If you told me in March that 17-year-old Luis Gil would play 25 matches, would I have believed you? I'm not sure. Yeah, we knew he had talent and skill, but who expected him to play so much?
The dramatic rise of Luis Gil is one of the major spots of encouragement we can take from our awfully fragmented season. I'd never say he was lucky that Javier Morales was out — not at all — but he took his chance and held on, kept a spot, and started carving out a name for himself.
Nobody ever expects the young guys to do that — or, at least, they shouldn't. Even the most successful European youth systems produce incredibly promising players who go on to have careers that never reach the top flight. Across the whole of the footballing world, you'll find players who just couldn't cut it at the top level.
With Luis Gil, we've got expectations that he'll make it to the very top level, that he'll be a U.S. great, and that he'll serve club and country as ably as any American ever has. Is it reasonable? Well, he's showed undoubted talent, and he's well regarded by top talent spotters — but it's a story we've seen and heard over and over.
If we don't temper our expectations of our youngster, a few things could happen: We might end up disappointed that our future star never lights up the national team. Or, perhaps, we'll be saddled with the knowledge that, yeah, we had a potential great, but for whatever reason, we couldn't push him on and help him fulfill his potential. Or, maybe, just maybe, he'll be the best player the national team has ever seen.
But that's the thing: We don't know. We can't know, at least not yet. But we'd only be doing the player a disservice if we held him to unreasonable expectations. Instead, let's savor the good play as it comes,then see what happens next. If he reaches those heights, let's cherish them — but if he doesn't, is he a lesser person? A lesser player? I sure hope not.
One thing's certain, though: He's in capable hands. Jason Kreis has shown he's the right man to get Luis Gil on the right track as a professional player. That, of course, is only helped by Luis Gil's seeming humility off the pitch and his work ethic on the pitch — two things that are essential, I think, to really make it.
In short, let's relish our chance to watch Luis Gil grow into an increasingly capable player — but if he doesn't end up scoring three hat tricks a week at the top level, well, don't hold it against him.
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