Cecilio Dominguez 2019/20 – scout report

Cecilio Domínguez is a 26-year-old left winger from Paraguay who recently signed for the new MLS club, Austin FC. The Paraguayan has had multiple experiences in strong leagues in North and South America, playing for Club America in Liga MX and most recently Independiente in the Argentinian Superliga. This signing represents a more established player who has lots of game time in elite competitions. Domínguez won the Liga MX while at Club America, a feat Austin FC will hope he can replicate by lifting the MLS Cup.  He is also a player who molds Josh Wolff’s vision to play attractive attacking football. 

Domínguez provides not only club experience, but also international experience with his country. The winger has earned 17 caps for Paraguay. This involvement in international play is similar to Austin FC’s first-ever signing, Rodney Redes. Interestingly, Redes is also Paraguayan, which creates a connection to Austin FC’s signing of Domínguez. Even more interesting is Austin FCs decision to loan him immediately to Guaraní, the club that Redes will finish the 2020 calendar year with. This move by Claudio Reyna, the clubs sporting director (and also former Manchester City and Rangers player), is incredibly smart as he hopes they will start to build footballing chemistry even before starting training in Austin in early 2021. 

This scout report will look at Domínguezs individual qualities and an in-depth tactical analysis will examine how he could fit into Wolff’s tactics in Austin. 

Positional play

Domínguez is a player who enjoys cutting in on his preferred right foot from the left-hand side of the pitch. As Wolff, builds out his team, it will be important to determine how he wants to attack the spaces in behind and around the edge of the box. 

What the Paraguayan provides is a dynamic winger who has an eye for goal. While he does tend to stay wide, possibly when his team is in possession, Domínguez likes to get in between the half-spaces and use his pace to beat players and drive into the box. This will be highlighted later in the scout report when analyzing Domínguez shot production. 

The heat map below shows where Domínguez likes to station himself while on the pitch. The key area that is important to note is the half-space. This space in between the wings and the middle of the pitch is where Domínguez can be most dangerous. In 21 appearances for Independiente during the 2019/20 season, he scored two goals and two assists. This number is surprisingly low, and Domínguez can do better. By encouraging him to occupy the half-space to drive into the box, perhaps with an overlapping wing-back, Austin FC could maximize the Paraguayan’s output. 

The analysis below provides an example of how Domínguez utlises other strong parts of his game such as his dribbling, pace, at shot creation to his advantage by positioning himself in the half-space. Here, he receives the ball and is faced with two options: either beat his man or play the overlapping runner. Domínguez knows that he can drive towards the box for a shot and effectively beats the defender. Because there is an overlapping runner, the defender is off balance and the Paraguayan can use his positioning to his advantage.