We all know how important first impressions are and depending on who you talk to, some say that a mind is made up about someone within two minutes of meeting them. In soccer, it may not be quite so drastic, but juding by the first 45 MLS minutes in the career of Mauro Diaz, there's certainly reason to be optimistic.
Head Coach Schellas Hyndman inserted Diaz into the lineup at halftime of Saturday's game in Seattle and the Argentine seemed to spark FC Dallas in what was a much-improved second half performance.
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"I thought we started playing with more urgency and Mauro did help us a lot," said Hyndman. "He was a player that was looking for the ball, getting touches, slowing things down and at the same time penetrating. When you look at the addition that Mauro brought into the game, it brought David [Ferreira]'s game up, Castillo started playing better, I thought it was a good substitution for us."
Diaz had FCD's best chance of the match in the 69th minute of the match twisting and turning the Seattle defense before sending a shot just wide. While the Argentine is not necessarily here to score the goals rather than provide them, it was a warning shot to MLS suggesting a bright future could be ahead for the 22-year-old.
While a spot in the starting lineup is surely in the future for the youngster, Hyndman poured a bit of cold water on the suggestion that Diaz could start this weekend against Los Angeles, though you never know what the veteran coach has up his sleeve.
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"Not really," Hyndman said in response to a question about whether he was ready physically to start. "I think this was a good game for him because of the climate. As you know, in Argentina it’s their winter time and he’s coming from a cooler climate to 95 or 100 degrees and that’s a big change in itself. Realistically, I think he’ll be closer to 90 minutes at the start of September."
