Alvas Powell - a goal & an assist

[USAF]

http://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/mat...thquakes/recap

[Stonigut]

Saw that, very nice goal by Powell, good skill and control in a bumpy encounter.
Love his running into space with speed, clearly understanding the attacking side of that position well.

[Mosiah]

Saw that, very nice goal by Powell, good skill and control in a bumpy encounter.
Love his running into space with speed, clearly understanding the attacking side of that position well.

Let us not get ahead of ourselves now. Alvas has been overlapping from defensive positions from his U17 days if not before. So, let's not hear it that Portland taught him this particular "skill".

[Assasin]

didn't he play midfield and forward for his high school? No doubt the skill was there. He is at a very good team for his development as Caleb Porter believes in bringing youths along.

[Mosiah]

didn't he play midfield and forward for his high school?

So I understand but even if he played defence for them, I am sure he was coming forward and scoring lots of goals.

[Stonigut]

All right hold on a minute, yeah, maybe he has shown that at another level, but this is a step up, just last year he was totally struggling against similar opposition now he clearly is showing comfort and confidence, he has stepped up to this point, much as Sterling stepped up from last year. Clearly both are good talents but level of opposition we must take into consideration.

Don't take it as a dis that he is learning and improving in mls, if he wasn't we would be cussing.

It is all about adaptation and application, in u17 he was playing against weaker slower players, now he is playing against stronger, faster players so it is not the knowledge but the application of the knowledge in a new environment and clearly he has stepped up to another level here and it has little to do with the u17 Alvas.

[Mosiah]

Of course he must be learning something in the MLS. But when you say, "...clearly understanding the attacking side of that position well.", I just thought I had to remind ourselves about this player.

Your statement on his U17 days makes no sense to me. He can only deal with what's in front of him. Fact is he was brilliant overlapping then, better than his contemporaries, so why should it be so surprising when he repeats it now?!?!

[Bricktop]

overlapping from midfield and forward position...yuh having a Don2 moment?

[Stonigut]

Because we have a relatively high failure rate of our best domestic players adapting and thriving in overseas leagues, we are seeing a higher stick rate now but overall it has been bad for such a select group. How many players of all our best domestics were able to stick in a top league for more than five years and actually play a relatively significant role at the clubs where they played, yeah it can almost hold on ten fingers if that and that is calling Mls a top ten league.

Gardener, Andy Williams, Marshall, Fuller, Taylor, Cummings, Ralph just barely, Ricketts, Shavar Thomas, Cummings, Shelton, if we count the championship as a top twenty world league, argument could be made, maybe Omar Daley and jermaine Johnson, Austin, could be added, but that is it since 1996 almost twenty years with possibly a pool of one hundred plus who have actually left the shores of jamaica to ply their trade, so our stick rate in a top league is 15 percent.

So when I see a youth like Powell adapting improving, especially after riding the pine after breaking into the first eleven early on, I have to say wicked, as it is the application and adaptation that you are seeing, yeah he has the speed, yeah he has the skill, many do, but that running into that space for a lb, that cool control on chest, that adaptation under pressure from two defenders and touching it to the right place for the strike, that is excellent, a new step in a new realm.

[Assasin]

No but even if you are a defender it helps to be able to go forward, and shoot accurately.

[myYout]

Bwoy yuh ah defen it to di max e, true wod yuh speak still. Is funny when wi improve foreign get di glory all di while. Is like wi dunce till foreign mek wi bright, nuh ask mi how dat happen but ah suh

[Assasin]

Do you have any idea how hard it is to motivate yourself to play in a Semi pro league for 5 to 10 years?

The opportunity is needed. You think if Omar Daley, Jermaine Johnson etc. remained in Jamaica, they would that motivated knowing that they can dominate do what they like, even with 50 pounds overweight.

[Jangle]

Both sides' defenses were p iss poor.

[Stonigut]

Listen, life is a struggle and everybody trying to get on top of the pile, I really don't care how hard it is to stay there, the only thing I care about is are you good enough to compete and if you are not are you strong enough to will yourself to adapt to compete.
All else is just Jibba jabba.

Competition - thrive, survive or die that is the formula of life.

[Stonigut]

Well how it work s that we don't gave a pro league so fi any yard youth to mek it to the top him have FI leave yard, what him learn ah yard is critical, but what him learn abroad improves on his critical mass now he is learning different style and fashion under some different rhythmic pattern, that leads to improvement if you seek to master the change, if you master that then the people there will start claim you and now you have succeeded elsewhere and credit gets shared.