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USL Insights – SPR’s Rookies Shine in Debut

By NICHOLAS MURRAY - nicholas.murray@uslsoccer.com, 03/29/17, 12:33PM EDT

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Kuzain, Storm and Barnathan provided foundation for opening win


Photo courtesy Nick Tre. Smith / Swope Park Rangers

As the Swope Park Rangers took victory to kick off the defense of their USL Western Conference Championship on Saturday with a 3-1 win against OKC Energy FC, a lot was quickly made of the impact two loanees from Sporting Kansas City made in the win.

Certainly there was a lot to like from the performances of Daniel Salloi – who earned USL Team of the Week honors earlier on Tuesday – and Latif Blessing as they both found the net, but a look at the match statistics shows another trio of players played arguably as big a role in the win.

And what’s more, they were all rookies.

Midfielder Wan Kuzain Wan Kamal, an 18-year-old Academy standout making his first start for SPR, and defenders Dakota Barnathan and Colton Storm, both selections in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft, finished with the three highest pass completion percentages for SPR in the contest against Energy FC, and helped Swope Park notch a league-high 84 percent completion percentage for the game.

Looking below at their passing charts – green for complete, red for incomplete, yellow for chance created – and the manner in which the trio linked up together along with new SPR addition Parker Maher becomes clear.

Wan Kuzain Wan Kamal

DAKOTA BARNATHAN

Colton Storm

All three players are in the squad to face the Portland Timbers 2 on Wednesday night in Swope Park’s second game of the season. Replicating the sharpness the trio showed in the Rangers’ opening contest could go a long way toward another three points.

ALTITUDE EFFECT: As teams found making the trip to Colorado Springs over the past two seasons, playing at altitude can create a decided home-field advantage for a side. That proved the case for Reno 1868 FC in its inaugural contest on Saturday night, which saw some major positives despite a 2-0 defeat to Orange County SC.

According to Opta, 1868 FC created nine chances over the course of the game, all of which came in the second half. Former FC Cincinnati midfielder Antoine Hoppenot led the way with four chances created, one of which set up a close-range opportunity by Dane Kelly that was denied by Orange County goalkeeper Charlie Lyon. With El Salvador international Junior Burgos likely back in the frame after international duty on Saturday against Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2, it will be interesting to see if 1868 FC has a similar second half boost, and is able convert its opportunities. 

TWIN TOWERS: Louisville City FC had a frustrating start to the new season in a 0-0 draw against Saint Louis FC, and the principal source of its collective headache came in the form of STLFC’s center back duo of Konrad Plewa and A.J. Cochran.

Despite finishing with 39 crosses for the game, Louisville was only able to complete 13 percent of them, with Plewa and Cochran being the rocks that the City attack foundered on. Below you can see the clearances for both players over the course of the game.

Konrad Plewa

A.J. Cochran

The pattern would seem to indicate the manner in which Saint Louis is going to set up this season, with Plewa being the tracker who looked to contain Louisville forward Cameron Lancaster and Cochran providing cover and reliability in the center of the area when crosses arrive. With Saint Louis set to host Ottawa Fury FC on Saturday, which has been employing a 3-4-3 formation regularly in preseason, it will be interesting to see how Head Coach Preki and his men adjust.

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