Will Armstrong, Emory get playing time in 2012?
by UZ on Jan 30, 2012 12:30 PM MST
in Colorado Rapids Views
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The Colorado Rapids under Gary Smith ran a very anti-youth system. The kids on the team were shoved into the reserve league and onto the bench as long as possible until the team felt they were ready to contribute. On the whole it worked out well as Omar Cummings, Kosuke Kimura and others spent time learning the ropes, came in and contributed right away.
The Rapids are in an interesting situation though with the new regime, with the first ever two homegrown players in franchise history on the roster in Davy Armstrong and Steven Emory. They both played quite well for the reserve team last season and Armstrong even got a shot at some first team football during the CONCACAF Champions League match against Metapan, but nothing past that. If Smith was still the Rapids manager it would probably be unlikely that we'd see either of them this year either.
This is a new regime and it's being led by Oscar Pareja, a guy who has traditionally loved to work with youth. This certainly means that guys like Tony Cascio and Eddie Ababio will be receiving some time, with Andre Akpan and Ross LaBauex probably recieving even more time than they were last season. Those guys were all highly touted Superdraft picks, though. Armstrong and Emory are guys that nobody but the Rapids have really seen before.
Do you think that Davy and Steven will finally live up to their billings and get some playing time on the first team, or even some bench presence, in 2012?
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Did Armstrong do that well in the Reserves?
I guess well enough to get a shot on the first team at Metapan, but the bare statistics tell a different story. I wish I had more numbers, or something where I can actually see some of the intangibles here, but the bare numbers aren’t that great.
Looking here: http://www.coloradorapids.com/club/stats/reserves
Armstrong had 520 Minutes played (he got injured this year with a concussion, so that’s part of why he played less than some others) but got 0 goals and 0 assists. For a guy who could potentially become part of our new-look offense, those stats don’t look good. The coaches, though, seemed to like him and he started in almost all the games in which he played. Emory, on the other hand, played less but did a bit more in terms of the bare-bones numbers.
I’m not one to say that goals and assists tell the whole story, but it looks like Davy Armstrong didn’t have a strong showing in 2011. Here’s hoping the Rapids’ first Academy product can impress in 2012.
I have played many times against Davy Armstrong (beore he went to Academy, pre-rapids squad in club soccer) and was a freshman at Fort Collins High School when Steven Emory was a senior. I remember him tearing me up, as I am/was a keeper, while I was trying to make varsity. I haven’t seen Emory play in a while, but he is a very gifted player and could of been the one of the best I have ever played with. He is very smart on the ball and definitely makes everyone else around him better.
That being said, this was a good 5 years ago, but I still think he will be getting some quality minutes in the next couple of years. As for Armstrong, I really don’t have any good info on him, its been way too long. Anyways, good luck to both of them, and go Rapids.
Playoffs...playoffs.....playoffs....playoffs!?
From what I’ve seen of Armstrong he’s got plenty of talent but the Smith regime simply had no idea what to do with him. He’s clearly meant to be an attacking central option, which the previous manager had no use for so they kept him out on the wings or trying to play defense, which he just couldn’t do.
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