Alan Rodriguez – Cerro Porteno’s roving left-back
Alan Francisco Rodriguez Amoa or better known as Alan Rodriguez only started training at left-back towards the end of last year as the 21-year-old has quickly become one of the better attacking fullbacks in Paraguay. At 19, he became the youngest player to score a brace in the Paraguayan Superclasico against Olimpia as Roque Santa Cruz managed the same feat at 17 but in a Copa Libertadores game. With an injury to Leanardo Rivas at the beginning of the season, Rodriguez stepped in and began to have similar statistics to Rivas as he has quickly established himself as a high-level attacking fullback, meaning Cerro Porteno could potentially have two great left-backs under the age of 23.
The youngster nicknamed ‘Coyote’ has been with Cerro Porteno since he was 13-years-old, coming through the academy and making inroads into the first-team as an attacker as he has recently established himself as an energetic left-back. The 21-year-old is pint-sized and is a gifted vertical passer as he can play deep vertical passes with his first-touch while he also loves to stride into the opposition half and work passing combinations. His ability to make runs on the overlap or in the half-space to receive possession is fantastic while he possesses a magnificent and accurate delivery of the ball. Rodriguez not only possesses a fantastic delivery of the ball but can lob crosses into the box from a variety of ranges and angles, specifically from the deeper areas of the left flank, he can lob crosses from the by-line as well as with more natural deliveries while running at full speed on the left flank. He is also a strong set-piece taker from corners and free-kicks which will increase the volume of his crosses and opportunities created. The Paraguayan will need to improve the defensive aspect of his game as he currently needs a lot of support from his teammates, but the early signs are encouraging.
At home to Guarani, in the third game of the season, Rivas would go off after an injury during the first fifteen minutes of the game as Rodriguez would come on as his replacement. The 21-year-old was positioned in the higher areas as his winger would receive possession in the half-space, triggering a run from Rodriguez to receive possession on the flank a few yards ahead of his marker, giving him the time to loft a cross into the box and onto the forehead of an attacker to head wide. After a long-range Robert Fernandez pass, Rodriguez would win an aerial duel to regain possession before receiving possession on the left flank, steadying himself to play a vertical pass to the ten space for an attacker to attempt a lob in behind. Rodriguez’ defensive game is not sound yet as he needs teammates to cover for him and he can struggle when the ball is played behind him, he managed to match his marker stride for stride in one situation to make a perfectly timed sliding challenge.
He would notch an assist when he made a run on the overlap on the left to receive possession before lofting a perfectly drilled cross to Robert Morales who simply redirected the ball past the goalkeeper to give Cerro Porteno a two-goal lead. He received possession on the left-flank to lob an excellent pass to a teammate. Rodriguez’ strong performance off the bench would then earn him another start away to Guairena as he received possession to play a penetrative vertical pass for a teammate in the left half-space. He then showed his passing range by lobbing another pass down the line for a teammate as he has the potential to be a press resistant fullback with his distribution and ball-carrying. He received a lobbed pass by the left touchline to control the ball with his left foot before playing a vertical pass with his right foot.
Rodriguez thrives in vertical pass and move situations as he received possession again in the wide-left zone to fake a pass to attract a marker before threading a pass to a teammate to instigate a vertical combination sequence on his flank. He would have a crossing opportunity when he received possession on the left-flank with some space to lob a cross to the back-post for a teammate to lay-off for a shot across the face of goal. Rodriguez is a phenomenal crosser but also shows intuitive movement to get himself into high-quality crossing situations as before his teammate received possession in the half-space, the Paraguayan would already begin to make a run as once the attacker in the half-space received possession, he would be in the perfect position to receive possession in stride, a yard in front of the opposition right-back as the pass was a touch too light which allowed the opposition defender to slide and make a tackle. The 21-year-old would take the resulting corner, lofting an accurate delivery to the top of the box for a header which was blocked.
He received possession after a turnover in his own half to play a one-touch pass into the half-space. He received possession near the touchline again to start a run to create some space for himself by getting ahead of his marker for a vertical pass into the nine-space for his teammate to lose possession. In his own half, he received possession with his right foot and made a vertical pass into the centre with his left before receiving possession with his left to make another vertical pass into the half-space as he received possession again to play a one-touch back-pass before he received possession a fourth time where he could have played another pass into the half-space with his first touch but he turned backwards and attracted pressure to have a clearance blocked. He has the ability to play the ball quickly on his first and second touch which will allow him to thrive in quick vertical passing connections at a higher level, but he can still improve this facet of his game.
