Deportivo Táchira won 2-1 against Metropolitanos after they scored a late winner. Both teams set up in a 4-4-2 formation and liked to play direct, with full-backs that liked to use overlapping runs. It was quite a high intensity match (comparing it to other matches in Venezuela) and some harsh challenges were being made. Táchira dominated the second half and liked to use their wings to attack, while Metropolitanos were being pushed back and they mainly focused on the counter-attack with the pacey wingers.
Ratings
- A1 – Very good, could play higher
- A2 – Strong potential to play higher
- B1 – Good, strong player at level
- B2 – Potential to be strong player at level
- C – Average for the level, rewatch
- D – Below average for this level
Abraham Bahachille
- Nationality: Venezuelan
- Age: 19
- Date of birth: 08-05-2001
- Club: Caracas FC, on loan at Metropolitanos FC
- Career: Metropolitanos FC
- Position: Central Midfield
- Preferred foot: Right
Abraham Bahachille played as the deepest midfielder in the match against Tachira and impressed with his discipline in defence and his tactical intelligence, whilst also using his body – he’s 1,92m – to the full extent. The Venezuelan midfielder only stepped out of the line when he knew that he could recover possession and I could not spot any mistakes in the match against Tachira. He sometimes did not fully cut the passing lanes towards the attack but he did well to scan a lot and change his positioning slightly after he scanned.
His long legs allow him to steal the ball off his opponent and he uses his body very well. He can keep the ball very close to his body and uses his decent technique to do so. The 19-year-old has a good passing technique but was still a bit sloppy in his passing even though he sometimes had a lot of time and space to either drive the ball forward or pass to a teammate. Physically, he looked very strong but he’s a bit slim build which makes him look lanky even though he looked quite elegant when on the ball.
Rating – A1
I do not think that he’s ready for the MLS yet, but he can use Caracas FC as a stepping stone like Anderson Contreras is doing right now.
Robinson Flores
- Nationality: Venezuelan
- Age: 22
- Date of birth: 14-04-1998
- Club: Metropolitanos
- Career: Metropolitanos
- Position: Right Wing
- Preferred foot: Right
Robinson Flores played as a right midfielder in the match against Tachira. He was active in defence and put pressure on his opponent at the right times, forcing his opponent backwards and sometimes even forcing his opponent to make an error. However, he spotted a run in behind of his opponent too late at once which nearly led to a goal for Tachira. It could be seen that he gave it his all to get back in the duel even though there only was a very small chance that he would get back in the duel. This could be an indication of good determination.
The Venezuelan winger also was good in the defensive 1v1 duels and managed to recover possession when his opponent tried to cut away from Robinson Flores. He subsequently showed good acceleration and pace in the next action. He stayed quite narrow whenever Tachira were in possession and he was active in transition whenever Metropolitanos recovered possession. The Venezuelan 22-year-old looked over the ball when he received the bal to see where his teammates were and often made the right decision.
The winger was very good in the attacking 1v1 duels as well and showed very good technique when dribbling. Robinson Flores showed good bursts of speed, while also being able to change directions very well. Also, he had a decent end product as his crosses into the box were very good. Furthermore, he gave some good through passes and nearly assisted Bustillo in the first half. Robinson Flores looked strong physically despite being only 1,79m tall and he has a decent build.
Rating – A1
Despite being at the age of 22 and not having a good G/A ratio, I think that he should be able to move to a better league based on this match. As always, I will need to watch more footage of Robinson Flores to determine whether I still have this opinion after a few games.
Andrés Ferro
- Nationality: Venezuelan
- Age: 19
- Date of birth: 02-08-2001
- Club: Metropolitanos FC
- Career: Metropolitanos FC
- Position: Centre Back
- Preferred foot: Right
Andrés Ferro played as the right central defender in the match against Deportivo Tachira. He did well to close gaps towards the right when Carlos Diaz Ferrer missed his interception. However, it seems like Andrés Ferro has a lack of acceleration and speed in the first meters as he got past quite easily. Ferro tried to hold on to his opponent by pulling his shirt in these duels and was lucky to not give away a penalty.
The Venezuelan defender was not really paying attention during crosses and this led to a goal for Tachira in the 32nd minute. However, he often checked where his opponents were when he was in the box but just did not react quickly enough when Tachira scored. Andres Ferro did well in other situations to deal with the crosses. The 19-year-old seemed quite passive in his defending and did not step out of the defensive line that often.
On the ball, he should be dribbling it out from the back more since he looked really confident when dribbling it out from the back, also being able to play good powerful passes towards the attackers or into the midfield. When he did not have that much space, he sometimes just cleared the ball without really looking for any options. His technique was average.
Rating – B2
Juan Mancin
- Nationality: Venezuelan
- Age: 20
- Date of birth: 31-01-2000
- Club: Metropolitanos
- Career: Metropolitanos
- Position: Left Wing
- Secondary position: Right Wing
- Preferred foot: Right
Juan Mancin played as a left midfielder in the match against Tachira and failed to impress. He helped out the left-back of Metropolitanos when they were put under pressure by dropping deep while sticking close to the sideline which opened up a passing lane at the right time. The winger spotted opportunities very well in transition and made some good runs in behind. However, his technique and first touch let him down sometimes which means that he could not control through passes that well. Still, Juan Mancin made good use of the space that he sometimes got when the right-back of Tachira moved out of position.
In the 1v1 duels down the wing, Juan Mancin liked to go on the outside and used his good acceleration to get past his opponent, but he lost his balance quite easily in those duels as he could not properly connect with the ball when he got slightly pushed. The Venezuelan got into scoring position after a perfect cross by Robinson Flores but scuffed it as he could not connect with the ball properly. Also, Juan Mancin was not the best crosser as some crosses went over the byline and some did not reach the target at all.
Rating – B2
Juan Mancin did well to spot space but could not make use of it that well because of his limitations in his first touch.
Carlos Diaz Ferrer
- Nationality: Venezuelan
- Age: 19
- Date of birth: 10-03-2001
- Club: Metropolitanos
- Career: Metropolitanos
- Position: Right-back
- Preferred foot: Right
Carlos Diaz Ferrer played as a right-back in the match against Tachira in what was one of his first appearances for the first team of Metropolitanos. He missed an interception early on in the game after he tried to slide tackle his opponent. However, he got the timing of the tackle wrong and this nearly led to a big chance for Tachira. The Venezuelan full-back was very aggressive in defence but this often just led to him giving away a foul. Later in the game he improved on this a lot and it could have just been the nerves of playing for the first team instead of playing with the sub-23 or sub-20.
The Venezuelan did well to stay narrow whenever the ball was on the other side of the pitch to provide cover for Ferro. He liked to defend aggressively when the ball switched play but sometimes was passive and let his opponent just cross the ball into the box without trying to really block the cross. In attack, he did not contribute that much but he had a decent passing technique and made one very good underlapping run in which he spotted the space very well.
Rating – B2
It will be interesting to keep track of his development.