Crooks: Wingert's Odyssey, NYCFC And Red Bulls Tweak Formations
By Glenn Crooks
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This is the 13th Major League Soccer preseason for Long Island native Chris Wingert. He is in perfect health, but still has not touched a ball with his new teammates.
Abnormal, emotional and surreal have been the postures of the former All-American at St. John's University and newest entrant to the competition at the back for Real Salt Lake.
On Jan. 20, two days prior to the start of the preseason, Wingert received a call from New York City FC Sporting Director Claudio Reyna.
"Basically, he told me that we have to move you, the team needed the cap space," Wingert explained in a phone chat Thursday night. "The timing was a little tough -- most teams are trying to have their rosters and needs set by then."
Consequently, Wingert never reported to camp with NYCFC and his primary focus was to strategize a return to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he still owns property from an eight-year stint with RSL (2007-2014).
"My number one hope was to come back to RSL, so I called them right away," said Wingert, who played 204 matches with RSL and won MLS Cup in 2009. "RSL was interested, but they did not have a roster spot."
The next two weeks were peculiar for Wingert. MLS preseason had commenced and he was relegated to solo workouts.
"I've been running -- I'm super fit." said Wingert, who said he was called by two other MLS teams in the interim.
Last weekend, after a roster spot was created at RSL, NYCFC obliged Wingert and placed him on waivers. Wingert was grateful that the other teams passed on the bid, permitting RSL to claim the 33-year-old from Babylon. The deal was consummated and announced while Wingert was flying to Salt Lake City to attend the funeral of a good friend who had passed away after a bout with cancer.
"What an emotional 48 hours," wrote Wingert in a tweet from his account, @wingert17: "I found this jersey in my closet before I left, looks like it still fits. #RSLfamily."
Wingert, though, will have to surrender his trademark No. 17, which is the property of Demar Phllips. Ironically, Phillips was acquired to replace Wingert prior to the 2015 season and now they will compete for playing time.
"There are a lot of reasons bringing Chris Wingert back to Real Salt Lake makes sense," RSL general manager Craig Waibel said in a statement. "His versatility brings depth and strengthens every position on our back line. We want to make sure we get the culture of the locker room right and with Chris we know that he adds a very positive influence."
"What I wanted to know was if they wanted me as much as I wanted them," said Wingert, who appeared in 25 of the first 34 matches in NYCFC franchise history. "The answer was yes."
As for his one and only season that enabled friends and family to frequently see his matches, Wingert said he has no qualms about the events surrounding City Football Group's new venture.
"It's never as enjoyable as it could be when you're not winning," said Wingert, who has started in 18 of the 21 playoff games in RSL franchise history. "It was awesome for me, to get to live in New York City with my friends, to go out to Long Island a couple of times a month to see my sister and her kids. I liked the guys on the team and I loved the staff."
Wingert said he was surprised when head coach Jason Kreis, along with assistants Miles Joseph and C.J. Brown, were dismissed at the conclusion of the inaugural campaign. He had spent many years with that identical trio as they guided RSL to a pair of MLS Cups.
"I don't know what's going on behind the scenes, so it's tough for me to say," said Wingert, who will begin training with his new mates on Sunday. "But we were starting from scratch and everybody expected so much because we were a big money-spending team. Well, two of our DPs didn't arrive till midway in the year -- when they did arrive, there was big turnover and it took awhile to mesh with those guys."
"Those guys" are Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo. A lack of effective connection between the DPs and Kreis may have ultimately led to a change in leadership at NYCFC -- and a return to the "second home" for one player who possesses a rare quality among athletes.
Wingert is a player that a coaching staff can count on each day in training and in every match. RSL head coach Jeff Cassar, an assistant during Wingert's first stint in Salt Lake City, knows he is fortunate to have the affable-yet-competitive New Yorker on board.
