I’ve been rooting for Jackson Yueill to be good. I don’t watch the Earthquakes often so my experience with Yueill has been almost entirely his seven caps with the USMNT.
I haven’t really been sure what to make of him in those appearances. He wasn’t bad in any of the appearances, but he hasn’t stood out as excellent to me in any of them either.
Since there are still no live games to watch (Come quickly, Saturdayđ) I thought I’d go back and watch San Jose’s games against Toronto and Minnesota to see what I could see. The usual caveats apply…I know two games does not make me an expert on Yueill and a larger sample size would be better. San Jose die-hards please feel free to tell me what I screwed up @blharreld.
Strengths
Availability
Yueill wants the ball. He is always moving to make himself available and he’s usually a viable option if you have the ball anywhere near him. If you are a team that’s trying to keep possession, that’s a nice trait.
His movement is sudden. He doesn’t slowly round his cuts and eventually get into space. He makes sharp runs and manipulates space with purpose to try to give his teammate a passing lane.
Facilitating the Offense
I was hoping to see assists, through balls, etc. when I started this. Didn’t see much of it. Yueill is much more the point guard that dribbles the ball up court and gets his team into the offense – not the PG that breaks a guy down, sucks the defense in, and throws an alley oop. He’s going to get the ball to you in the right spot and now you’ve got to do something with it.
This may be a bit disappointing for fans, but it does help explain what Gregg Berhalter sees in him. Does the USMNT need direct offense from this position? Or are the players further up the field able to create danger once the ball has been distributed to them? If that ball is being sprayed out to Pulisic-Reyna-Llanez, I feel pretty good. If it’s being played out to some of the depth options I’m not quite as hopeful.
Defense
This was unexpected. I didn’t think Yueill was a bad defender, but I certainly wasn’t expecting him to be good. I think he’s good.
San Jose man marks so it was a little weird, but Yueill rarely got beat man v. man, and he was very locked in to his defensive responsibilities. When it was time to counter press to cut off a break, he was there. When he had to track his man along the sideline and all the way to the end line, he was there.
He’s not a big, physical presence, but he’s quick and agile. There were a couple instances where he’d just nip in front of someone and take the ball without having to get into a physical challenge. I think Bradley’s still got him for passing range/ability, but Yueill is a better defender from the position.
Room to Improve
Risk/Reward Assessment
I struggled a little bit on how to phrase this one. It might be that he isn’t disguising passes well enough. I’m not sure, but I’m leaning toward it being his decision making.
There are times where Yueill tries to squeeze a pass in and it gets picked off. If that pass was going to get a guy in on goal it’s more understandable, but when it’s just to a guy out on the wing or at midfield…why try to fit it in there? The TO in the pass below led directly to a goal for Toronto.
Physicality
Yueill plays a little smaller than he is. When I looked him up I expected to see like 5’7″ 140 lbs or so. He’s actually 5’10” 159 lbs according to Google. That’s not huge or anything, but it’s not small for a soccer player. He doesn’t knock people off the ball or go shoulder to shoulder. I’d like to see him be a little more aggressive with his body.
So Yueill or Bradley?
I’m hoping the answer to that is Tyler Adams. đ Given the choice between those two though – I’d lean Yueill at the moment. I’d say Yueill is 80% of Bradley offensively and Bradley is about 70% of Yueill defensively. It’s just math – I don’t see how you could possibly argue with it.
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Awesome post! I was in the same boat â I try to watch MLS whenever I can but my only experience with Yueill was in his USMNT appearances. The defense section was nice to see, especially the âGood acceleration and tackle to break up the playâ GIFâŚcheck the scoreboard. Down 3 and in stoppage time, still hunting. Love to see it.
Thatâs a good point about the tackle coming at the end of the game. Would have been easy to pack it in at that point. And thanks. đ
Nicely done. You might look back to some UCLA games to see his creativity and fluidity as a 10, the foundation he’s built on as a 6.