It’s two years later and he’s the same player. Regardless of his injury, there has been no development.
Camilo Rojas?
Absolutely not. Remember, I’m selecting the absolute best. If there are hundreds of Rafa Garcia’s, then there are thousands of Camilo Rojas’.
You already know this, but look at any of the ex-players from Rafa’s team(s). They are playing all over the country (mostly unheralded), but there are several playing locally too.
Rafa Moran is the best coach that you never heard of. You will not find a better coach in southern California (maybe the country) for getting youth players ready for the next level.
Some of his players:
Eric Shannon – CSUB
Carlos Alvarez – UConn
Richard Menjivar – CSUB
Joe Franco – CSUN
Kevin Orozco – San Francisco
Patrick Chin – Boston College
Kevin Mejia – Boston College
Nick Goldreich – UC Riverside
Matt Tellez – Sac State
Bobby Reiss – UC Fullerton
Anthony Jimenez – Mt SAC
These are just a few off the top of my head. I’m sure I’m leaving out some great players, but you get the idea.
Hey Touchline! Good to have you here!
You are absolutely correct. Under his tutelage, these players all developed a high-level soccer brain. And most of them are the best on their respective college teams. I also predict there will be some professionals out of this crop.
If I owned an MLS franchise or were the AD for a university, I would be going bananas to hire him.
Is Rafa currently with a club? or is that training camp his teaching now?
As far as I know he is only training through “SWAP”. I saw him yesterday and he didn’t say anything about a new club, so I would guess NO.
I’ve heard so much about rafa’s team. Is it true they played the best soccer in southern cali? Anyone have videos? Some one at a conference meet brought up his team as one of the best youth teams they have ever seen in the united states. Any Comments?
It’s true that Rafa’s team was very good. Whether they were the best or not is a matter of opinion. I had the pleasure of watching them many time and really enjoyed the style they played.
I have hours upon hours of video from this team, however most of the DVDs are poor quality.
I bet his player release to college must be great.. Just saw a list of about 15 kids from his team that are playing college. Is this videos of the academy or club team he had? I heard both teams were good.
His team/players were certainly among the best taught.
The best soccer? There were 3 teams in so-cal in that age group (90/91’s) that played the right way. His was undeniably one of them.
In the first year of the DA, he added several quality players to the roster that made that team, in my opinion, the best in the nation.
US Soccer has DA games for sale. Maybe they have that LAFC team from 2007 – 2008.
What is the name of Rafa Moran’s team? I can’t find any information on who he currently coaches besides his training company.
The last team he coached was the 2007-2008 LAFC Academy team.