There will be moments this season that supporters will yearn for Wingert, whose scholastic alma mater, St. John The Baptist in West Islip, is the same as another guy who was shipped out of town -- former Red Bulls coach Mike Petke.
Wingert emphasized that his season in New York, however fleeting, was a period of time he will forever cherish.
"The support was phenomenal, people coming up to me all the time to tell me how much they were into it," said Wingert, who is close friends with Petke. "I can't imagine what will happen when they (NYCFC) are successful."
Throw-Ins
-- Patrick Vieira, who has won championships at the highest levels of international soccer as a player, but has no previous experience as a First Team coach, guided NYCFC in its initial preseason friendly last Sunday against Florida Gulf Coast University. The 80-minute scrimmage ended 1-0 in favor of the MLS side on a late goal by Patrick Mullins.
Vieira has installed a 4-3-3 system which provides a shape that the former Arsenal captain says may suit his team.
"This is a formation I quite like," Vieira told MLSSoccer.com after the match. "We are going to use it during the season, but there are other formations I will try. I will choose which one to adapt to the teams we're going to play against."
While it is too early to provide adequate analysis, there is one significant concern with the triangle midfield -- where does Pirlo fit in?
Against FGCU, whose head coach admitted that his players would refrain from potentially dangerous physical challenges, Pirlo played as the lone No. 6 or holding midfielder with Lampard and Kwadwo Poku the attacking midfielders. We observed last season that the former World Cup champion lacks the tools to effectively defend this critical area of the field. He especially struggles without assistance, which last season was provided by Andrew Jacobson out of a 4-2-3-1 shape -- the identical shape utilized by Juventus to provide more cover for Pirlo in his concluding season with the four-time defending Serie A champions.
How Vieira elects to utilize Pirlo and Lampard -- in addition to the competition along the back line -- together is providing intrigue in camp. Vieira reserved his most flattering comments for Costa Rican international Ronald Matarrita, who started at left back against FGCU.
"He played a perfect game," Vieira said. "I like the intensity he's putting into the game. He's a player full of energy, he's going up and down the width, he has a desire to go forward."
Sounds like the description of the player he is replacing, Angelino, who was mentored by Vieira in Manchester and made his First Team debut for Manchester City FC in a recent Cup match.
New York City's next exhibitions are Friday, Feb. 12 against Oklahoma City of the NASL and then MLS side Montreal Impact on Wednesday, Feb. 17.
-- The Red Bulls are also offering an altered shape in preseason. In a 5-0 thrashing of the Impact on Thursday morning, RBNY played out of a 4-2-2-2 in contrast to the 4-2-3-1 that head coach Jesse Marsch was married to from start to finish on their way to the Supporters Shield in 2015.
"We saw it in the playoffs, our attack became a little stale," said Red Bulls captain Dax McCarty, whose team stalled against Columbus in the Eastern Conference finals last season. "We need to have a Plan B against some teams."
Marsch concurred.
"If we can have a bigger ability to use different formations and use players in different ways, then we can keep teams guessing," the reigning MLS Coach of the Year said.
-- According to Andrew Das of the New York Times, US Soccer claims that the disclosure of home addresses for 28 members of the U.S. Women's National Team and email addresses for many of the most prominent players was a clerical mistake.
These were among the documents filed in connection with a recent lawsuit against the union representing the Women's World Cup champions. Normally, this sort of information would be redacted, according to Das.
"The players are very, very upset," said USWNT midfielder Megan Rapinoe. "To know that someone could show up at your door? There have been (previous) issues of privacy and hacking and stalkers -- it's very unsettling."
"It was unintentional on the part of US Soccer's counsel," the federation said in a statement released on Thursday. "A redacted version has been filed."
Regardless, the players' consensus is that the federation's error will result in an elevated risk to their safety and privacy.
"It's disrespectful and unacceptable," Rapinoe said. "We're public figures."
For all things soccer, including coverage of NYCFC and the Red Bulls, please follow Glenn on Twitter at @GlennCrooks
