Saturday, August 19, 2006
More England Rumors
Well, after the Onyewu letdown, the England rumors tapered off for a week, but Grant Wahl fires off a couple doozies in his latest column for SI.Com. Wahl's interviews with DaMarcus Beasley and Clint Dempsey confirm that both may have been headed for the EPL during the current transfer window (which ends 8/31).
The Beasley component of the story is encouraging, because even though he has been out of form for the last six months, PSV Eindhoven have not given up on him, and (at least according to him) there were plenty of offers for him in Europe. I had been reading that he was headed back to MLS, and to be frank, that was depressing. We need more, not fewer, Americans playing in the Champions' League.
The Dempsey issue is much more worrying. Apparently, Charlton Athletic offered MLS over a million dollars for the World Cup goalscorer but MLS turned it down. Dempsey is very unhappy, and considering the multiple suspensions he's racked up over the current season, his unhappiness is showing on the field (the latest for breaking Jimmy Conrad's jaw). Basically, Dempsey wants to play in Europe and MLS stands in his way.
Anyway, read the story. Once I do some more research, I plan to write a post on the MLS transfer structure, because it is apparently a real detriment to getting some of our best players into Europe.
The Beasley component of the story is encouraging, because even though he has been out of form for the last six months, PSV Eindhoven have not given up on him, and (at least according to him) there were plenty of offers for him in Europe. I had been reading that he was headed back to MLS, and to be frank, that was depressing. We need more, not fewer, Americans playing in the Champions' League.
The Dempsey issue is much more worrying. Apparently, Charlton Athletic offered MLS over a million dollars for the World Cup goalscorer but MLS turned it down. Dempsey is very unhappy, and considering the multiple suspensions he's racked up over the current season, his unhappiness is showing on the field (the latest for breaking Jimmy Conrad's jaw). Basically, Dempsey wants to play in Europe and MLS stands in his way.
Anyway, read the story. Once I do some more research, I plan to write a post on the MLS transfer structure, because it is apparently a real detriment to getting some of our best players into Europe.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
US Open Cup Wrap
The US Open Cup has always intrigued me, mainly because it's fairly close to the English model of having all soccer clubs at all levels play in a single tournament, a set-up good for some underdog to make a deep run. This year that club was amateur club Dallas Roma F.C., which knocked out Chivas USA. Roma fell to the Landon Donovan-less L.A. Galaxy in the fourth round on Wednesday, however. Wednesday also saw the favored MLS sides win all 8 matches, knocking out the remaining lower division teams.
Two members of the US 2010 player pool starred this round:
Chad Marshall scored for Columbus and Freddy Adu missed an open net for DC, but DC beat Columbus 2-1 in extra time.
Kenny Cooper netted a hat trick to get Dallas to PKs against Charleston, where it won. Cooper scored all of Dallas's goals, including one in the 89th minute and one in the 120th minute, to force the penalty shootout.
In other US Open Cup games:
Colorado beat Real Salt Lake 1-0.
New England beat Rochester on penalty kicks.
Houston beat the Carolina Dynamo 4-2.
New York beat Wilmington 2-1.
Two members of the US 2010 player pool starred this round:
Chad Marshall scored for Columbus and Freddy Adu missed an open net for DC, but DC beat Columbus 2-1 in extra time.
Kenny Cooper netted a hat trick to get Dallas to PKs against Charleston, where it won. Cooper scored all of Dallas's goals, including one in the 89th minute and one in the 120th minute, to force the penalty shootout.
In other US Open Cup games:
Colorado beat Real Salt Lake 1-0.
New England beat Rochester on penalty kicks.
Houston beat the Carolina Dynamo 4-2.
New York beat Wilmington 2-1.
Untangling the Onyewu Rumors
Rumors swirled this week that US Defender and potential WC 2010 captain Oguchi Onyewu was headed for Fulham in the English Premier League or West Bromwich Albion in the second-tier English Championship League. Yesterday, however, Soccernet.com ran a story with quotes from Onyewu indicating that he had turned down an offer from Middlesbrough (the club that had supposedly soured on him after the World Cup) and was staying at Standard Liege in Belgium at least until the winter break.
Yanks Abroad reports that Onyewu is currently suffering a sprained ankle, which kept him out of last week's Jupiter League opener and will cause him to miss today's clash against Charleroi.
But for those of us hoping that Onyewu makes the jump to a top flight league, YA reassures us that Onyewu nixed the offer from Middlesbrough before the World Cup. Whether Onyewu is serious or not about staying in Belgium through the fall is unclear, but according to YA, Standard will likely hold on to him through their Champions League qualifying campaign (which begins Wednesday with Onyewu doubtful).
At this point, it's probably OK to assume that Fulham and WBA are still in for Onyewu and the chances of a move are good. Other teams reportedly in the mix are Reading, Charlton, Aston Villa, and Sporting Lisbon.
