Sample size is important. Whether you’re evaluating a young sporting talent, or interviewing strangers about their favorite cupcake and beer pairings, the more data you have on the table, the better. For this reason, some might be quick to call buzz surrounding Vancouver Whitecaps new striker Octavio Rivero mere hype, seeing that he’s only played two games in MLS.
So, there’s your word of caution; in this case, n=2. Still, small as that sample size may be, I’m willing to go ahead and say it: Octavio Rivero looks ready—in earnest, rather than mere Johnny Football hype—to ‘wreck this league.’
The Uruguayan arrived during this past offseason from the Chilean top flight, where he spent just six months at O’Higgins. He made his time there count though, scoring 10 goals in 16 appearances, and earning the honor of the league’s top striker, voted such by his peers. In the previous season, before leaving for Chile, Rivero netted 10 goals in 17 matches for Rentistas in his native Uruguay.
Add his two goals in as many matches this March to those previous figures from 2013 – 2014, and Rivero appears poised to have more than 20 goals in MLS this season. With two already in his pocket, and with 32 MLS Cup matches remaining, averaging 0.6 goals per match over the previous 35 contests, Octavio Rivero scoring 21-22 goals in MLS in 2015 is a real possibility.
If this is not necessarily predictive of his season, don’t worry; the Uruguayan has much more going for him than simply a good goals-to-games ratio.
If I were to create a perfect striker in FIFA on Playstation, he would look a lot like Octavio Rivero. At 6’2”, 180 lbs., Rivero has the height to compete with center-backs for crosses and corners, while still a svelte enough physique to out-run defenders. Further, his work-rate is phenomenal. Having size and speed is one thing; committing yourself to winning the ball regardless of stature is another. During his first two matches in MLS Rivero hardly seemed to switch off, constantly harrying defenders, never letting his intensity dip even with his back to goal.
In addition to his imposing physique and switched-on consistency, Rivero also displayed remarkable mental strength in his MLS debut. Less than ten minutes into the match, Rivero scuppered a sure-fire opportunity with the goal gaping in front of him. A plethora of young players would have crumpled in response. A new team, a new league, even a new continent—how could he have missed with so much to prove? What could he do now?
Well, he could dribble through the Toronto defense, and fire home from inside the area with both a defender harrying him and an oncoming keeper in his sights, that’s what he could do.
Octavio Rivero is 23 years old, and only just—his birthday is January 24, 1992. If you’re a Whitecaps fan, his youth could be considered something of a double-edged sword. The downside, however, might not be what you’d think for a player his age.
Of course, the advantages of Rivero’s youth are strength, energy, and a passion to prove himself—the advantages of youth in general, perhaps. Moreover, despite his remarkable technical ability, his ceiling is certainly even higher technically, as well as tactically. His manager has praised his reading of the game and movement off the ball, but it’s hard to imagine that both of those things won’t improve in the years to come.
While some players’ maturity and coolness under pressure still leaves something to be desire when at a young age (e.g. Jack Wilshere’s smoking cigarettes, Andy Carroll’s drinking at the pub, Mario Balotelli’s nearly-constant drama), Rivero seems cool-headed on the pitch and off; his Twitter profile is primarily populated with commentary on soccer, and photos of him and his girlfriend fishing or at the beach. And as for on the pitch, cf the first goal in this compilation, a scintillating volley, while on the run, being closed down by a defender, against perennial Chilean powerhouse Colo Colo of Santiago, and with the score deadlocked in the 81st minute—easily put-off by pressure, he ain’t.
Approaching his physical prime, with an already sound tactical and technical base from which to grow, a great work ethic and solid mental strength, Octavio Rivero seems poised for greatness.
And therein lies the rub. Rivero plied his trade at O’Higgins in Chile for a mere six months before departing, playing only the Apertura portion of the season. He rewarded his club handsomely, it must be said, leading the league in scoring over that period, but left within a year nonetheless. With so much going for him, and with so much of his career out in front, it’s distinctly possible that he may go the way of many other young, successful MLS players—Deandre Yedlin of Seattle, for example—and attempt to use MLS as a springboard into Europe.
But if you’re a supporter in Vancouver, the prospect that your new striker may be too good to hang onto for more than a year or so must seem a small penumbra to the rising star that is Rivero. He’s botched some chances, to be sure, and the season is far, far from over. Still, with technique and physique to make defenders tremble, and with a head more firmly on his shoulders than certain other early-twenties athletes, Octavio Rivero seems poised to actually, truly, wreck the MLS.