Welcome back to the Thursday Q&A series, where we focus on one particular topic – today's being the evolution of Harry Shipp– and ask you to react, share, and discuss in the comments section. However, feel free to ask about anything game-related (MLS, USL, NASL, USMNT, CanMNT, etc.) over the next several hours.
The Chicago Fire got thumped in the second half of last night's 3-1 loss to D.C. United, a team that I'd categorize as "resilient" without Fabian Espindola, and "elite" with him.
Espindola is a veteran, a warrior, and a difference-maker in how and where he turns up on the field. He has the advanced soccer brain you'd expect of someone who came through the Boca Juniors academy, and then played for years with Real Salt Lake, arguably the cleverest team in MLS history, in terms of on- and off-the-ball movement. Soccer is about time and space, and guys like Espindola know how to find and create both. If he was a better finisher he'd be playing his home games alongside the Po, not the Potomac.
Recognition of time & space is one of the things that even uber-talented young players struggle with, including Chicago's second-year Homegrown attacker, Harry Shipp. Shipp has been masterful at chance creation in his one-and-a-half years in red, and is very smart in his final third movement. But he hasn't been as dangerous in the build-up as you'd expect of someone with his first touch and instincts.
That is, perhaps, because he's played primarily as a winger. Last night he was used as a free-roaming No. 10, and helped produce an exquisite transition goal:
His recognition of D.C.'s lack of balance once left midfielder Miguel Aguilar pushes up is lightning quick - you can see him immediately demanding an early ball from Joevin Jones. Shipp knows there's a disconnect, knows how and where to go to exploit it, and does so without hesitation. He finds time & space, then creates more of it for his teammates.
Other guys take what the defense gives them when a mistakes is made; Shipp did that, but also forced the issue into something better (aided and abetted by a really good interchange up top between Quincy Amarikwa and David Accam).
That type of movement didn't remind me of Espindola, so much as an Argentine compatriot of his with a similar big-club pedigree: Columbus Crew enganche Federico Higuain, who came through the River Plate system. Watch Chicago's goal above, and then watch THIS from Higuain earlier in the year. The similarities are striking.
Shipp will need to bring some more of that to the table on Saturday when the Fire host Orlando City SC (8:30 pm ET; MLS LIVE).
Whatever happens in that game he still has more evolving to do, as last night's second half showed. And he'll probably move back to the wing once Shaun Maloney returns from international duty with Scotland.
But his improvement curve is still steadily upward, no matter what position he's playing in.
Ok folks, thanks for helping me kill off another afternoon of work. Check out the comments section below for the back-and-forth!
