Chalk Talk – Maestro Rivero

Do you know what? He lived up to the hype. Unbelievably, he lived up to every word and surpassed even the most optimistic expectations. This kid was really freakin' good, is what I'm trying to say here.

That was a dream debut for Rivero, because he did everything that a true #10 is supposed to do and more. What is the job of the 10? Dictate play, create the offense, control the passing and generally be the engine that drives any and all attacks. It's a crucial role for a team that attacks through the middle like Colorado has been trying to do in their new system, and Rivero was fantastic at all of that. The biggest thing we were looking for from Rivero was a lot of work done to boost the team up. He provided. Check his heat map to see that he was all over the pitch, seemingly every inch from right above the defensive third up. Check his numbers and you'll see he had the most 'plays' of anyone on the team with 124 different actions involving him. His passing was great, with 56 successful passes and 14 unsuccessful. He lost the ball 17 times because the Fire were targeting him, but recovered the ball 12 times.

Essentially, Rivero was the unquestioned man of the match in my book. Now… can he keep it up against a very good Salt Lake team?