By FRANCO PANIZO
Two of Gedion Zelalem’s more redeeming qualities as a player are his vision and touch.
Rangers fans learned that on Wednesday.
Zelalem provided a glimpse of what may come during his time at Rangers by assisting on two goals in a 5-0 Scottish League Cup road rout of Scottish third division side Airdrieonians. Zelalem set up his side’s third and fifth goals while playing the full 90 minutes.
The 18-year-old midfielder, who joined Rangers earlier this week via a loan from Arsenal that runs until the end of the year, recorded his first helper by threading a hard pass into space in the 15th minute. Teammate Martyn Waghorn got on the end of that through ball with a diagonal run, and wound up rifling it home at the near post.
Zelalem was also credited with an assist in the game’s final goal in the 88th minute. The U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team player fed James Tavernier with a short pass outside of the penalty area, and Tavernier proceeded to weave through a number of defenders before firing a shot home.
The young American prospect, who was deployed on the right side of a three-man midfield for second-division Rangers, is sure to gain plenty of confidence from his performance. He joined the club with the hopes of earning first-team minutes, and his bright start could help him get another nod when Rangers return to league play on Sunday with a visit vs. Queen of the South.
You can see both of Zelalem’s assists below:
Goal! 3-0 Rangers (Waghorn) pic.twitter.com/TFQ8FmAWaH
— Blue Room Art (@BlueRoomArt) August 26, 2015
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What a goal!!! 5-0 Rangers (@James_Tavernier) pic.twitter.com/hvsUA4Evpn
— Blue Room Art (@BlueRoomArt) August 26, 2015
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What do you think about Zelalem’s debut? Impressed or not really given the opposition? Expecting him to do much of the same in league play?
Share your thoughts below.
Go kid! nice to read this news
in the other article about gz/rangers, i asked if english third division was also a suitable option for gz. i am only curious. if seems to be off to a good start with rangers. any thoughts? does wenger ever do that with his young, developing players? or maybe is the level too low?
i read an article as where it was said he had 3 offers and it was his (gedion) decision to pick the best team for him.
I did not realize that they play on synthetic turf?
It was an away game, although from the highlights seemed to be more Rangers fans there. But I guess if you think about it if the Yankees got sent to Double A their fans would outdraw as well.
GZ seems to have reignited interest in loan moves.
This article may be of some interest:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3211256/Chelsea-26-players-loan-entire-Premier-League-squad-Patrick-Bamford-Crystal-Palace-Marko-Marin-Turkey-s-are.html
lol. “Assists”
Mckayla not impressed?
hymann was hurt after U-20 qualifying and he does not want to resign with Fulham that’s why he hasn’t played.
Still only played in 5 matches after Sept. 27th and qualifying wasn’t until January so I think the injury doesn’t tell the whole story.
Jraz
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2015/08/05/american-exports-u-20-standout-emerson-hyndman-turns-down-extension-offers-f
Glad he’s already playing even if the opponent was third level team. A lot of people were saying he should have pushed for the English Championship, but after the first two months last season Hyndman couldn’t get off the bench at Fulham and hasn’t yet this season either. Interested to see if he’ll play over the weekend.
There was something about him turning down a contract Fulham had offered. He’s more likely to get minutes if Fulham are invested in him for sure. Might be interesting to see what happens before the deadline. Fulham has reported he’s been called to the U23s September camp.
Hyndman will certainly play for Fulham if he agrees to a contract… word is his head has been turned…
He really should sign a new contract and then earn a transfer after he proves what he can do at the Championship level instead of going to a lower Prem or German side now and riding the bench for longer…
Andy I didn’t think I would ever be able to do this to one of your comments, but here goes.
+1
stay healthy, kid!
gramps,
Why? Did Brian Mullan come out of retirement to play in the Scottish 2nd division?
So lets say Klinsmann gets everyone available for Olympic qualifying, then what’s your team?
what I’m thinking is….
————–Morris————
Green—Zelalem—Rubin
——Trapp — Hyndman —
CCV–Brooks–Miazga–Yedlin
————Cropper?——–
Are overage guys only allowed for the Olympics themselves and not the qualifiers?
Yeah just the Olympics I believe
Correct, just the Olympics.
Rather than go “overage” and put more than one really veteran guy in the squad, I’d use the other two spots on guys who are still “prospects” – young guys you’re still hoping to develop but who haven’t popped for whatever reason yet but might be older than 23.
Some fair examples would be Miguel Ibarra (25), or even Joe Gyau (22, but I think he’ll be just a few months outside the age bracket when the U23’s roll around). Another guy I’d look at is somebody like Bjorn Maars Johnson, who is now 23 and will definitely be overage, but he’s been knocking around in some leagues nobody ever hears about…he’s in Bulgaria now.
Let’s let the “prospects” have their day, rather than bringing in three ceremonial older guys.
“Ceremonial older guys”?? You are misinterpreting how these players are used. The goal is to put the best possible team out there. You look at your roster of u-23 guys and see where you are weakest, and you fill that position with an overage player (one that won’t be used for 2016 Copa America, assuming we even qualify for the Olympics).
Nice job spotting Bjorn Maars Johnson but don’t agree with anything else you say. The point of going to the Olympics is to do as well as possible and that means taking three overage guys who fill areas of need.
———– Morris——-
Green—– Gil——Villareal
——Alashe—–Trapp—
Dia——————–Yedlin
——Brooks—-Miazga—-
———–Horvath———–
Yeah Horvath’s had a solid season, I probably put in more of the U20’s then will actually play as well.
its a little bit concerning the lack of minutes gil has recieved in mls
Jack, CCV is not capable of playing fullback at a high-level in my opinion. He is a centerback, so in your lineup, he either starts at CB or is on the bench. Miazga has been getting playing time in MLS, so he’s the hot commodity right now, but I think most would agree that CCV was the better of the two in the u-20 World Cup. With that said I would start Miazga over CCV right now because of that same 1st division playing time.
Yeah I just don’t have a lot more faith in any of the other left backs
Fullback requires a different set of skills than center back. Sure some guys can play both but you can’t just stick anyone out there.
Read that CCV, Zelalem, and Rubin will not be released. Also JK might want Brooks and Yedlin for the senior team.
Hopefully Miazga won’t be either. If CCV has to play in Under-21 PL games then Miazga should stay and play actual MLS games. RBNY have two during the early part of the tournament.
Find it hard to believe that CCV would be deployed as an outside back….let alone a LB.
Didn’t see anything more than what was shown in these two video clips, but it looked like there was plenty to do on each goal after receiving the pass from Zelalem (especially the 2nd one). Still, good to see him get minutes I guess, that’s the point of these loans after all.
Yea, that second goal shown was def an individual effort by the scorer.
Who is that guy?! Quite the goal. (yes, i realize it is lower Scottish division defending).
if youre willing to pay 9.50 you should watch the match. he was quite lovely
The second goal was absolutely fantastic, 2nd division Scottish defending aside. It looks like that player is wearing #2 which is 23 year old right back James Tavernier.
To be accurate, that was actually fourth division Scottish defending because this was a league cup game.