Yanks Abroad reports that Onyewu is currently suffering a sprained ankle, which kept him out of last week's Jupiter League opener and will cause him to miss today's clash against Charleroi.
But for those of us hoping that Onyewu makes the jump to a top flight league, YA reassures us that Onyewu nixed the offer from Middlesbrough before the World Cup. Whether Onyewu is serious or not about staying in Belgium through the fall is unclear, but according to YA, Standard will likely hold on to him through their Champions League qualifying campaign (which begins Wednesday with Onyewu doubtful).
At this point, it's probably OK to assume that Fulham and WBA are still in for Onyewu and the chances of a move are good. Other teams reportedly in the mix are Reading, Charlton, Aston Villa, and Sporting Lisbon.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
WBA, Onyewu, Rossi, McBride, Cooper, and the MLS All-Stars
The West Bromwich Albion Zone covers their swoop for Onyewu - word is they're also looking to get New Jersey-born Giuseppe Rossi on loan from Manchester United. After the departure of Ruud Van Nistelrooy, however, most are tipping Rossi for a bigger role at Old Trafford this year. Rossi isn't currently in our player pool for US 2010 because he has only ever expressed a desire to play for Italy. Skill-wise, you'd have to consider him the top forward currently in our pool.
Which brings us to our next item, the departure of Brian McBride. While transfer rumors swirl in England (despite Fulham's hands-off declaration), McBride's retirement leaves the US looking for his replacement up top. It should have been Eddie Johnson, or maybe Conor Casey, but head issues are derailing the former and knee issues the latter. Ives Galarcep's article about McBride's replacements brings up Kenny Cooper, who is back in the states after a stint in Manchester United's youth system. While he is not on the all-star team, Cooper has been scoring in MLS every time I turn around. He's also tall and strong (and hasn't been moved to defense) which puts him in a unique category among American players.
As for the MLS All-Stars, they lose Landon Donovan and Pablo Mastroeni to injury for the Chelsea game, but that means Ricardo Clark and Eddie Robinson will be added to the roster. After his World Cup performance, it would have been nice to see Donovan out there against more top flight competition but Clark is supposedly a real up-and-comer so he might step nicely into Mastroeni's defensive midfield slot against the English powers.
Which brings us to our next item, the departure of Brian McBride. While transfer rumors swirl in England (despite Fulham's hands-off declaration), McBride's retirement leaves the US looking for his replacement up top. It should have been Eddie Johnson, or maybe Conor Casey, but head issues are derailing the former and knee issues the latter. Ives Galarcep's article about McBride's replacements brings up Kenny Cooper, who is back in the states after a stint in Manchester United's youth system. While he is not on the all-star team, Cooper has been scoring in MLS every time I turn around. He's also tall and strong (and hasn't been moved to defense) which puts him in a unique category among American players.
As for the MLS All-Stars, they lose Landon Donovan and Pablo Mastroeni to injury for the Chelsea game, but that means Ricardo Clark and Eddie Robinson will be added to the roster. After his World Cup performance, it would have been nice to see Donovan out there against more top flight competition but Clark is supposedly a real up-and-comer so he might step nicely into Mastroeni's defensive midfield slot against the English powers.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Weekend MLS Wrap
FC Dallas dominates Colorado 4-1 - Kenny Cooper scores.
Real Salt Lake ends DC's win streak on two Cunningham penalties.
Chicago 0 - Columbus 0
New York 1 - Houston 1 - Clark draws penalty for equalizer; Ching almost wins it in extra time.
Kansas City 1 - New England 1 - KC snaps 7-game losing streak.
Real Salt Lake ends DC's win streak on two Cunningham penalties.
Chicago 0 - Columbus 0
New York 1 - Houston 1 - Clark draws penalty for equalizer; Ching almost wins it in extra time.
Kansas City 1 - New England 1 - KC snaps 7-game losing streak.
Onyewu to England - Back On?
After Middlesbrough pulled out of the Onyewu hunt (rumors had him visiting the club during the World Cup warm-up) it appeared that he would be in Belgium for awhile longer. Perhaps something was up, however, when he did not play in Standard Liege's first game (a 2-1 loss to Sporting Lokeren) on Saturday.
Now comes word that Fulham, home of Brian McBride and Carlos Bocanegra, is seeking a 2.5 million pound transfer for Onyewu. West Bromwich Albion is also in the hunt, but Fulham appears to have the inside edge, because of its offer of top flight English soccer.
Question: did Onyewu really have that bad a World Cup? His poor performance is being referred to casually in most of these transfer rumors.
Now comes word that Fulham, home of Brian McBride and Carlos Bocanegra, is seeking a 2.5 million pound transfer for Onyewu. West Bromwich Albion is also in the hunt, but Fulham appears to have the inside edge, because of its offer of top flight English soccer.
Question: did Onyewu really have that bad a World Cup? His poor performance is being referred to casually in most of these transfer rumors.
