Luis Cordova – LDU Quito’s burgeoning defensive prodigy

LDU Quito’s growth as a developer of high-level talent has been phenomenal as they compete with Independiente Del Valle in having the best academies as well as the best planning and coordination in honing young talent for the first-team. This has been proved by the appointment of Luis Zubeldia as manager who joined the Ecuadorian giants from a club with a similar focus on youth development in Lanus in Argentina. 19-year-old, Luis Cordova is a talented centre-back who came through both academies while he also has a background as a defensive-midfielder and was one of their standouts at the U20 Copa Libertadoes in Ecuador in January as the youngster is currently a free agent as well as an undervalued prospect on the current market.

Cordova has a tall and burly physique while being consistently forceful in winning aerial duels as the 19-year-old has the potential to be a well-rounded centre-back who can be dominant defensively as well as being proactive in an attacking sense with high-level coaching. He is extremely comfortable in shuttling across to the wide areas to make tackles, use his body to close down and regain possession from markers cleanly while he constantly overpowers attackers in shoulder-to-shoulder situations. He can surge out of his defensive line to make well-timed sliding challenges as he is comfortable in defensive situations with short-area quickness to cover ground. His defensive style is more about covering the space while his partner pushes up to win possession while in possession, his long range passing has potential while he constantly looks to thread passes through tight lines to the six-space or raking passes in between the lines.

Against Internacional, the opposition played a switch ball as Cordova shifted across to cover his right back as the opposition winger played a back-pass to a deeper attacker for the 19-year-old to shift out of his defensive block and make a perfectly timed tackle. The LDU Quito defensive line where defending in a higher line, close to the halfway-line as they would play a lobbed pass for the left-sided centre-back to push to make an aerial duel as Cordova made a movement to cover the space and the runner in behind. The ball bobbled in behind as the Ecuadorian calmly used his body to shield the ball and swivel to evade the attacker and play the ball to the flank. The 19-year-old managed to clean up a potentially hazardous defensive situation with calm and grace while with his imposing and well-built physique, he can grow into an effective ball-carrier in the future.

His potential as a ball-carrier is matched by his potential as a passer as with his distribution, he can play the ball through tight lines into the six-space while he loves to lob switch balls across the pitch or long passes into the channels. This could lead to him losing possession in certain situations as he could thread passes into areas where it is intercepted while he could do a better job at setting his feet to hit more accurate and well-drilled switch balls across the pitch. Cordova received possession to take a touch, prod the ball forward and lob a pass into the right half-space that landed perfectly at the feet of an attacking player to instigate a move that would lead to an opportunity in the box. The youngster pushed up to close down an attacker positioned in the deeper areas, using his body to deny the attacker the opposition to turn before stretching and making a well-timed sliding challenge to regain possession to put his team on the front foot.

The 19-year-old would have a similar situation where the opposition were on the attack and he was marking an attacker in a 1v1 situation in a high-line as the ball was played into the wide areas for Cordova to use his body to shield the ball and work a back-pass to the goalkeeper. Cordova can defend in a high-line as he is comfortable moving into the wide areas to make tackles, quick in short spaces while he is a master of using his big frame to shield the ball and regain possession cleanly. He could improve with his directional first touch in these situations as when he regained possession, he used his first touch to drive the ball towards the touchline rather than back into the centre to facilitate a turn where he could drive the ball at the opposition and recycle an attacking move. When he uses his body to regain possession, he will need improve at picking his head up, shielding the ball and spinning to use his body as a tool to drive the ball forward and work passes in between the lines to instigate attacking moves.

Cordova was perfectly positioned to intercept a crossing situation before receiving possession to take a touch and play a perfectly weighted line-breaking pass into the right half-space. The 19-year-old won an aerial duel on a long pass into his zone to deny an attacker the ability to run in behind as he won another aerial duel from a goal-kick before he received possession to play another phenomenal line-breaking pass to the right half-space for a teammate to flick the ball onto the right flank for a crossing opportunity. The Ecuadorian is a brilliant 1v1 defender as he tightly marked his attacker to shift out of his defensive block to lunge and make a well-timed tackle to regain possession. He instigated another attacking move when he chipped the ball over pressure to a winger on the flank as he has the potential to grow into a press-resistant ball-playing defender with his blend of size, strength and his penchant for penetrative passes in build-up.

