Carlos "Chile" Farias

After the first three I’ve talked about some of you might be wondering why I haven’t introduced Carlos “Chile” Farias.  It isn’t because I assumed you all knew enough about him, being the Wings big name signing.  It was only because I was waiting to see what he was capable of outside of a training session.  The Black and Orange Scrimmage, which was held on Wednesday the 26^th, provided me and the other 3,000 spectators a chance to view his immense ability.  Before I give you a taste of ‘Chile’, (Weird) here is the story from the BLACK AND ORANGE SCRIMMAGE.

Carlos “Chile” Farias is somewhat of a household name when it comes to indoor soccer in the United States.  He did have two appearances in the MLS for the San Jose Clash, now the San Jose Earthquakes, but his mark has been made on the soccer world from his years of success in the indoor game.  He has played in the CISL, USISL, NPSL,WISL, and MISL.  These are all past or present professional indoor leagues that you can do your own research on.  Chile is a prominent goal scorer.  As the Wings top signing he will be expected to produce and from I see he will always create a spark when needed and finishes his opportunities well.  He has a beautifully weighted touch on the ball.  Every touch he has seems crisper than anyone else’s.  His passes are fluid on the carpet and arrive at their intended target’s feet rolling, not bouncing.  His experience is ever-present; he makes it all look so easy.  He’s one of those players who do more by doing less.  I know it’s a confusing phrase but when you see Chile play you will understand.  He doesn’t force the play when he gets into trouble, he doesn’t leave the defense frantically tracking back after he failed a fancy trick in the corner.  When he does choose to display his foot skills and get a little crafty he usually succeeds and glides by the prospective defender.

Season Prediction:  For the Wings comeback campaign Chile is definitely the favorite to be the team’s top point man.  The strikers for the Wings all have different skills they use to find the back of the net, Jamar Beasely leaks into open space beautifully, and Freddy Moojen puts his back to goal and creates for himself and others.  Chile kind of does it all, he poaches but likes to match up against a defender.  He likes to lead the attack but will definitely expect a return pass if he makes the correct run.  Chile will most likely lead the team in goals, but for total points, my vote goes to Freddy Moojen.

Daniel Villegas

Our third spotlighted player will be the most wicked left foot on the squad, Daniel Villegas.  I experienced Daniel’s ability during the Wing’s open tryouts in late August.  He came to tryouts with previous professional outdoor experience having played in the USL and PDL.  His talent level was clearly higher than the others at Hartman Arena on the first day and he was pulled from the gobs of hopefuls and given a contract. 

As I have already mentioned, Daniel’s left foot has some serious power.  He is a defensive player, whether he is in the back or in the middle, but has a knack for creating offense as well.  Watching tape of Daniel shows me isn’t afraid to attack down the flank and provide support to the offense when needed.  All tape I have seen of him, of course, has been of his outdoor game.  He will have to make the transition to the indoor game and I think once he has comfortably made the transition he will be a fine player.  At the Wings open tryouts he was never hesitant to shoot.  Most of his shots were coming from a defensive position so they are a bit against the run of play but surprised the opposing defense and their keeper. 

Season Prediction: Daniel is still young, at the age of 21 he will among the youngest on the team.  Being a rookie to the professional indoor game it might take him longer than some would like to become accustomed to the line changes and constant change in possession.  One thing that will benefit the Wings immediately is his ability to force the game on the other team.  He can hit it from anywhere and as long as the other field players are aware when he is shooting, crashing the box will result in some sitters for the poachers on the team.  Carlos “Chile” Farias, the team’s most experienced goal scorer will benefit from Villegas’ power from the back.

Tijani Ayegbusi

           The start of the season grows near.  All the players are finally in Wichita, living, becoming acquainted with the city and training camp has started.  I finally was able to get my first look at a full practice yesterday during the team’s afternoon training session.  I have been waiting to write my second player introduction until I was able to witness the new players I was less familiar with play.  After watching a scrimmage heavy two hour training session I immediately knew the player I wanted to introduce.

            Your player intro for today is a man his teammates call ‘TJ’.  The 6’2” 190lb frame of Tijani Ayegbusi is supported by a pair of massively muscular legs that are actually quite nimble.  Tijani is not a rampant goal scorer by any means.  He is however a fantastic defender with qualities not usually found with a man of his stature.  He is patient on the ball and never pressures a move unless there is help and time for his intended target to control and make a decision.  During the team’s scrimmages he almost toys with some of the new boys trying to take the ball off of him.  He pulls the ball back with ease and redirects his motion out of trouble and into space beautifully.   His intentions on the pitch are always to feed his teammates and protect his goalkeeper.  As I mentioned he doesn’t look to score much but having a force as solid like TJ at the back gives the other players on the pitch the freedom to press forward and attack. 

