This is the 13th in a series of 20 short columns focused on the things I'm thinking about as we approach the 20th season of Major League Soccer. I'm going to dig into mostly non-obvious questions here – the tertiary stuff that can become bigger over time – rather than the giant storylines (e.g., How do the Red Bulls replace Henry? What if Ozzie's injury lingers? Is this THE year for TFC?).
You can find previous installments in my story archive HERE. For this latest entry, we turn to the Big Smoke...
Kekuta Manneh had a disappointing 2014, which is a weird thing to say about a then-19-year-old kid who A) scored the most important goal of his team's season (above), B) single-handedly changed three must-win games down the stretch, and C) struck abject, pants-wetting terror into literally any defender he went at in isolation.
There is nothing in MLS more exciting than watching Manneh go HAM on a back-pedaling fullback. Nothing.
The disappointment came from the moments in between, when Manneh would drift in and out of play, get lost in possession and generally do less than he should have in terms of chance creation given his buffet of skills. Manneh shouldn't just be one of the best players on the field every time he laces them up; he should be one of those guys who makes everyone else around him significantly better as well, like a young Landon Donovan.
He's not there yet. Manneh created 22 open play chances in his 1200 minutes on the field, which actually compares pretty favorably on a per minute basis to all but the very best wide players in MLS last year (Donovan among them). Where he fell short was in creating "Big" chances – the sort that, by Opta's reckoning, should result in a goal. Donovan created nine of those; Graham Zusi and Lloyd Sam conjured six each; even Ethan Finlay – a young, speedy wide player whose primary function is to score goals and doesn't have great vision – created three big chances.
For someone who draws the first defender, smokes him, then draws two more as often as Manneh does, that number should be better. His gravity with the ball is exceptional, and the next time this happens...
...the ball's got to end up in the net. He's got to give his teammate the lay-up.
It's weird to criticize Manneh for that particular sequence. He only played 13 minutes that day, and it was those 13 minutes that changed the game. Without getting on the secoreboard, he completely turned the tide as the 'Caps beat RSL 2-1. He did stuff nobody else on the field could do, and here I am asking him for more.
But that's the difference between a kid who has the potential to do everything and a sophisticated attacker who ruins entire defenses. Manneh can be the latter.
Whether or not he gets there, I still think Vancouver are one of the three best teams in the West, and since the oddsmakers are asleep at the wheel, this is the MLS Cup long-shot you're looking for. Manneh doesn't even have to play at all for the 'Caps to be legit.
But if he does play, and if he improves his decision making once he's humiliated the first defender, then all disappointment will be a thing of the past. There will be only goals.
