Offseason Notebook: eulogizing the Cabrera era
Offseason Notebook: eulogizing the Cabrera era
Reflecting on the Toros and other news of the week
Wilmer Cabrera’s time at H-E-B Park is over, and it’d be easy to take three seasons of mid-table finishes and assume that Cabrera had it coming.
Rio Grande Valley FC and their twice-tenured coach parted ways this week after missing the 2023 playoffs, the first time that Cabrera had ever finished below the cut line in Edinburg. Cabrera never forged a title contender, but he was never given the resources to do so, and there are lessons to be learned from his time with the Toros.
Taking over in 2021, the Colombian gaffer took RGV to a +7 goal difference and 47 points, and he did so with a core of players who would go on to great success in the wider USL. Rodrigo Lopez led the charge in the middle of the park, rating in the 94th percentile for expected assists and the 87th for total passes. His creation and the attention he demanded from opposing defenses freed up breakout wide players like Juan Azocar, Baboucarr Njie, and Christian Sorto. Up top, Elvis Amoh feasted as a result.
The common denominator for those offensive stalwarts? They all left for greener pastures and richer contracts in 2022. Lopez won my MVP vote in Sacramento. Azocar broke out with double-digit goal contributions in Oakland. Amoh would score 13 goals in Colorado Springs.
Cabrera served as the club’s sporting director during his time in Southern Texas, but he never had a blank check to build his preferred roster. Heading into 2022, 15 of RGV’s 18 minutes leaders were out the door; 26% of total minutes were retained. Indeed, this team seems behind the eight ball across the expanse of their operations. They haven’t put out press releases about Cabrera’s exit, or anything else since the end of the USL season:
Still, Cabrera illustrated his nous in retooling his squad on a shoestring budget. Cementing a 4-3-3 formation, the former Houston Dynamo head man used Emilio Ycaza as a more energetic Lopez replacement in the heart of the pitch. Jonathan Ricketts and Ricky Ruiz came on at right back and left wing in a dual move from the Chattanooga Red Wolves, replacing the burning pace of their forebears with a more considerate but equally fearsome threat.
The Toros came on strong down the stretch that year, and they did so on the back of well-scouted loanees and mid-year deals. Christian Pinzon exploded at the end of 2022, and late-arriving Jonas Fjeldberg – who was also acquired on loan late in 2021 – was similarly crucial.
Their end-to-end spark punctuated a team designed to press aggressively and hit out on the counter. Indeed, the hard-nosed press seemed to be Cabrera’s golden ticket to assure playoff qualification. With Erik Pimentel and Wahab Ackwei at the heart of the defense and Juan Cabezas as a low-seated No. 6 that could drop in like a third center back, the Toros played a high line designed to compress the pitch and force turnovers.
However, Cabrera was frustratingly conservative in deploying that pressureful style in high-leverage situations. Too often, he had his sides sit low when it counted.
Blame the decision-making on timidity derived from a less-than-star-studded squad or pragmatism against top-of-the-table foes, but Cabrera tended to park the bus at the wrong times. You see the impact above; in a first-round playoff game against a Colorado Springs team that had just sold Hadji Barry, RGV sits back and refuses to rush their opponents or try to win back the ball.
The mix of light pressure and a pursuantly unprotected defensive unit let the Switchbacks go over the top and get an edge – the loss that ensued was a wrap on 2022 for the Toros.
Heading into 2023, the roster build was more consistent, but Cabrera still lost nearly 40% of his contributions from the season prior. Frustratingly, breakout stars like Pinzon and Ruiz weren’t in the picture in the same way - the former was often frozen out or injured, and the latter was regularly employed out of position. Meanwhile, tactical the system fluctuated constantly between a 3-5-2 with a feckless midfield and the more pressureful back four that always seemed to pay dividends.
With Ycaza off to Charleston, Taylor Davila was signed from the LA Galaxy system to take over as the chief creator, and he often camped in the right half space alongside Ricketts to drive the attack. Davila was excellent, earning an all-USL nod for his efforts. Cabrera’s own son, Wilmer Cabrera, Jr., also had a breakout year, leading the team with seven goals before being recalled from his loan late in the summer.
You see the system ticking in the clip, with a fluid sort of 4-4-2 in action. The Toros adopt a Y-shaped midfield with three players upfield and one holder sitting deeper, and they use that high-arced system to assure safety against the opposing press in the center of the pitch in build.
Ricketts gets a touch with Cabrera, Jr. moving into the half space, and while the sequence doesn’t pay off, it immediately leads into a spirited bout of counterpressure that encapsulates the best of the Cabrera-era Toros. Driving offense through the Ricketts-powered right forced overreactions, either freeing Davila in the center or someone like the speedy Christiano Francois on the opposite flank. You turn over? Immediately close down to make up for it.
The sequence isn’t especially effective, but it shows the tenets that drove the best spells of RGV soccer.
Nonetheless, Cabrera couldn’t help but tinker and soften out his approach all too often, and RGV ended up in a muddle. They finished mid-table for their long pass share and slightly below average for the passes completed per shot attempt. Were they direct? Not especially. Did they play with notable speed or patience? No on both counts. The result was an identity-less offense that ranked 16th out of 24 teams for goals scored.
The same lack of consistency and philosophy applied without possession. Cabrera instituted a somewhat high press if you look at the numbers, but it was well within the average range for a given USL side. The goalkeeping from Tyler Deric was also just average – it didn’t hurt the Toros in general, but it didn’t push them out of mediocrity either. This team finished 14th in goals against in 2023 as a result.
There were more scouting successes, from Cabrera’s own son to Davila to clever pick-ups like Tomas Ritondale at wing back or Erick Kinzner in central defense. Cabrera has always been successful at taking role players from one roster and turning them into stars the following year; Ycaza in 2022 and Roberto Coronado this year come to mind. In the end, though, it wasn’t enough for a playoff berth in an expanded Western field.
That’s a lot of hemming and hawing over a manager who never outwardly appeared rapturously effective, but the goalposts are different in Edinburg. At his best, Cabrera showed how lower-budget teams in the USL ought to operate.
Finding a unique style – a hard-pressing front three in RGV’s case – can be a differentiator. Scouting and development are crucial, especially for teams without major youth pipelines. Cabrera identified a number of pieces from USL League One and on loan from Mexico that could fit roles; it wasn’t about sheer talent, but specialization in context.
I don’t know if Cabrera will land another USL Championship job in the near future, but that shouldn’t take away from the work he put in for the Toros. Whoever replaces him, should RGV continue to exist, is going to have a tall task to even stay on the playoff bubble.
In other news…
Camden Riley is a super cool dude and will fit like a glove in Noah Delgado’s Oakland back line.
Albuquerque approved a lease to keep the New Mexico United stadium plans rolling; funding is evidently the next thing to iron out, but it seems like private dollars will do the job. Less clear: playoff games during Balloon Fiesta season.
Randomly thinking about how Diba Nwegbo rules. He only played 90’ in two matches last year, but he seems likely to become a key piece for next year’s Legion after three goals and three assists as a rookie.
Follow me on Threads under the “usltactics” moniker and at “usltactics.bsky.social” for a daily USL transfer tracker graphic throughout the offseason! Gotta diversify.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all, and sincere thanks to everyone who reads my work and subscribes here or at Backheeled. Y’all make it worth it.