For Chelsea FC’s Matt Miazga, the time is now
By Drew Hooper
With injuries to John Terry and Gary Cahill being reported during Guus Hiddink’s post match press-conference, the time is now for Matt Miazga.
If anyone had said last August that Matt Miazga would feature in a match this season for Premier League giants Chelsea, they would have been painted as foolish. Now here we sit on April 2nd; not only has he debuted but he looks ready to feature the rest of the season.
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For the American all the cards he seemingly needed to fall have fallen: three first choice center-backs have succumbed to injury, Chelsea are out of every competition including a relegation battle, and finally Guus Hiddink has decided to experiment with the lineup.
These final games can be viewed as an audition of sorts, with Antonio Conte on the horizon positions in the team will begin to fill up quickly. With no European competition in 2016/17 Chelsea will need to be creative in the transfer market and lacking the normal draw that they have, Miazga has a chance to prove himself as a difficult option not to consider going forward.
John Terry looks as if his time on the field for Chelsea is about to strike midnight, and with Gary Cahill also somewhat unsettled in recent times dropping in and out of the squad Miazga has a chance to break through. Kurt Zouma naturally would be next in line to fill the shoes of these two but with his recent knee injury he will be out until almost October.
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Branislav Ivanovic has taken up shop in the center of defense as of late and with injuries to the above mentioned Cahill/Terry, Miazga is the one who Chelsea will turn to in the coming weeks. Andreas Christensen seems the only man who can challenge Miazga’s spot but that won’t occur unless Chelsea can negotiate a severance of the loan with his current club, and even still that seems as if it will be a stretch.
Looking at the next couple of months for the former Red Bulls defender, the stage is set for him. With seven games remaining in the season if he performs adequately this would most certainly pique the interest of Jurgen Klinsmann.
The U.S. national team is set to host the Copa América Centenario this summer which will include top South American talents. If Miazga (who has already debuted for the senior US squad) can string together a good run of games here in the latter part of the season, Klinsmann will surely come calling.
For the past couple of years the USMNT has been in a defensive crisis and they lack a true center-back combo. Miazga and John Anthony Brooks could begin the new era. If Miazga can work his way into the US starting lineup and perform against top players such as Lionel Messi, Alexis Sanchez and Luis Suarez then whoever the new Chelsea boss is will have a diamond in the rough.
While Matt Miazga has only featured once in Chelsea blue, he looked the part of a budding future great. Never once did he look rattled or overwhelmed, rather he was poised and in control from the first whistle. He now has the luxury to build on this performance and make Hiddink, Conte or whoever is building the Chelsea lineup going forward ask the question “Why not Miazga?”
The time is now for the young American, he has the chance to not only raise his stock but to establish himself as a viable first team option for a top club. Along with the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Jake Clarke-Salter, and Tammy Abraham; Matt Miazga has a bright future and hopefully alongside Zouma can be the defensive pairing for years to come