Niche Cache. Neville likes Surman. Sounds like Finn missed alot of preseason, so down on fitness. Helps his case that Portland currently down on CBs.
Surman’s performance seemed like one of the bright spots for Portland. He made a few key clearances, was assured on the ball, and looked dedicated and composed despite his inexperience at this level and the situation he found himself in. Him getting subbed was not a performance thing. It was purely because he didn’t have the conditioning to go much longer. Plus the game was gone so Neville decided to give a young bloke (who is actually one year older than Surman) a debut.
Surman’s performance seemed like one of the bright spots for Portland. He made a few key clearances, was assured on the ball, and looked dedicated and composed despite his inexperience at this level and the situation he found himself in. Him getting subbed was not a performance thing. It was purely because he didn’t have the conditioning to go much longer. Plus the game was gone so Neville decided to give a young bloke (who is actually one year older than Surman) a debut.
Portland had one of their other central defenders, Miguel Araujo (a Peru international) absent for personal reasons against Vancouver. Sometimes that’s footballspeak for “about to be transferred” but in this case it seems to be a green card issue. Dunno when he’ll be back into the picture. Dario Zuparic is out injured for the foreseeable future. Kamal Miller’s going to be suspended for the next game. Neville did say that the rookie Ian Smith was his best player during preseason and that he regretted not picking him to start... and he also said that Finn Surman will remain in the eleven next week. That’s the Neviller’s guarantee, folks.
Phil Neville: “Finn Surman got sixty minutes today. He’s not trained at all, he’s only played thirty minutes. He was really blowing when he came off but he’ll start next week because he’s someone that we have a lot of faith and trust in.”