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- Emanuel Reynoso is really good. And works very hard. He also plays with a kind of rhythm and vision - a style - that the Loons have not had much experience with. Kevin Molino could play with it. Robin Lod can play with it. It seems like Ramón Ábila can play with it. Ethan Finlay cannot yet play with it. Finlay has probably had the strongest sense for goal of the four who started up front last night. But it is hard yet to see how the things he does well fit alongside Reynoso and in front of Romain Metánire.
- Dayne St. Clair is also really good. And he looks to be picking up in his development exactly where he left off at the end of last season. It is very exciting to dream about how good he might become.
- Ike Opara will continue to be missed. That he remains on the roster is… interesting, especially in light of Adrian Heath’s post-game comments: “I’ll wait and see when we get back. See how he is. And, you know, at the moment, he’s still on our roster, so, hopefully, we can get him fit and we can get him on the field which would be nice for everybody.” Not much there there. More to the point, though, Brent Kallman had a pretty rough game. It is hard to know whether it was simply ‘first game shaking off the rust’ or if the lack of playing time last season allowed the game to pass him by. But at the moment and after one game he seems quite a ways away from being again a reliable back-up center back.
- Starting Hassani Dotson, Wil Trapp, and Ján Greguš feels rather redundant. Trapp had a fine game, but after one night we are no closer to understanding his signing. Or rather, it is hard to see the plan, three-year or otherwise, behind his signing. It makes about as much sense as carrying two starter-quality goalies on a team with a lot of other gaps to fill. If it’s possible to say this in a way that isn’t a critique of Trapp, is it clear that he will be that much better of an Ozzie replacement than Dotson could be, if Dotson were coached into his potential? There is starting to be the worry that Dotson will only be able to find his form somewhere else.