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Yes, neither is cup-tied.What I want to know is where Galatasaray is getting all this money. I remember in the summer window they took Felipe Melo on loan from Juventus for a 2nd straight year because they couldn't afford to buy him outright. Now they can pay Sneijder and Drogba? I'm sure UEFA is going to be real interested to see their books.
They're mostly taking on salary. The transfer fees aren't that significant.
One thing they offer, at least for Sneijder, was a lower tax rate. They could offer him the same ent pay per week at a less of a put out from the club. IIRC, it was something like 15-20% lower than Italy's rate.
Many clubs have paid a player's tax (or the difference in tax) before. They throw in the villa by the lake / beach and a chauffeured car too.
Today he officially turned down the call up.
Jeff Agoos and Alfonso Mondelo are technical directors for the MLS. I thought that comment from the Fullerton Rangers (one of the top youth teams in the country) was interesting.
Lots of good stuff in there. Thanks for linking! Here is one snippet I found eye opening
The coaching thing is HUGE. How many kids in Catalonia go play rec soccer on a team that had a dad end up coaching because there was no other person that volunteered to coach?That has a lot to do with the leagues, though. Most kids play rec soccer and don't have access to club teams. We're just now in the process of bringing US Club Soccer to my little town. Just by doing that it pushes the coaches to get their coaching licenses. So by virtue of a better parent organization, the coaching will improve and the youth development will improve.
Costly and Welcome... still? And Bengston- I feel like I see him play for club and he's meh, but for country he's great- does that sound right?And interesting to see the Hondurans starting to play all over the place out of Honduras.
You are correct about Bengtson.. He was ok for the Revs last season but typical of many summer signings in MLS he had some trouble acclimating in his first season. He was very good at club level in Honduras as he was the leagues leading scorer three times. He is pretty deadly at the international level. He had 3 goals in 4 games for the Honduran Olympic team and has scored a healthy 14 in just 24 caps for the senior side.
Seems silly to announce this before you have live rankings.
I think they signed the deal with Castrol and are just letting everyone know that the system will be used starting tonight as some advertisement. Castrol was used in MLS last year. It was fun to look it but since the data they prioritize is obviously subjective, it can lead to some strange results as in my opinion it is too severely skewed towards forwards but if you group positions and then rank, it makes it easier to look at for comparison sake.
Is it fair to say this is the weakest spot on the roster?
Yes, I think so. Left back has finally been supplanted after 20 or so years of giving the US headaches.
. This could change in a blink of eye though with Gonzo and Besler. We just don't have any feel for how he or Besler will do at the next level. If they take to the international game the way Cameron did last year the US would be ok here for a few years. (Cameron is 27, Besler is 25 and Gonzo is 24)
Ugh. Was wondering what's been going on for Boca and Goodson. Not good.Oh- Gooch can't be 39, can he? I thought he was part of that youth team with LD, so he'd be 30ish?
typo. he is 30. I will fix in previous post
Probably, at least on paper. You could probably take issue with the performance of our strikers in actual game play. Or, if you think wide attacking players are important, the US is definitely short on established wingers (I'm not sure that really matters). But much of that comes down to timing and not seeing guys in the national team much. There's no real reason to think that Boca is going to slip below the level to be able to start if need be. And Gonzalez was a better CB "prospect" than Cameron. It would be nice if Cameron played CB for Stoke, but he seems to understand what JK needs of him in the position. I'm not in love with Goodson, but I doubt he's suddenly become much worse. He's probably the same player he's always been, a guy who contributed to US teams before. And there are guys in the pipeline. John Anthony Brooks has apparently been very good in the 2 Bundesliga this year. Seb Hines would like to play for us and he's been good in the Championship from what I understand. Andrew Farrell is highly regarded and will play as a CB in MLS. And Besler likely could have gone to Europe. Even Tim Ream seems to have found his feet to some extent at Bolton. It could be a weakness, or Gonzo and Cameron could lock the spots down for 5 years.
“That's a first. That's a history maker,” Schmid said about the nature of Ianni’s injury. “I don't know how anybody injures himself on the jump test, but he did. Landed funny, I guess. So we've just got to wait and see what the MRI says."
The concern with Boca and Goodson is not their skill level but perhaps more their age. I think it there is real reason to be concerned that Boca is going to start diminishing in overall play fairly soon. He will be 34 in May. While his game was never based on athleticism, I still think this is a valid concern.Goodson, on the other hand, really benefited from being an extremely good athlete. If he can't even start for the worst team in the Danish league, with out seeing him play, I do have to wonder if his age is starting to affect his play even though he is not old per say for a CB.
Is Gooch a significant upgrade over Parkhurst at this point? Just wondering what you think.Also, funny how a year changes things....if you'd posted this a year ago, Tim Ream might be at the top of that list.'NewlyRetired said:
I did not list Parkhurst because he has not played CB in years. I believe he was almost exclusively a wing back in Denmark. He did play CB for the Revs though so he does have the skills.Hopefully he can find some playing time in Germany.
Game is back on as it appears Jozy wanted to keep playing. This is by far the worst aspect of European soccer.
####.I know the racist dutch have had issues with muslim immigrants, but I always thought of holland as being a more open towards black people in general. I dont think of this kind of thing happening there.
And good point bringing up Ream, Steve. Team aside, I still think the Championship is the flat out wrong league for him. Hopefully hes learning something, anything riding pine in a lower division..come home to NY timmah!
Ream has started and gone the distance in Bolton's last five league games and also started in the FA Cup tie against Everton last weekend. Lion of Vienna (kind of THE Bolton blog) has recently described Ream as the "cornerstone of the new and improved Bolton defense."Adjusting to the drop might have been good for Ream. I think some of the analysis of Ream in the Championship is kind of lazy anyway. When I watch Championship teams in the F.A. cup, I don't see a lot of Route 1 football. So I'm not sure that he was just being out muscled. But in any case, it's good for players to fight through rough patches and have to earn a spot again. It shows some spunk.
DMB had problems in Holland as well back in the dayhttp://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=366433&cc=5901
Ill admit, my knowledge of the league is outdated. What I know of the last few years are the goals they sho on Skysports, and those seem to be mostly direct or dead ball types... exactly the kind of the thing ream struggled with in NY along with the increased ratio of reliance on physical play at that position vs foot skills and vision.Its great to hear hes back in the starting 11 and doing well.
I laughed.
I would normally bag on something like this, but it took just three days in Atlanta at the home office this December for words to start coming out of my mouth funny.
Believe it when we see it.
