We are back after getting to know the squad, and thankfully didn’t have to do too much surgery on the roster. We did need to fill out the staff as we only started with an Assistant Coach, Technical Director, and a Performance Analyst. Within the first week however, we did need to find a new assistant coach after Neil left to take the Head Coach position for Reading United. But slowly we were able to fill out our staff and get physios, scouts, and coaches which only leaves the Head of Youth Development.
Enough talk about hiring, let’s get to the football! We played five friendlies in a span of a month, and an intra-squad friendly that was sandwiched in between the others. The first friendly was against Louisville City and it was going to be an interesting view to see where we stand. Surprisingly, we dominated the whole match but only had one goal to show for it from Ryan Sierakowski in the 30th minute. Most of the play was coming down our left side with Jiro launching plenty of crosses, for which he was rewarded with the assist. Derek Gebhard was the other player to get above a 7.0 rating but nobody had a poor game, which is important.
We then faced the Minnesota United’s U23 team for the second preseason friendly, the only notable thing about that match was we easily won 5-1 with goals coming from Sierakowski, Gebhard, Jake Keegan, Christian Enriquez and Cyrus Rad. After the intra-squad scrimmage, which the First XI won, we then faced off against the Flint City Bucks. It was a heavily rotated side to get a better look at other players and build their match fitness. Despite having the edge in every statistical category, we couldn’t seem to find our lucky shooting boots and ended with a 0-0 draw.
For the final preseason match, we hosted Detroit City and with most of the XI playing, it was a dominant 4-0 victory bringing great disappointment to Great Value Milwall Northern Guard Supporters. All four goals were scored in the first half, highlighted by Jake Keegan’s hat trick and an assist to Ryan Sierakowski. Overall very happy with the performance and at the very least it gives us positive momentum heading into the regular season.
Overall, the preseason was nearly perfect. The match fitness of the squad improved and we had a solid technical staff. I feel pretty good about the squad, especially as we added a left back named Raymond Lee who will compete with Jiro for that position. The one negative about the preseason was injuries. Unfortunately, I lost both Right Backs during preseason as Christian Diaz suffered a broken toe and is out 6-7 weeks. Ronaldo Lomeli, who serves as his backup, is injured with an abdominal strain which will sideline him for 3-5 weeks. This means that Gustavo Fernandes will be the team’s starting right back in the near future and hopefully he doesn’t get injured and/or suspended.
Next time, we are going to begin our league campagin and see how we stack up against the rest of the league. If there are any players or teams you want me to look up, make sure to hit me up @KyleCoche otherwise, thank you for reading and we will see you next time.