In the second match against Penarol, the opposition would win a turnover as an attacker in Cordova’s zone will receive possession for the 19-year-old to make a perfectly timed sliding challenge. The youngster then slid across to make a perfectly timed challenge before his side would lose possession in the build-up phase once more for an opposition attacker to stride forward with Cordova denying the attacker a direct running lane to the central areas and forcing him into the wider areas where he would engage in a shoulder to shoulder tussle with the attacker who fell over for the centre-back to regain possession. The Ecuadorian pushed forward to win two aerial duels from opposition goal-kicks as he can push forward to regain possession aerially in a high defensive line while with regaining possession on the ground, he is more proficient covering the space in behind while his partner pushes forward. In possession, he played another long pass into the channels that his teammate was unable to get a touch on.

He exhibited his distribution once more when he attempted a long pass which was intercepted before receiving possession once more to thread a pass into the right half-space in between two players. He exhibited his range of distribution when he received possession to loft an accurate switch ball that landed perfectly at the feet of the left winger in the opposition box. Cordova received a pass with an opposition attacker in his face to play a wonderful pass into the six-space before sliding across to the wide areas as the opposition played a goal kick over the head of his right-back to close down the winger and regain possession before playing a progressive pass down the line. Cordova had a similar situation where he had to cover for a right-back to use his body to shield the ball and regain possession. After his left-sided centre-back was caught out of possession pushing up, Cordova slid across to cover for him as he forced his attacker to switch the ball to the flank for a winger to dribble past his right back as Cordova made a timely sliding tackle in a situation where he managed to cover for two of his teammates.

Cordova’s directional first touch continued to be an issue as he regained possession with an opposition pass into the channels as he could have used his first touch to drive the ball towards the touchline or received possession with his left foot which was his front foot to receive possession where he put his body in between himself and the ball as this would have been a better situation to drive the ball forward or draw a foul. Instead, he allowed the ball to roll across his body and flicked possession back with his right foot, giving his attacker a direct avenue towards the ball as Cordova recovered by using his body and long limbs to regain possession before clearing the ball out of bounds. The 19-year-old thrives in wall-passing situations with the midfield line as he played the ball to Oscar Zambrano who was marked as the young midfielder laid off to Cordova before moving into space as the centre-back played a direct one-touch pass to him. In a counter-attacking situation, the ball would be played in behind his right-back once more for Cordova to slide across and use his body to nudge an opposition player out of possession to regain the ball cleanly.

The 19-year-old instigated an attacking move when he lobbed a pass into the channels before an opposition player would receive possession behind him for Cordova to use his body to regain possession. Moments later, the goalkeeper rolled the ball to him for the 19-year-old to play a line-breaking pass into the right half-space before shifting to the wide areas to win another 1v1 battle. He drove the ball forward to play a well-weighted line-breaking pass into the central areas before the youngster would receive a second yellow, defending a shot on the goal-line before pushing out to slide to block a shot which cannoned off his hand as this resulted in a second yellow and penalty.

It is unfortunate that Cordova was only able to play two games with LDU Quito in the U20 Copa Libertadores as he showed a lot of potential, especially being comfortable in sliding across to defend the wide positions with authority, using his body to regain possession efficiently as he is comfortable in aerial duels. He is more of a cat than a dog defender with a cat-like defender implying that he prefers to sit back and cover space rather than a dog who pushes forward to regain possession in a high-line as he thrives in covering for teammates while using his body and short area quickness to regain possession. In possession, he has the potential to play raking line-breaking passes in between the lines while he loves to thread passes through tight lines of pressure. He could be introduced to professional football in a three-chain, receiving possession in space while being able to push up and play passes in between the lines while also having the opportunity to cover for his wing-back with his calm defending.

Cordova is a bargain on the current market as he is a free agent with a lot of potential in a rapidly growing market. Working with Muno Burgos at Aris in Greece would be good for his defensive aptitude while he would be introduced to professional football in a back-three as would playing in Italian Serie A or Serie B where he would gain a high-level of tactical education on his position. Torino, Bologna, Genoa, Spezia and Hellas Verona would all be good clubs for him as he could also play for Las Palmas in the Spanish Segunda Division. The French Ligue 1 with teams like Lens and Toulouse would also provide a solid stepping stone for him as within South America, he could join Red Bull Bragantino who would gradually develop him in a stable and proactive system. The 19-year-old is a player on the free market who could accrue considerable resale value.