The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Speedy Villalba shifts his game into high gear
Change in positions hasn’t slowed Argentina native’s early-season run.
Hector Villalba gave glimpses of his speed through Atlanta United’s first four exhibition games and its first four games of the regular season.
And then, in a 2-2 draw against Toronto, Villalba showed his complete range of gears.
First, he blew past Chris Mavinga to run onto a perfect pass from Miguel Almiron to score Atlanta United’s first goal.
Then, he scorched the BMO Field turf to outrace Mavinga and Drew Moor to score Atlanta United’s second goal.
“Slow him down is a perfect way to put it,” teammate Jeff Lar-
entowicz said. “He’s incredibly fast. Where we put the ball and opportunities we give him to use his speed is important. He’s tenacious. He doesn’t give up and will always fight.”
Those were his second and third goals this season, but the first two he has scored since moving from the right side as a winger to the sole forward in place of the injured Josef Martinez.
“For me it doesn’t matter if I’m playing as a No. 9 (striker) or on the right wing,” he said. “Both positions are comfortable for me.”
Villalba, a native of Argentina, was the first Designated Player signed by Atlanta United. He was introduced in July downtown with members of his home country consult on hand to watch.
The team then added Miguel Almiron and Josef Martinez, who, like Villalba, are fast, technically gifted players who can slot in at different positions.
As Almiron and Martinez started to produce the obvious results of goals or assists, Villalba’s contributions weren’t as obvious. He scored the first goal in team history in the opening preseason game at Chattanooga.
He added an assist in the second regular-season game amid the six goals scored at Minnesota United and then netted his first goal in the 5-0 rout of Chicago.
He moved to center forward for the fifth game at Seattle. It’s a position he hasn’t played since he was with San Lorenzo in Argentina in 2013.
Fox Sports analyst Alexi Lalas, who called Atlanta United’s game at Seattle, said Villalba’s lack of recent experience as a center forward makes his production that much more impressive.
“He has an understanding of other positions,” Lalas said. “To a certain extent he’s faking it in the less-than-comfortable position, but he’s doing a great job of faking it. He’s a smart player. His movement is very, very smart. He anticipates and a feeling of how a play is developing.
“He is going to draw a lot of attention. If people didn’t know about him before, people will know about him now.”
His speed tormented Seattle’s defense, even if it didn’t result in goals. He got through one time and almost rounded the goalkeeper, who was able to get a hand down and stop the ball as it rolled underneath him.
“He’s fast and willing to run,” team captain Michael Parkhurst said. “When we get the ball and look up, he’s on the move.
“He wants to play in behind, he wants to always push the back line. It’s a good problem for us that he’s causing so many problems for other teams.”
Parkhurst said it’s tough to defend against someone who is always trying to run into space behind the defense. Should the defender drop off to try to limit that space, it opens up room in front that Almiron and the other midfielders can try to exploit.
Part of that midfield speed will be missing in Saturday’s game against Montreal because of the red-card suspension for Yamil Asad. That, combined with Montreal’s preferred tactic of counterattacking, may squeeze the space Villalba has exploited the past two games.
Villalba didn’t seem concerned.
“It makes it tough without Yamil and Josef,” he said. “Tata (coach Gerardo Martino) will decide the lineup, we will follow his instructions and keep moving forward.”