Club Olimpia lost the home game against Guarani after dominating throughout the whole match. The home side set up in a 4-4-2 in a possession-based style. One of the two central midfielders always dropped deep between the two central defenders and all players were quite comfortable on the ball. They managed to progress to the final third quite easily, but either goalkeeper Servio denied Olimpia from scoring, or they made the wrong decisions. Guarani hit Olimpia a few times on the counter-attack and managed to put three goals past Olimpia’s goalkeeper.
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, re-watch
- D – Below average in this match
Hugo Quintana
- Nationality: Paraguayan
- Age: 20
- Date of birth: 10/12/2001
- Current club: Club Olimpia
- Career: Club Olimpia, 12 de Octubre (L), Palmeiras (L)
- Position: Central Midfielder
- Preferred foot: Right
Hugo Quintana was one of the Club Olimpia’s players who looked good in possession, but not so much out of possession. One of the two central midfielders of Olimpia always dropped between the two central defenders in possession, while the other central midfielder would move between the lines. Hugo Quintana moved between the lines well and opened up passing lines a lot.
When receiving in that position, he scanned well and always knew what to do with the ball before receiving it. He played a lot of first-time forward passes and was very accurate in his passing. His technical ability did not let him down and he made the right choices in possession. Quintana not only did this in the first phase of the build-up, but also in the final third as he could have had one assist and one good pre-assist.
Quintana’s first touch was good and he controlled the ball well when carrying the ball forward. He was more often progressing the ball forward by passing it rather than by carrying the ball forward. When Quintana did get in the 1v1 situation, he did well to turn away from his opponent. The youngster liked to play one-two’s with his teammates and move forward after passing it to his teammate. Quintana also recognized spaces well in attack.
The Paraguayan failed to protect the ball well when he was being put under pressure and it seemed like he did not was that strong in the duels. Defensively, Quintana showed more weaknesses. He failed to track back in time and often stayed forward instead of coming back to defend. This, not only because of him, led to the 1-2 for Guarani.
Quintana failed to cut passing lanes when Guarani were in possession and was more often than not ball-watching. What he does a lot in possession, namely scanning, he does not do at all out of possession and this leads to dangerous situations for Olimpia. He was lucky that Richard Ortiz played next to him who covered his back really well.
When Olimpia were in possession and there were a lot of players in front of the ball, Quintana did well to stay back. However, he lost one 50/50 duel after stepping out which could have led to a very big chance for Guarani if they made a better decision in the final third.
Rating – A2
At the age of just 20, Hugo Quintana already won a few trophies with Olimpia. He recently won the Paraguayan Super Cup after winning the cup this season. Quintana also won the Liga Apertura in 2019. Quintana already played in the Palmeiras youth set up in 2020, but failed to impress there and was recalled by Olimpia in January 2021.
I think Hugo Quintana should play as an attacking midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 instead of a central midfielder in a 4-4-2. Even though he still needs a lot of experience in the #10 position, I think he could become a decent MLS player in that position.