            Season Prediction: Tijani will be the team’s enforcer.  He will rarely get muscled off the ball and is a decent distributor of the ball.  Attacking runs from TJ will be few but his relief support on failed jaunts forward by others will be unmatched.  When TJ does score expect the arena to go wild.  He might nick two or three this campaign and it will be an exciting event when he does, for the fans and the other Wings players.  Tijani is sure to be a crowd favorite and I’m positive he will embrace our city and the fans that come out to see him.

Sanaldo Freitas de Carvalho

As promised, here is my first player introduction.  What separates the indoor game from the outdoor game is boards to play off of and jam your opponent into, Penalty boxes, a smaller pitch, but most of all SHOTS.  Any given indoor game can easily see sixty shots rifled at the goals.  Because of the barrage of shots each team takes during an indoor game, the team who is willing to defend and willing to put their bodies in front of these goal bound strikes is usually the team that celebrates in the end.  Of course not all players have defending as their first priority, that is why the most important player on the pitch is the team’s last line of defense, their goalkeeper, and the Wichita Wings have sure signed a fantastic one.  Sanaldo Freitas de Carvalho has been playing professionally since he was 17 and has been playing professional indoor soccer since 2003.  The 34 year old it touted as one of the best keepers in the MISL over the last ten years.  You can see all of his MISL statistics and honors by clicking on his name above.

            Everyone within the Wings organization I’ve spoken with has been ecstatic about his experience and his quality.  The one thing that avoided the Wings during their first tenure as a franchise was a league championship.  Sanaldo has a championship to his name along with a championship game MVP honor.  He won his championship with the Baltimore Blast in 2006.  Clearly he has the mentality of a winner and the stamina a keeper needs to maintain solidarity through a long season and a postseason run.  A keeper with Sanaldo’s credentials gives his outfield players a piece of mind.  It allows them to take more chances to score more goals.  It allows players to make a line change comfortably knowing if their keeper is in possession he will have the presence of mind to either hold up play long enough or put the ball out of danger to allot them the appropriate amount of time to recover and get organized.  With our new keeper we know mistakes will be limited.  There is a huge amount of trust that not only the players feel towards him, but the fans can also feel reassured without ever having seen him play a game. 

Season Prediction: The team does not have an incredibly long preseason to train and get to know each other.  So a defensive groove between the players might not be seen until a few games into the season. If a defensive cohesiveness is hard to come by early then expect Sanaldo to be the most talked about Wings player during the first few weeks of the season.  He’ll most likely win plenty of man of the match awards, most of them coming early.  Look for him to be vocal with his new team.  There is plenty of other experienced players on the squad but the keeper sees the entire field at all times.  Expect him to take on a serious leadership role right from the get-go.  He will be one of the top keepers in the MISL again this year, I can assure you that.

We Should Be Thankful, For Our Coaches

When looking at the Wings already impressive roster, we have to feel grateful that we have such an experienced and willing to recruit staff behind the club. Let’s look at another expansion team entering the league this year, such as the Rochester Lancers.  When clicking on the team section of their website we are treated to a wish list of players that the club have given unnecessarily long nicknames to in order to perhaps persuade them to re-sign with the team. (Last year they were the Rochester Rhinos)  The list consists of one player that has actually signed with the team.  That player being the 42 year-old Doug Miller whom the club has dubbed “The Franchise.”  Miller’s twenty plus years of professional experience provides Rochester with a decent start to the creation of an MISL squad, but when compared to what LeBaron Hollimon, Sammy Lane, and the managerial staff have put together for us in Wichita, we should all be very thankful.   LeBaron and the staff have signed an MISL MVP, an MISL Championship Game MVP, an MISL Rookie of the Year, and considerable bag of mixed talent and experience that I believe makes the Wings a playoff team at the very least. 

With this post I aimed to spotlight my favorite pre-season signing, but instead I have very possibly highlighted the most important element of the new Wichita Wings, the coaching staff.  There are just two of them but both Hollimon and Lane have the Wings experience and most importantly of all they have the passion for not only the indoor game but the indoor game in Wichita.  Having Roy Turner’s soccer mind and contacts aiding them doesn’t hurt either.

Player Introductions

With less than a month left before the Wings and MISL season opener on November 3^rd at Hartman Arena, I think it is appropriate to start introducing the players and giving you my take on each of them.   The first player to present will be……  In the next post!  I will give you a hint, in my opinion he is the Wings best off-season signing.  Here is the Wings Current Roster so you can begin guessing.

Welcome Wings Fans

As an introduction I will say how thrilled I am to be a part of Sports Radio 1410 KGSO and the Wings return to Wichita.  I have been a life-long Wings supporter and their return has led me back to Wichita to continue to be a part of the team.  There is much more to come including player news, schedule and league changes, and everything else in relation to the Wichita Wings.