Week 1 of the 2015 USL season is finally upon us! Let’s recap some player news that will impact the team going into this weekend.

Signings

The Riverhounds sign midfielder Nick Kolarac, forward Max Touloutte, goal keeper Calle Brown, and striker Vini Dantas. We mentioned Kolarac and Touloutte in the round up post the other week. I didn’t really get a good sense of either of them during the preseason. I do have to say from what little I saw of Touloutte, man is he fast. Probably a result of being an indoor player and the sprinting that goes on there. Hopefully he has the stamina to run up and down a full size field all game.

Brown’s signing was a bit unexpected though I suppose only having two keepers on the roster for a season is a little risky. Brown comes with quite the pedigree from his time at Virginia, posting a 0.72 goals against average and nine shutouts in 2014. Brown has had a bit of an up and down career in college, going so far as leaving the team in his third year. But he rebounded in 2013 and 2014 on the field as well as matured mentally. He’s a big frame keeper (6’5″) that you like to have on your team, and while he didn’t see a lot of time in the preseason, I’m sure we’ll see quite a bit of him this year if Thompson keeps getting called up (more on that later).

Dantas is a name we’ve heard whispers of for a while now and it’s nice to finally see his announcement. Dantas is a Brazilian striker who has spent some time over in the Nordic leagues of Finland and Norway. Last season he was with the Ottawa Fury and scored the first goal in their existence, but over the course of the season his play time diminished. Rumor on the street is it was due to team politics more than his skills. Like Touloutte he played indoor this winter and is coming to the team late, so my expectations of him are tempered for now. That said when you have “Brazilian” and “striker” in the same sentence it’s a head turner, and I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do on the field. A fellow Steel Army member said he looks kind of like an Angulo. That’s a kind of player the team could definitely use.

Call Ups

Tyler Pasher and Ryan Thompson called up to their respective national teams. Pasher will miss the home opener. Thompson will play on Saturday.

This is one of those problems that is kind of awesome for the Hounds. I don’t remember them ever having to deal with national team call ups before. It looks like with the CONCACAF Gold Cup this summer we might be without a few players as they represent their national teams.

Pasher was suddenly called up to the Canadian national team this past week. The still technically unannounced Hound has played for Canada’s U17 and U20s in the past, but injuries have kept him from making much of an impact. Fortunately for him he’s very young (20 years old) and has a lot of time ahead of him. There’s a lot of positive buzz around him both for his national team and domestic leagues. I’ve really liked what I’ve seen of him in the pre-season. I didn’t expect him to be a call up for the Gold Cup, but apparently he’s one of those bubble guys. Depending how these friendlies go we may be without his services more than expected this coming summer. A week ago it wouldn’t have been a big deal, but a sudden rash of injuries and the Hounds find themselves needing defenders. But that’s me being selfish. Having the opportunity to represent your country is a great honor and we hope he goes out there and kicks ass.

Thompson’s call up was more expected. After all that’s part of the reason why they picked up Brown. I just didn’t expect it to be the first weekend of the season. It put us into a bit of a panic mode but today the Hounds put our minds at easy by confirming Thompson will miss the first friendly to play in our opener, and then join the Jamaican national team later.

https://twitter.com/PghRiverhounds/status/580049990434820096

Thompson will most definitely be called up during the CONCACAF Gold Cup this summer which means we’ll be without his services for a month or so. Ironically Jamaica and Canada are in the same group so there’s a chance Pasher and Thompson will square off against each other. Again it’s an honor to play for your national team and exciting for us and for the Hounds to have players who get called up. I’m looking forward to seeing Thompson on Fox Sports 1.

Injuries

You hate to see it going into the first game of the season, but the Hounds have some injury concerns already. We’ve known Dallman has had some sort of issue for a while now. He didn’t see any preseason playtime so who knows what his time frame is and how he’ll integrate back into the team. The midfield has played really well this preseason without him in the line up which makes me less concerned about him missing time as I would’ve been last year if this happened. Once he gets back to full health and back on the field the midfield is going to be quite a force.

Seeing Flunder go down during the last preseason game hurt, and I’m sure he’s not too happy about it either. Possibly losing one key piece of the back line is troubling, but also hearing Russell took a knock that puts him in question for this weekend is a little alarming. Russell had a lot of playtime this preseason and I’m assuming he’s going to be a regular starter. Plus Pasher is gone. It’s a good thing a Arena is here, and that Thompson is staying on this weekend. One would hope going into the season would be a little smoother, but coach Steffens has a little bit of a challenge to tackle. Nothing is going to kill the momentum more going into this season than having the defense get lit up. The strong possession in the midfield we saw during the preseason is going to be critical on Saturday.

The Hounds first game is this Saturday, and there’s a lot to talk about. CAN’T WAIT!

#UNLEASH