Season Preview 2018: Fullbacks

PART I: Rebel Scum   PART II: Forwards   PART III: Attacking Mids & Wingers   PART IV: Center Midfielders

FULLBACK

If there’s one position on the team where numbers should be no issue, it’s fullback. There are currently seven players listed here, and competition for the two starting spots should be intense.

I’ll begin with the lone returner from last year’s team, and my pick to start on the right side, Omar Sinclair. After spending 2016 at centerback and generally playing well, he slid outside and played on both the left and right in 2017. His hardnosed, take-no-prisoners defending style, combined with his ball skills and raw speed, made him a perfect fit at fullback, and he was one of the major factors in City’s 9-match league winning streak. On top of all that, he also showed that he’s a genius dead-ball specialist.

I have no idea why he didn’t take a free-kick all season until the playoffs, but I’m willing to bet he’ll get a few more opportunities this year.

Challenging Omar’s incumbency will be Tyler Stephens, who returns to City after a year of playing professionally in New Zealand.

Stephens played for Detroit in 2015 and 2016, lining up mostly as a right back or right midfielder. In addition to his experience, his versatility – he can also play centerback and holding midfielder – will be an asset to the team. Whether or not he beats out Sinclair, he should see plenty of time thanks to his positional flexibility.

One other player who seems to slot in at right back is Mattias Tomasino. I say, “seems,” because it’s not quite clear where he fits in. He played on the right side of a three-man backline for Northwestern this past fall, his size (5’10”, 165) suggests he’s more fullback than centerback, but he also played some center midfield, too. Similar to Stephens, I expect Ben Pirmann to play Tomasino in a variety of positions to see where he likes him best.

Left back is a notoriously difficult position to fill, for the primary reason that there just aren’t a ton of naturally left-footed players out there. Despite this, City had several quality options here a year ago in Kervin Kenton, Spencer Glass, and Zach Schewee. Although none of those players will return this summer, Pirmann looks to have successfully restocked the position.

The favorite to start is Wilfred Williams. Following his senior season at Oakland University last fall, he was drafted by Sporting Kansas City in the fourth round of the MLS SuperDraft.

Though a defender, he’s eerily similar to Cyrus Saydee in size (5’7”, 145), playing style (excellent ball control and dribbling), and even FIFA nationality (Liberia). Pirmann appears to prefer fullbacks who can get forward to join the attack, and Williams should excel in this regard.

Possibly the most unexpected addition to this year’s roster is Elliott Bentley. Our introduction to Bentley came last August, when he was with Midland-Odessa nailing the final penalty kick to knock City out of the NPSL Playoffs. I’m sure there’s video of this out there somewhere, but I won’t be posting it here since I don’t feel like watching it and you probably don’t, either.

Anywho, Bentley transferred to Oakland U. and will play there once he’s eligible. He’s more of a classic defender who’s unlikely to push up quite as much as Williams, and he can play both on the left and right. And, while it still stings to think about this, with how shaky City’s penalty kicks were in 2017, it’s always nice to have another guy who’s proven himself in that area.

The final two options at left back are both somewhat of a mystery – there’s just not much information available on either of them.

Mohammed Busaidy spent his late teenage years in a couple of German youth academies – Hamburg and Niendorf – before coming over to play college ball in the U.S. at Lubbock Christian. He made 15 appearances and 6 starts for the Chaparrals* in 2017. Like Tomasino, he saw significant time at center midfield and is a candidate to play there for City.

*I looked it up. It’s a roadrunner.

Connor Brazil redshirted his freshman season at Louisville, then made just two appearances last fall before suffering a season-ending injury. Here’s hoping he follows the Spencer Glass path of becoming a quality player for City despite having little to no college experience.

One Reason to Be Excited 🙂

As mentioned at the beginning, this is one of the deepest positions on the team, and there are all kinds of combinations available to Ben Pirmann. If he wants to go with a more defensive lineup, he can start Sinclair and Bentley, and if he wants to go more offensive, he can start Williams and Stephens or Tomasino (or mix and match to get a variety of each). Even if an injury or two pop up, and if there are the inevitable midseason departures, there should be enough players to mitigate those issues.

One Reason to Worry 🙁

The flipside to having this many options is that several of them, particularly Tomasino, Busaidy, and Brazil, are relatively unknown commodities. If any of them are thrust into a major role, it’s unclear what the results will be.

Player to Watch 😎

I’m really interested to see what Wilfred Williams can do, and we got a taste against Chattanooga, but I’m even more excited for Omar Sinclair. Now that he has three years of college and two seasons with City under his belt, I expect him to really come into his own as one of the team’s best players and a key piece of the defense.

And free kicks. More free kicks, please.

Header Photos: Robert Sherman/Oakland U./Taranaki Daily News