RootsBlog

The Roots have confirmed the report that the Blog heard out of Poland a few days back. The Roots have signed former Sacramento Republic striker Dariusz Formella. The twenty-six year old Pole made 51 appearances for Sacramento Republic in three seasons, and netted 17 times. Here are links/videos of those 17 goals, with some “analysis.”

Watching only the highlights where the player scores will, of course, make you think that they are an incredible finisher. That said, Formella seems more than capable of scoring in this league, and if he is intended to be the focal point of the Roots’ attack, he will get chances.

Formella is right-footed, but has a couple of great left-footed goals, both coming when he had a lot of momentum. Many of his goals also come when he is under a lot of pressure in the box, which is great to see. He does not have any headed goals, but as he is listed by Wikipedia at short of 5’10”, that is not overly surprising. Formella does seem to have a lot of pace, and at 26 that should not be fading yet.

2021

This is a great goal under immense pressure. Formella beats the line to a long pass and unleashes a right-footed finish from medium distance.  Formella picked up an assist late with some great skill working the ball to the touchline in the 18-yard-box, and then made a sharp right-footed pass back and across the face of goal between several defenders for an easy shot.  Admittedly this was against LV Lights–a terrible defense.

Some trickery on a free kick from the edge of the D of the Roots’ 18-yard-box, two players touch the ball, the wall splits with players rushing the ball, and Formella curls a low ball to the far post beyond the keeper’s reach.  A great shot, but only open because of the trickery.

A mixed bag for Formella here.  He makes a solid pass to Jerome Kiesewetter, creating the conditions for Kiesewetter to be fouled in the box drawing the penalty.  Formella then makes a pretty tame penalty–very likely save if the keeper guesses right–but to his credit he springs forward and nets the rebound.  Ironically, if the RBII defenders had been any faster, the ref would’ve really had to grant another penalty.  One of them slides into both of Formella’s legs from behind.

Formella, under pretty significant pressure, taps in a goal from a great through ball.  The finish is good, but the movement is the key here. Tacoma is not working particularly hard to keep him onside, focusing much more on the other runner, but he still takes advantage and inches into a more and more dangerous position as the play develops so he can pounce for the finish.

Not time-stamping this one, because it is bracketed by goals from Amarikwa and Klimenta.  Sacramento has the ball wide on their left, about 25 yards from touch, and makes three consecutive horizontal passes ending up about 30 yards from the Roots goal, but directly square to it.  Sac’s offense start making runs to the right, pulling Roots defenders with them, and such a move pulls Kai Greene away from Formella.  Formella has a step on his new marker, Memo Diaz, and Greene has vacated a fair amount of space.  It still takes a pretty sharp pass to find Formella, who finishes easily.

Formella receives this one at the edge of the center-circle in Sac’s defensive half, and runs diagonally left the length of theSan Diego’s half, beats one defender with a great toe-poke and run, and then shedding another defender with strength, and approaches the keeper from (Formella’s) left, beating the keeper near post with a poked left-footed shot.  The keeper could have saved it, but I assume was expecting a right-footed shot.  

An incredible long-range shot from Emil Cuello rattles off the cross-bar, falls to Cameron Iwasa in the box, who apparently gets a touch, but the ball works its way to Formella who against finishes confidently in a tangle of defenders.

2020

Formella’s first is a solid penalty.  His second, which comes shortly thereafter in the highlights, is a strong left-footed shot to the far post past the diving Tacoma keeper.  

A real poacher’s goal, Formella watches a runner ahead of him get into the box and fail to beat his defender with a shot, but the rebound falls for Formella who shoots it tidily inside the near post with his right.  For his second, Formella fields a long cross in the box, and then despite the different set-up scores a very similar goal, with a firm, low, right-foooted shot that threads the needle between diving defender and diving keeper.

This one is hard to track.  Kharlton Belmar shoots hard and low from distance, and Formella, who is tightly marked, manages to gently redirect the ball in. Watching it several more times it’s possible the ball is going wide when Formella redirects it.  If it’s not going wide, then Formella actually redirects it closer to the keeper. 

Formella fields a diagonal ball perfectly in stride on the attacking left, carries it into the box, and beats the keeper with a left-footed shot to the far post. 

This is one of the worst passages of defending you will ever see.  The Timbers II keeper gets drawn to the edge of his box, then can’t come out and pick up the ball, so he plays it with his feet but gets pressured by a Republic attacker, who manages to block the attempted clearance, with the ball dribbling to the touchline wide of the Timbers’ goal.  The Timbers three centerbacks had already moved forward for the pass/clearance, and so the Republic attacker is they only person running at the ball.  The defense has gotten back by the time the Republic player gets the ball under control at the touchline and plays it back to Formella, but the defenders are all in the process of getting repositioned.  Formella shoots hard and low about six inches from the keeper’s left foot, and the keeper bends over and whiffs his attempt to slap the ball away.  Credit to Formella, a strong shot in stride forced the keeper into a snap decision, but a better decision is a save.

Formella’s second, still before the fifth minute, is much prettier.  The Timbers’ defense is tied up trying to stop Belmar’s run and collapse into the D when Belmar plays it centrally to Rodrigo Lopez.  That leaves no one marking Formella’s run, which Lopez manages to find through Lopez’s own markers.  You would expect a striker to find the back of the net from where Formella receives the ball, but nonetheless, he takes luck out of the equation, using a touch to control, letting the keeper rush out, and then curling his finish up and beyond the keeper to the far post.

2019

Speaking of terrible defending, somehow this ball gets past the defense and the keeper and finds Formella on the wrong side of his man to tap it in.  You can’t fault the striker for being in the right place and capitalizing on bad defending but man, he didn’t even make any interesting moves here.

Formella’s game-winner here comes off of a bone-headed turnover by the RGV keeper, but Formella sees the turnover, finds space and moves into it so that if the pass is well-placed, and it is, he is alone against the keeper.  The keeper goes to ground so Formella lofts it in off the underside of the cross-bar.