By Simon McDermott-Johnson
Special to BigAppleSoccer.com
Will,
I enjoyed reading your article a lot. While I agree with your opinion on Dane Richards, I am writing to say how much I appreciated your tactical details.
Given that Richards is the subject this might come off as sarcastic, lol, but I'm sincere.
I just started reading Zonal Marking (.net) articles during the World Cup games. Their statistical analysis of the games is really interesting to me. That kind of info adds a lot to my understanding of the game. I read footie news all the time especially about MLS and I find that this sort of approach could be used much more in our media.
Honestly, I can see the coach's point of view, Dane's got potential. But seriously he's going to have to put in the extra time and find a way to hire a specialist to help him improve his crosses and his vision. He must put in the time to be great in much the same way as other greats have done: Kobe Bryant, Cristiano Ronaldo, Donovan.
Each of these guys has said publicly they put in loads of extra time in order to push to the next level. Honorable mention goes to Edson Buddle -- massive improvement this year.
Haven't heard about Dane going above & beyond anything but the crossbar.
Thanks for your insight -- keep it coming.
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