Neil Pierre player profile

Primary position: right center-back
Secondary position: left center-back
Date of birth: 10.19.2007

Pierre has very clean defensive footwork in 1v1 situations. He rarely gets caught wrong-footed, crossing his legs, off balance or between steps and he times his tackles very well. His slide tackling technique is surprising eloquent for a player of his size.

His passing technique needs work. It's currently inconsistent when he doesn't have time and space to line everything up. His best passing comes off the inside of his right foot, where he's shown the ability to play an accurate driven ball on the ground, a driven ball from right to left and a direct ball in the air to a striker. He isn't as adept at finesse and touch passes, whether over the top or on the ground. When he does have time and space, he can strike the ball very cleanly between the lines, over the top or on a long diagonal, but even then there's more inconsistency than you'd like to see.

He was once purely right-footed with almost no use of his left. His left foot has gotten more serviceable, but it's still pretty limited.

He has pretty soft feet and decent close control. He can take his space effectively but lacks the foot speed to weave out of tight traffic. If given time and space, he also has the shooting technique to hit a ball from distance.

His heading technique is remarkable. Of course he has the size and athleticism, but the way he positions his body, times his jump and generates power through his neck, thrashing the ball with his forehead, is something I haven't seen in the pool since Walker Zimmerman.

Pierre is a pretty scheme-diverse player. In a back four, he's probably most natural as a right-sided center back. I wouldn't play him on the left right now, since he's pretty limited with his left foot and going left.

In an odd-numbered back line, he'd be the middle center back in a back three, where his aerial dominance would play a key role. In that setup, though, I'm not sure you'd want him to be the point person for building out of the back right now.

Even though he's very tall, he can play in space, which he's shown consistently with Philadelphia Union. He can play in a high-pressing system that relies on the back line to hold a high line and defend in space. If you wanted to bunker and be a transition team, he can certainly do that as well.

His positioning for a young center back is good, and it's only going to get better. He does a really good job of reading runs to the back post when he's the weak-side defender. A lot of defenders struggle when they're on an island with runners coming from behind them, either crossing their face or going in behind. Pierre reads those runs really well and cuts them off.

He also positions himself to get in front of crosses and to cut out passes into the striker he's marking, even when that striker drops into midfield. He's a very alert, aware player who understands what attackers are trying to do, anticipates and positions his body consistently well. That's why he's been so solid for Philadelphia at a position where it's really difficult to be consistent as a young player.

His instincts and vision on the ball are okay. He feels pressure fairly well and has a good sense for when to take a touch one way to avoid pressure, step into midfield, draw an opposing midfielder in and release the ball at the right time. His field vision is decent. He finds midfielders between the lines from time to time, can find the backside eight and identifies opportunities to play a long switch. The execution has been inconsistent in MLS, but I've seen the consistency from him at the academy level, and I'm hoping it will come in due time. Overall, he's reliable on the ball but lacks consistency and precision at the moment.

Pierre's physicality is where he's absolutely special. In my view, he's in the top 1% in world football. It all starts with his towering stature. He's around 6-foot-6, and it isn't a stiff 6-foot-6. He moves well. It doesn't always look super fluid, but he's very effective defending quick attackers in space and uses his elite strength to bully players 10 to 15 years older than him off the ball.

It's a combination of great height, great strength and a willingness to use both. His agility has improved a lot as he's matured physically. He's always been very tall but was quite Bambi-like in his younger years. He's filled out really well, and his coordination has really come along. His lateral quickness may never be elite, given his archetype, but it's more than enough to play at a very high level. His recovery speed is also very good.

There just aren't a lot of center backs globally with his combination of size, strength and speed. His other physical weapon is his leaping ability, which is why he's become such a force in the air at both ends. He scored four goals in his first seven MLS appearances this season. Defensively, he's dominant in the air. He gets position so well using his strength that he often doesn't even need to jump to win aerial duels. When he does have space to leap, he has a great vertical. I'd imagine he can dunk a basketball with some tenacity.

Pierre carries himself with a ton of confidence and the maturity of a seasoned pro, and you can see he has great belief in his abilities.

I love how he's responded to mistakes early in his career. There have been games where he's given up a penalty or made an early error, then come back to be dominant the rest of the way. That's incredibly impressive for a young center back. It shows he has a short memory and can shake off mistakes and keep doing what he needs to do, a mentality that hasn't always been a given for the USMNT.

I also love his physicality, toughness, effort and unwillingness to back down from anyone. That's going to take him far.

He seems to have great charisma, personality and leadership qualities. He's already a leader for Philadelphia Union at a young age and at such a critical position, and he's always communicating, which is essential for a center back.

He's also a kid who has really improved over the years, which speaks to the work he's put into bettering himself.

With his first cap in hand, the rest of the window against Chile, Mexico and Canada is a chance to keep building. The physical tools are already rare. If the passing consistency catches up, his ceiling is very high.