ORLANDO, Fla. – At 19 years old, midfielder Josué Colmán is among the youngest players for a veteran-laden Orlando City SC.
Though, his youth and early-season setbacks didn’t stop Colmán from making an impact in his first significant minutes as a Lion. After playing 14 minutes in his City debut in a 2-0 loss to New York City FC on March 17, Colmán played 45 minutes and scored the game-winner in a 4-3 win over the New York Red Bulls on March 31.
The Paraguayan’s performance impressed head coach Jason Kreis.
“Josué was good. Very good. Created some real dangerous opportunities for us,” Kreis said after training on April 4. “Was in and around some things in [the] penalty box. Obviously scores the goal. Pretty fortuitous goal, but he is there in a dangerous spot to collect it.
“But he’s another player, just like the rest of the group, really, that has improvement to make and has adaptation to make to this league. So, we’ll hope that with that extremely positive performance that he can move forward and get better and better.”
Kreis and the staff had high hopes for Colmán since the first day he stepped on the training pitch. At the team’s media day in February, Kreis lauded the impressive showing Colmán made in the first few days of the preseason before picking up an early-preseason knock.
“Those four or five days [before the injury] were really impressive,” Kreis said on Feb. 5. “You just see the same things that we saw in all the video scouting, in all live scouting that we do with the players. He’s extremely technically gifted, and he does things at a very, very rapid rate.
“He’s got tremendous speed, quickness, agility–good 1-v-1 player with the ball. So we were seeing all those little signs showing up.”
As Colmán begins to find his form, it’s likely the full potency of his play hasn’t been revealed yet. But even in his relatively short debut, Colmán managed to attempt a shot and was aggressive enough to concede a foul in the NYCFC match.
Of the improvements he said he needs to make, Colmán highlighted his fitness.
“I think the physical part, the fitness [is where I need to improve most,” Colmán said, translated from Spanish, after training on April 4. “In training, I try to perform and to train really hard to gain my rhythm and regain my fitness, and, in that way, I can perform better in the games.”
For right back Scott Sutter, who recorded the shot-turned-game-winning-assist, there was a lot of hype generated around Colmán.
After two outings with him, Sutter is starting to see the hype fulfilled, also mentioning Colmán’s isolation skills.
“I mean, we read a lot about him, and he’s a young player with buckets of talent,” Sutter said after training on April 4. “I mean, he’s so quick on the turn, and he’s so good at one against one.
“He’s still young, so he’s got a lot to learn–more so tactically and defensive parts of the game… But he’s going to strike fear in the opposition, and I think that he’s going to give Orlando City fans a lot of joy. So, yeah, keep an eye out.”
The Lions return to action on Sunday at 4 p.m. against the Portland Timbers. In four road games to start 2018, Portland recorded an 0-2-2 record.
For more on the Lions, as they prepare for Portland, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.
To contact Victor, you can email him at vtan@newdayreview.com.