He has also shown potential as a ball-carrier as he received possession in the left-back zone, waiting for his marker to engage him and get closer to him before skipping past him and surging into the centre with a turn of pace to lay the ball off to the six-space. Rodriguez is unique because he is fullback who thrives on playing closer to the touchline and only moving into the half-space in the final third to move into space for crossing situations, but he also has the distribution and ball-carrying ability of the modern-day fullbacks who prefer more central positions. At home to Sol de America, he worked a one-two with a teammate to move into the half-space to attempt a turn of pace before he tripped while being tackled. He then played a one-two with a teammate before dropping back into the left-back zone to receive possession from the goalkeeper to take a touch and play a vertical pass into the centre. The ball was played back to the goalkeeper for Rodriguez to drop deeper and receive possession to control the ball with his left before playing the ball forward with his weaker right foot.
He proved his one-touch press resistance once more when he received possession to play a penetrative vertical pass to the six-space to evade the first line of pressure. The 21-year-old then lofted in a free-kick from the left flank for a teammate to have a brilliant clear-cut headed opportunity saved before the rebound was tapped in. He received possession in his own half to take a touch and play another vertical pass into the six-space as Rodriguez’ ability to play the ball on the first or second touch is phenomenal and allows him to evade pressure at a quick pace. He had yet another vertical passing sequence when the ball was switched to him on the left to take a touch, wait and play the ball into the half-space before surging forward to receive possession in behind as the ball was played behind him as he had to retreat to receive possession and play a back-pass. His winger would receive possession in the half-space which would allow him to surge forward on the overlap to receive possession in a similar situation to his assist for Morales as Rodriguez played the same lofted cross for a teammate to head over the bar.
Rodriguez has incredible acceleration as he would play another pass into the half-space to surge forward to receive a pass in behind before he steadied himself to launch another cross into the box that soared over the head of the only attacker in the box. The 21-year-old would play in another Superclasico against Olimpia, showing great endurance to tuck into the centre to regain possession in the counter-press, artfully lofting a pass over the head of an opposition attacker before working a pass into the centre of the pitch. He received possession on the left flank to play another penetrative vertical pass into the six-space. He then received possession on the left flank to take a touch and curl an amazing cross into the box which was into the path of his striker who was bundled over by an opposition defender.
In the build-up phase, he dropped into a central position to receive possession in a three-chain with the two centre-backs, to work a pass in between the central lines to a teammate. He received possession in another narrow position to thread a pass to the flank. In the second-half, Rodriguez would receive possession in the half-space before spreading the ball to the flank and making a run into the half-space to receive possession and play a cut-back into the path of a defender which ricocheted onto a Cerro Porteno attacker and led to the team having a shot blocked. He received possession in a narrow position again, pushing the ball forward and playing a deep vertical pass to the nine space. The 21-year-old then received possession with a marker closing down on him to skip past his marker with his directional first touch before driving the ball forward and playing another deep vertical pass to the nine-space for a lay-off as Morales dragged a shot wide of goal. In added time, he would lob a pass from his left-back position and into the nine-space to evade pressure.
Cerro Porteno had an away match against Resistencia as he began the game by making an interception on a switch ball. In possession, he would receive possession to play a vertical pass to the six-space before lobbing a pass into the left channel that his winger ran onto as this sequence led to a delivery into the box. Rodriguez regained possession with a clean interception before showing his counter-pressing prowess as Cerro Porteno would lose possession on the right flank before the 21-year-old showed terrific anticipation to close down an opposition central midfielder to force a back-pass which resulted in a turnover and the opposition having a high-quality opportunity on goal. He exhibited his prowess from set-pieces when he lofted a free-kick into the box for a teammate to head wide. After a turnover in the defensive phase, he lobbed a pass over pressure with his weaker right foot to instigate a counter-attacking move.
Rodriguez has the potential to have terrific recovery speed to make defensive challenges but needs to be more assured in his challenges, positioning and the setting of his feet to become as confident defensively as he is from an attacking standpoint. An opposition winger would skip past him for Rodriguez to match him stride for stride before making a challenge to regain possession for his side. In the second-half, he lobbed another pass into the left channel for his side to create a crossing opportunity as in the Olimpia game, he did not have many crossing opportunities as that would be remedied in the Resistencia game. The ball was played to him on the overlap on the left flank for him to square a low cross across the face of goal, in between two attackers for a teammate to send a shot high and wide at the back-post.
