Tauro FC of Panama dropped a narrow 1-0 decision to Club Leon of Mexico. Club Leon, unsurprisingly for a Liga MX team, dominated possession but had a hard time breaking down Tauro’s 4-1-4-1 block. Conversely, Tauro was a bit unlucky to not get more out of the game as they almost hit Leon on counterattacks several times.
Ratings:
- A1 – Very good, could play higher
- A2 – Strong potential to play higher
- B1 – Good, strong player at level
- B2 – Potential to be a strong player at level
- C – Average for the level, rewatch
- D – Below average in this match
Breidy Goluz
Player Profile:
- Nationality: Colombian
- Age: 25
- Date of Birth: 13/09/1997
- Current Club: Tauro F.C.
- Career: CD America, Orsomarso SC, Carabobo F.C
- Position: Striker
- Secondary Position: Winger
- Preferred foot: Right
Breidy Goluz is the second striker I have covered in this tournament who is a little bit older than the players we normally cover for Target Scouting. But two things drew me to him. Firstly, based on his resume, it’s very surprising to me that he is playing in Panama. He had a solid goal-scoring record for small top-flight clubs in Colombia and Venezuela, so it’s odd that he has taken what seems like a step back in his career.
The second reason is that he gave Leon a lot of problems with his speed and off-the-ball movement. Goluz got in behind Leon’s defence a lot. Tauro only held 30% of the possession in this game, so basically every time they started a counterattack there was a good chance it would end with a Goluz shot or at least him getting into a dangerous area. He was very good at making runs off the blind shoulder of defenders and quick enough that he would win the majority of foot races. Despite his small stature, he did show the strength to keep players closing in on him at bay.
All that being said though, he was a bit one-dimensional. He did not have much variety in his dribbling ability. If he was not smashing the ball into space then he did not have much to offer. This definitely prevented him from getting even more chances than he did. Likewise, his touch was middling. He was not terrible at controlling the ball but there were times when he could have gotten a shot off if he has been able to bring the ball under control quicker. He also ended up offside quite often due to poorly timed-runs.
Rating – A1
He is a bit rough around the edges, and at 25 his upside and sell-on value are limited. But he’s pretty clearly too good to be playing in Panama and given that the largest reported fee for a player in that league is only 400k Euros he would probably be quite affordable. I think he could be a good signing for teams in mid-tier European leagues, particularly those in eastern or northern Europe. With his profile, he would obviously fit in particularly well with a team that wanted to do its damage in transition.
Victor Medina
- Nationality: Panamanian
- Age: 22
- Date of birth: 18/02/2001
- Current club: Tauro F.C.
- Career: Universitario, Saprissa
- Position: Winger
- Preferred foot: Right
Victor Medina played as a winger in this match. In general, I found him to be very impressive. Medina is a really good dribbler and ball carrier. Tauro’s low block meant that he was often receiving the ball in deeper areas of the pitch, where he had a lot of work to do in order to get to the Leon goal. But he was really good at wriggling out of tight spaces and getting the ball forward.
He is quite small but that gives him a low centre of gravity and a small turning radius. His first touch is very good and all of this comes together to make him very smooth in possession. He was also a reasonably good passer. He was able to combine well with teammates and he slipped Goluz through on goal once or twice. However, there were also times when he could have released the ball quicker and perhaps created even more than he did. He was also not that effective at creating chances for himself. I think a lot of this had to do with him mostly receiving the ball deeper but some of his shot selection also left a lot to be desired. He had two shots in this game but they were both from long-range and woefully off-target.
You would think that his ball-carrying skills would allow him to get into better positions but so far that hasn’t happened for him. His skill set might lend itself better to being played centrally as a shuttling #8. He did come centrally quite a lot anyway and his lack of goal threat would be less of an issue. He also showed plenty of willingness to defend so that would not be a major issue.
Rating – A2
Medina has already had one middling stint abroad with Saprissa in Costa Rica. He is 22 so he doesn’t have a huge runway to make improvements. But I think he has a lot of positive skills. MLS or Liga MX might be slightly too far but I think he could be a success at an intermediate level.
Irving Gudiño
Player Profile:
- Nationality: Panamanian
- Age: 22
- Date of birth: 15/11/2000
- Current club: Tauro F.C.
- Career: Marbella F.C
- Position: Centre Midfielder
- Preferred foot: Right
My analysis of Irving Gudiño, who played as a box-to-box midfielder in this game, is that he is very close to being a really good player but just isn’t quite there. Gudiño is really good at closing down players on the ball. But, weirdly, he is not that good at actually winning the ball back once he gets there. He is very positionally aware and has a good sense of when it is appropriate to leave his spot in the block to make a defensive play. It’s just that he isn’t able to actually make that play consistently enough.
This means he can slow the progress of opponents but he is not that great at actually stopping it. He’s decently sized so strength isn’t an issue. He just isn’t able to use his body well enough to get the ball back. His defensive positioning is quite good, allowing him to make frequent interceptions. In possession, he showed some strong touches. He is a decent dribbler and ball carrier. He was able to get out of some tough spots with clever flicks of the ball. But he also tended to dwell on the ball for too long and would often overhit his passes. This might be less of a problem at a lower level but against Liga MX competition he just doesn’t quite add up. If he was a bit quicker with his passes or just a bit better at winning the ball I would be a lot more excited about him. But ultimately I’m just not seeing it.
Rating – B1
At 22 I don’t think Gudiño has the time to make the improvements he would have to in order to jump to a higher league.