I watched Sunil Chhetri play with the Wizard’s reserves today against PDL team the Kansas City Brass in a scrimmage at Swope Park. It wasn’t the most competitive of environments however the Brass showed plenty of hustle around their penalty area in a largely defensive effort and there wasn’t a huge amount of room to play in. Teal Bunbury was effectively shut down, which was disappointing however his strike partner Sunil Chhetri showed a bit of the touted quality a few times and is slowly starting to look like a player with a future in MLS.

Chhetri takes a shot today at Swope Park

Is he ready to start? No. And I am not convinced that swapping him into the lineup for Josh Wolff will yield more goals than we are currently scoring however the upside to Chhetri is becoming more visible as he learns to play with his team mates and he poses a real threat whenever he has the ball anywhere in the area. I am marginally impressed for the first time.

The first thing that stood out today, and what has been different from his other games was that he has started to make runs, and do the things that are necessary to find space in the compressed and physical North American version of football. His passing has improved substantially and despite his size he posses a considerable threat in the air. Sure he can jump but what impresses me is his positioning and ability to be in the place at the right time.

After rattling the cross bar with a header he looked destined to never win and popping another over the bar from within a huddle of players I was also found myself marveling at the control he also possess in the air, he doesn’t just win headers …. he gets them on or near goal and that might be a real pain for defenders who will not be able to manhandle him in the area the way they can a burly central defender.

Couple that with an innate and almost unnerving ability to finish and you have a complete striker. Kamara, through on goal a number of times today managed to score, but also missed a few chances, at one point banging a ball of the cross bar from about four yards. I heartily believe that given similar opportunities Sunil Chhetri would have probably had a hat trick or more to his name. Kamara I like but he isn’t a gifted finisher, he has to work a bit harder for his goals and he lacks a bit of that cold steel that allows him to pass the ball into the back of the net in the perfect spot. He is all thunder, and while it works, Chhetri with the ball at his feet today twice produced two finishes worthy of his following. The second saw him surrounded by a couple of players.  He created space by cutting inside and produced a goal that underlined both the finesse he possesses and also the hidden power. He hammered the ball home from the top of the area …. producing a surprising amount of movement to curl the ball inside the post and just out of the reach of the Brass goalkeeper who had himself performed fairly well. The more mundane goal was placed with precision inside the other post and was simply a text book finish.

A couple of weeks ago if you had asked me to pick between Bunbury and Chhetri for a bench spot, it would have been Bunbury all the way. Chhetri is a better finisher, still lacking a bit of Teal’s vigor and strength but has more natural ability. We keep talking about Chhetri not being tested against men, but comparing him to Teal versus the Brass Chhetri kicked his ass. He isn’t ready for a start at the MLS level yet …. but I don’t think I could leave him off my bench for much longer.

Sunil can play.

If the Wizards can sort out their issues providing service into and around the box he will score.  Bottom Line.