The 21-year-old made another phenomenal movement on the overlap to receive possession by the touchline to lob a cross into the box as the striker at the near post jumped a second too late as the ball sailed an inch over his head before the ball was deflected out of the box. He would make a run on the overlap to receive possession again as he dinked a delivery into the box as Morales failed to get the proper purchase on the ball and headed wide. He made another run when his teammate received possession in the half-space to receive possession and swing a delivery into the box that Morales headed into the ground and had saved. After a turnover in the defensive phase, he would lob a one-touch pass into the channel for a teammate. He received possession by the left touchline before threading a pass for his teammate on the flank to have a 1v1 opportunity. He had another opportunity from a free-kick but this time from a central shooting position as he would loft it over the wall with power and have the ball tipped over.
In a short space of time, Rodriguez has illustrated immense importance to his team with his ability to provide invention with his crossing, be it from the deeper areas closer to the left touchline, by the by-line on the overlap, from set-pieces with a wide variety of crosses be it in swingers, lobbed deliveries onto the foreheads of teammates and low crosses across the face of goal. His crossing ability meshes well with his movement and instincts to get into crossing situations with well-timed runs on the overlap, being rarely caught offside, ghosting past players into the half-space to receive possession while he can instigate vertical passing moves to get into crossing situations. He could also improve his ball-carrying which will allow him to drive into crossing situations or drive the ball vertically to play the ball into the centre before veering towards the flank to move into crossing situations to receive possession in space.
In build-up, he is press resistant as he can pass the ball effectively with both feet, preferring lobbed passes into the channels while he is also capable of breaking lines with passes into the half-space or six-space. His ball-carrying could develop and increase his press resistance. His biggest shortcoming is his defensive ability as he has the acceleration to match markers stride for stride to make tackles, but he does not look assured with his tackling. He prefers to intercept switch passes, win aerial duels and tackle at the moment where his marker receives possession as he will need to develop with 1v1s in ushering his marker inside while he also has the pace to not allow his marker to beat him to the by-line as well as the low centre of gravity to twist and turn rapidly. He is strong aerially but could improve at this as well. However, he has immense potential as pressing or counter-pressing player winning possession in the opposition half with his ability to cover space and anticipation.
He has 1 assist to his name but is currently 11th in Paraguay in expected assists with 1.14 as this could increase if he manages to increase his crossing volume which could be a route that Cerro Porteno utilize without Morales. He is 6th in crosses with four fullbacks ranked ahead of him while being 5th in crosses per 90 minutes as well as being third in crossing accuracy with 45.83% of his crosses being accurate as he ranks 2nd as a high-volume crosser with high accuracy. He ranks second in crosses from the left flank as well as 14th in crosses to the six-yard box. He ranks in the top 10 in key passes and key passes per 90 minutes while he is just outside of the top 30 in passes to the final third, placing comfortable in the top 10 for U23s in Paraguay. He is 15th in progressive passes and 11th in progressive passes per 90 minutes while he is 20th in ball progression by passes as one of three fullbacks in the top 20 as these figures were sourced from WyScout’s ranking platform.
Rodriguez currently has a contract until 2023 as with Cerro Porteno competing in the Copa Libertadores, he should accrue more minutes in the competition for a British visa. However, an intriguing move for him would be Atletico Madrid signing him and loaning him to Familicao in Portugal to develop the defensive aspect of his game for a year or two. The Portugese Primeira Liga should be an intriguing step-up for him with clubs like FC Porto or Sporting CP. Mid-table La Liga clubs like Celta Vigo would also be an interesting place for him to grow while Ajax who will be looking to replace Nicolas Tagliafico would be another interesting proposition as would Feyenoord. Anderlecht who could be looking to replace Sergio Gomez would also be the perfect place for him as he is a player that could be playing with one of Europe’s leading teams in two to three years. Teams in the Serie A such as Fiorentina, Sassuolo, Lazio, AC Milan, Torino, Udinese and Bologna would be an attractive proposition with the potential for him to develop tactically. He would be an intriguing option for Jorge Sampaoli’s ultra-attacking Marseille as well as Monaco, Reims, Rennes, Nice and Lille. There are so many clubs around Europe who could utilize and grow an overlapping force like Rodriguez, developing him into a well-rounded dynamo on the left-flank.
