If we are going to ding the staff for one young S. American signing (Medina), let's at least give them credit for another (Herrera).
Would be interesting to review all the players we've gotten from South American clubs, as a whole;
J. Medina: Our first YDP, underwhelming thus far. Creative and pacy RW/CAM, decent shot. However, weak physically, knocked off the ball easily. Doesn't seem to fit into the current team. Moments of decent play at times last year, but not much to be excited about nor consistently done.
Y. Herrera: Best signing from SA, by far. CM, at his peak he was key in breaking up attacks in the opposing half and starting counters. Strong tackler, great defensive vision, decent-ish passing.
C. Bravo: Bruising CDM who had no care for playing the ball, only breaking the opponent. Not a bad person to bring on in the final 3 minutes of a game. Offensively, I don't think he gave/did anything.
D. Martinez: LB who played a few games? Don't know if there's much to say about him. Biggest thing was he came from a well known club, River.
V. Castellanos: CAM/S who is still new-ish. Creative player on the wing and attacking, but hasn't done too much up until a few weeks ago. Looked good as a striker up until getting a concussion vs. Minn. Lackluster in setting up plays but I do have some hope after the Minnesota game that he can be a decent striker backup to Heber. Unfortunate that as soon as we found a decent role for him, another player came in to take it.
J. Calle: S/W who was made of glass. Coaches talked him up as a creative attacker, but never really panned out in games. Injured often, was the OG glass-man before Mata came about.
J. Mena: CB, strong tackler who didn't have any passing abilities so failed in Vieira's system. Not a bad CB, but not a good one either.
S. Mendoza: Speedy W, AM. Scored some goals, but never took over games. Similar player to Medina, showed signs of decent play but was overall just not consistent enough to leave a mark on games. Subbed on a lot, I think?
M. Camargo: I can't even remember anything about him until I review our wiki page for the one season he was here. I think he scored one goal for us, but can't remember anything worthwhile happening.
R. Wallace: LW/LB. Strong start to his NYCFC career, with a few goals in his first month or two here, followed by a long ass time of no goals. Was decent defensively in playing wing and tracking back, but not much else. I'll admit, I had high hopes after seeing him play for Portland previously, but I was wrong. NYCFC career can be summed up in that terrible miss from 5" in front of the RBNJ net that would've been a winning goal while down 2 men.
Aside from Herrera, we've had a lot of misses when it comes to scouting in South America. Castellanos has been part of the underwhelming players when looking at his entire NYC career, but he has some hope in being a decent player. TBD.
*EDIT* - Players in the list came from a South American club, to the best of my knowledge. Wallace, a Costa Rican, transferred from Brazilian club, so I've included him in this list. Take it with a pinch of salt.
