 |
|
By Sam Jones
|
|
Good morning, y'all. Your pal Sam here. Let's soccer.
|
|
|
|
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
PREDICTING THE SKILLS COMPETITION
It's Skills Challenge day! And although the league has apparently brought back Goalie Wars solely for those in attendance and not given me a personal live feed to watch it, I choose to believe that the competition will still be really, really fun. Here are the events and the MLS player I believe is most primed to impress in each one.
Just a reminder, MLS has Sebastián Driussi, Jesús Ferreira, Chicharito, Héctor Herrera, Carles Gil, Brandon Vazquez, Hany Mukhtar, Emanuel Reynoso for their outfield group and Sean Johnson with Dayne St. Clair as the goalkeeping group. The winner of this year's competition between Liga MX and MLS will take a 2-1 lead all-time in this critical series.
Shooting Challenge presented by AT&T 5G
Rules: Players will shoot at 11 targets of varying values (two points, five points, 10 points, and the moving target is worth 20 points), as they try to rack up as many points as they can for their teams. One player at a time shoots for 60 seconds in each round. Each team participates in three rounds, with the two teams alternating after each round. For instance, MLS will shoot first, followed by LIGA MX, followed by MLS, and so on.
Daily Kickoff Outstanding MLSer prediction: Jesús Ferreira
It's going to be a major, major blow for the "Jesus Ferreira can't finish" crowd when Ferreira hauls off and hits every possible target.
Ferreira has been phenomenal this year for FC Dallas, scoring 12 times on 8.83 xG. That's right, he's actually overperforming his xG. There are only a couple of options here. He's either getting lucky or he's actually a pretty decent finisher. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. And the real truth is that it doesn't really matter either way because he's found almost nine goals worth of chances, the third-highest mark in the league.
In this case though, he has something to prove. And if an elite performance in the Shooting Challenge can't definitively show his finishing ability, what can?
MLS All-Star Touch Challenge presented by Old Spice
Rules: In this ultimate test of touch, the receiver will collect balls chipped in by his teammates or launched high in the air by a ball launcher and will have the task of controlling and redirecting each ball into one of four targets that have varying points values (five points, 10 points, 20 points). Any ball that lands on the apparatus and remains there, but does make it into a target, will count for two points. Teams will alternate between rounds. The final 5 balls, launched from behind the apparatus, are worth double points.
Daily Kickoff Outstanding MLSer prediction: Brandon Vazquez
There's this thing we do as soccer people where we see the tall guy and go "I bet the tall guy doesn't have a good first touch." Or they do pretty well on a first touch one time and we say "Wow, they sure have a great first touch…for a tall guy." Vazquez has a chance here to solidify the fact that he just has a great first touch in general.
I know everyone's been distracted by the whole 14 goals and four assists thing he's been doing this year. But he's also been putting in outstanding work holding up the ball for Cincy. There's a different Matt Doyle clip on Twitter each weekend that shows Vazquez bringing a ball down on the fly while shielding a defender and angling his body to play a quick pass to an incoming teammate. He's going to surprise some folks here. Even if he is 6' 3".
Cross & Volley Challenge presented by AT&T 5G
Rules: Creativity and skill will be on display, as players connect with a teammate to score goals in style. The more style, the more points. In each round, the shooting team will have two players sending in crosses from outside the 18-yard box and one shooter behind the penalty spot. The non-shooting team will have one goalkeeper in the net. As the crossers serve balls in, the shooter must receive the ball and volley a shot past the opposing goalkeeper. Players earn points for each goal scored, with 20 points awarded for bicycle or scissor kick, 15 points for a standard one-touch goal, 10 points for a two-touch goal that doesn't hit the ground, and five points for any half-volley goals scored after the ball hits the ground one time.
Daily Kickoff Outstanding MLSer prediction: Sebastián Driussi
Sebastian Driussi has spent the entire year scoring outstanding goals. He's your current MVP leader thanks to his 16 goals and seven assists on the season. Two of those goals have come from outside the box, and two of those goals have come off his feet from passes in the air. Doesn't that mean "volleys"? I genuinely don't know, but it's the closest thing we have. Either way, he's scored more bangers than anyone in this competition
That being said, maybe the real pick here is Sean Johnson. He's an outstanding shot-stopper with excellent reaction time. If he can get hot and stifle the Liga MX players, that might just be more valuable than any shooter.
Passing Challenge presented by BOUNTY
Rules: With a variety of targets spread in an array, players must strike their passes with pinpoint accuracy. In each 60-second round, one player from each team will compete simultaneously in a race to be the first to hit each of the four targets in his league's respective zone before attempting the "Final Pass" on the Bounty target to win that round. There will be up to three rounds.
Daily Kickoff Outstanding MLSer prediction: Carles Gil
Gil only has seven primary assists this year. It's a slight step backward from his nearly record-setting season in 2021. But seven primary assists is still good for fourth in the league. Either way, we have plenty of evidence that Gil is as outstanding a passer as the league's ever seen. Don't overthink this one.
Crossbar Challenge presented by GilletteLabs
Rules: Both teams will compete simultaneously in this one, final, electrifying event that will determine the overall champion of the MLS All-Star Skills Challenge. Each team will line up three players in Zone 1, located at the top of the 18-yard box, and each team will line up four players in Zone 2, located 40 yards out from the goal. The team that has the lowest total points on the MLS All-Star Skills Scoreboard through the previous four events will go first. Teams will then alternate kicks back and forth, as they aim to hit the crossbar at the top of the goal.
Daily Kickoff Outstanding MLSer prediction: Héctor Herrera HH pings it off the bar from midfield to dramatically seal the deal for MLS. You heard it here first.
