Joe Scally couldn’t have asked for a tougher test in his German Bundesliga debut, and Borussia Moenchengladbach couldn’t have asked for a better response from the young American fullback.
Scally started at left back in Friday’s Bundesliga opener against Bayern Munich and delivered one of the best performances of the day in Gladbach’s 1-1 draw at home.
Scally showed serious poise going up against Bayern’s vaunted attack, and finished with two tackles, three interceptions and four clearances, completing 22 of 26 passes to go with two successful dribbles.
The former New York City FC defender took full advantage of the opportunity to start in place of injured starting left back Ramy Bensebaini, building on the promising showing he delivered last Monday in the DFB Pokal win against Kaiserslautern.
Acquired from NYCFC in 2020, Scally joined Moenchengladbach in January, and spent his first six months in Germany playing for the club’s second team. Scally really began turning heads in preseason, where he took advantage of the extended absence of veteran right back Stefan Lainer after his involvement in the Euros with Austria, earning manager Adi Hütter’s trust enough to merit consideration for playing time.
A natural right back who looked very comfortable playing in the left back role, Scally does have competition from some other promising young fullbacks in the Gladbach setup, including highly-regarded German Luca Netz, but his performance against Bayern should help him keep the starting left back role until Bensebaini returns, and he just might keep the job if he can keep playing at the level he showed on Friday.
Moenchengladbach returns to action on Aug. 21 with a trip to Bayer Leverkusen.
On the Foals’ FB page they posted a congratulatory picture of him on his first game with lots of praise in the comments.
I like Scally’s intensity. He is not a flashy player, his game has bite. I see him as a DM one day.
Replacement for Robinson and Vines!
If Scally continues to see minutes than Replacement for Vines….absolutely.
But maybe not in the way you may think. Having another player who can play either fullback position is more likely to insure that we take 3 natural RBs (Dest, Cannon/Yedlin, & Scally) and 1 natural LB (Robinson).
Robinson & Dest the starting pair….but if Robinson gets injured/plays poorly than Dest slides to LB. If Dest gets injured…than we still have coverage.
Where Scally fits into the RB pecking order will depend on how things play out over the course of the season and who the opponent is.
I love it when one good game and some are ready to put a player into the starting 11 for the national team. This is certainly promising, but let’s see how he does over at least a dozen games or so.
Indians Vassilev
Agreed GAry.I think it takes well over a couple games to get a good measure of a defender’s merit. Too often people see a player who is simply lucky for a couple games when his mistakes do not get punished or when his inattention is not taken advantage of bu the opposition.
Agree, we always do that. I remember when we all went crazy for Agudelo and Shea. Just let it play out
Fantastisch!
Oh, and Chris Richards made the Bayern bench today, which isn’t nothing. It’ll be interesting to see how things shake out for him in the coming weeks. Does he stay as a depth piece at one of the best clubs in the world or does he look for a loan somewhere he plays every week? It would be interesting if he were in Nagelsmann’s plans.
I’m more selfish as a USMNT fan. I’d love to seei Richards playing at Hoffenheim day in day out, or at Leicester City if whatever deals happened which also means Brendan Rogers rates Richards well.
Leicester are bringing in Jannik Vestergaard from Southampton, so I think that’s that as far as Richards is concerned. I’m happy to see him go wherever he’s able to improve and gain experience. If that’s being in the Bayern rotation, great. If it’s starting at Hoffenheim, that’s great, too.
Leicester has two centerbacks injured, not just one now, so adding Vestergaard alone may not be enough for the Foxes to address their situation (especially with Fofana looking like a long-term injury).
Have a feeling Bayern will wind up keeping him if they can’t get Hoffenheim to up their offer.