On Saturday against Philadelphia, as he has done plenty of times this season, Chris Mueller took the pitch and created a spark.
His substitute appearance was one of just a few for the newly turned 22-year-old rookie, but Mueller’s addition instantly gave City a dynamic new look on the wing.
“I thought Chris, with his energy, he really impacted the game,” head coach James O’Connor said on Thursday before training. “Chris was very unlucky with some of his actions not to get a little bit more glory, and he has been since our time here. He’s had some opportunities where he’s been unlucky not to score in games.”
Mueller’s two assists in eight appearances under O’Connor are a drop from the production that made him a mid-season candidate for Rookie of the Year. But even while the stats haven’t been there, that Mueller is still getting quality minutes under a new coach -- City’s league match at LA Galaxy on July 29 was the first he didn’t play in all year, and he’s started six of nine in MLS since O’Connor took over -- confirms that he is among City’s brightest attacking options.
“Obviously started the year scoring a lot of goals and was capitalizing on those opportunities. It’s natural for that to happen when you get toward the end of the season,” O’Connor said of Mueller. “But again, when you look at his, I would say, capacity in training to be able to execute some of the things we’ve been speaking about, it won’t be long before we get to see that back in games as well.”
Another young face O’Connor pulled from off the bench on Saturday was that of Josué Colmán. City’s 20-year-old came on for the last half hour against Philadelphia, but he waited until the waning seconds to pull a rabbit out a hat with his cheeky back-heel to Scott Sutter for the equalizer.
Better late than never.
Which can also be said of Pierre Da Silva’s recent breakthrough into the matchday 18. Da Silva has been on the sheet for each of the last three games and came on for the last 29 minutes of City’s loss to Atlanta, the last 16 of which the Lions were trailing. That’s not an easy situation to jump into, especially for the youngest guy on the team.
“He had one flash second half where he cut inside. He was pretty direct, got at them and then got in behind and got a decent cross,” O’Connor said after the Atlanta game.
What bodes well for City is all three players seem to be taking the advice of their elders.
“Just go and express yourself. Enjoy your football, play your game,” Dom Dwyer said.
“They have to express themselves and also they have to be aware that they are in a position that they have a lot of years to improve,” Uri Rosell said. “It’s very important for the young ones especially to keep the mentality to improve, improve, improve.”
As for what he’s seen since preseason, Dwyer is encouraged.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “It shows the future is very bright.
