When was the last time you thought of the name Ventura Alvarado? If you’re like me, it’s been a minute. Last we saw young Ventura, Jurgen had made the bold choice to roll with two young defenders at the 2015 Gold Cup (Alvarado/Brooks) and it didn’t go so well.
History
The US was outplayed by minnows for most of the tournament and ended up finishing an embarrassing 4th. Alvarado got a couple more call ups in 2015/2016, but has not been seen or heard from (from a USMNT perspective) since.
Just to refresh your memory and bum you out a bit…here is one team rating after the US lost 2-1 to Jamaica in the semis.
Then I saw this Tweet from blossoming US Soccer Twitter star ChuckMe92Soccer. Who btw already has more Twitter followers than me despite the fact that he joined Twitter like a month ago…I’m not bitter or anything though. Please follow me @blharreld
One player I’d be intrigued to see a USMNT recall for is Ventura Alvarado. Serving as captain for Nexaca, has played LB in addition to CB, supposedly one of the fastest/most mobile defenders in Liga MX. Still just 26 and improved from when he got his last US cap three years ago.
— ChuckMe92 Soccer (@ChuckMe92Soccer) April 14, 2019
This got me thinking. When I went through and graded the US player pool role-by-role in Berhalter’s system I gave out two Fs. Winger and that LB/CB hybrid spot. If Alvarado really has improved and really is playing those spots for Necaxa (currently 5th in Liga MX btw) then he would be an intriguing option.
After checking the various locations soccer can be watched it turned out that ESPN+ had two Necaxa games available to watch. So watch I did.
After watching and doing a little extra digging it turns out I’m something of a Ventura Alvarado-stan. He did get a red card in the second match I watched, so he’s not perfect. However, I’m now fairly convinced he should be a regular call up for Berhalter and maybe even a regular starter.
Positives
Versatility
Let’s start with versatility. The image on the right is his best position graphic from Transfermarkt. Looks pretty useful, right? This season at Necaxa he has started 26 games at center back and one game at left back. That sounds exactly like the profile GGG is looking for in the LB/CB role.
Athleticism
One of the first things I noticed watching the games was that the dude looked built. The last I’d seen him he was a 22 year old kid being coached by a guy with the tactical nous of a block of cheddar cheese. He’s all grown up.
He’s also fast. Look at the clip below and tell me which US center back would run down that forward? Maybe Long?
I’ve also heard that while working out at a performance facility frequented by NFL players/draft picks he was mistaken for small school wide receiver. The USMNT doesn’t have many athletes like that. (See @zlebmada’s take on that topic)
Concentration/Reading the game
It’s been a while and I watch games much more carefully now than I used to, but I think one of the main criticisms of both Brooks and Alvarado was loss of concentration. One or the other of them would switch off for a second and the opposing team would get a chance, score, etc. It’s a small sample size (two games) but I didn’t see that at all from him. The opposite actually. He is now team captain and can be seen organizing the defense all throughout the game.
Here’s a few examples of good defending.
Concerns
So far it seems like Alvarado is a perfect player. Let’s look at a couple areas for improvement.
Comfort with the Ball
To be fair, I’m not sure if this actually a concern or not. It’s just that Necaxa didn’t ask him to do it in the games that I watched. His passing percentage for the season is 90%. Good, right? Well yeah, but the two games I saw him play he was 7/10 and 8/9. Not exactly David Luiz type stats.
In those two games this was the only clip I was able to find of Alvarado playing the ball out of the back.
It’s a nice clip, but I wish there were more. Maybe it’s just the two games I watched, but Necaxa was almost entirely defend/counter. Practically zero building out of the back and you know that’s what Berhalter is looking for. (Help me out if I’m wrong on this one Necaxa fans)
Getting Beat
This isn’t really a weakness – everyone gets beat sometimes, but after posting all those clips of good defending above I thought it only fair to include a couple of him getting beat. I would like to point out though that there are way more good defense clips.
The Red Card
The Necaxa – Pachuca game was rolling along pretty uneventfully (for Alvarado), until the 52nd minute when this happened:
He comes in late and a bit high, but I agreed with the refs original decision to give him a yellow. After video review he changed it to a red. This obviously isn’t great.
I looked at his career stats and this is the second red of his career. In 9,208 career minutes Alvarado has picked up 24 yellow cards, 2 second yellows (turns to red), and 2 straight reds. For reference, Aaron Long has played about 13,000 minutes and has 13 yellows, 0 second yellows, and 1 red. John Brooks in 21,000 minutes (Transfermarkt has stats way back for him) has 41 yellows, no second yellows and no reds.
I’m not sure how worrisome it is, but Alvarado is a card risk.
Conclusions
The presumed center back depth chart is something like Brooks, Long, Miazga, Zimmerman (?). I think that’s actually pretty good and would be okay with Alvarado not getting called in there, but LB/CB… The depth there is Ream, Lovitz, ???. If the USMNT is going to stick with this system Ventura Alvarado certainly deserves a shot to at least go to camp at compete at that position. He’s younger (26) and more athletic than Tim Ream, plus he isn’t prone to the critical errors Ream makes seemingly once per game for the US.
Will he get a call up? Who knows, but I think he should. He is one more player in his prime that could help fill in that “Lost Generation.” He’s a leader, a good defender, and playing in a better league than many of the presumed roster “locks.” Watch a couple Liga MX games Gregg and Co. 🙏
