Beckham Injures Knee
The Beckham redemption story turned from drama to comedy in this week as Our Man Beck’s plowed into an advertising board and injured his knee, causing ligament damage that will sideline him for a month. If Real Madrid gets past Bayern Munich this week, look for DB to return in time for the send tie of the next series. Despite preventing Alexi Lalas from breathing for 24 hours, which also meant he couldn’t talk, the injury is perhaps the most humorous injury in years. Of all players to be injured by advertising! That is like Claudio Reyna being wacked by Il Bruce or a Costa Rican club team being run over by a busload of CONCACAF referees!
MLS Rosters Trimmed
The Chicago Fire trimmed their roster and left Leonard Griffin, a step too slow defender on the outside. The Fire also waived Craig Capano, a promising, but oft injured midfielder, Jared Montz, and John Thorrington. Amazing that Thorrington, who had been through the Man Utd. Youth system was not a god amongst MLS players. Perhaps, I’ve been reading too much British press. Also notable is that the Fire were unable to come to contract terms with Tony Sanneh who only solidified their defense and led them into the MLS playoffs and to the Open Cup title last season. Isn’t that worth $375,000? Based on Open Cup ticket sales, probably not. Among the names that were trimmed and are expected to or have been picked up are Capano (NYRB), former Crew players Jon Busch (TFC) and Chris Leitch.
Really a Step Up?
This week San Diego columnist Mark Ziegler awarded a “trophy” to local product Ryan Guy for snubbing FC Dallas to sign with St. Patrick’s Athletic Club of the Irish league. The Eurosnobs have really won if this is considered a step up from MLS. I don’t care what the criteria is, MLS is vastly superior to the Irish league by any account: Quality, Competitiveness, Attendance, Resources. Mr. Guy is also effectively removing himself from the national team radar much like Danny Califf and Nat Borchards did when they traveled to Europe with the belief that the process of osmosis would work and they would be absorbed into the fabled leagues thanks to their proximity.
I did send an e-mail to Mr. Ziegler and he was nice enough to send me a reply. Not only that, it was non-defensive! That $11,500 - $13,000 developmental salary was cited by Mark as a main reason for Guy's move.
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1 comment:
This is the first time I've seen your blog. I will try to read it in the future.
I know Ryan Guy. He is a great kid and an exciting player. Only time will tell whether his decision to play in Europe was the correct decision. Playing in Ireland might not have been my first choice for him, but if it is a stepping stone to a bigger league in Europe it is not necessarily a bad thing. How many young players in the MLS have had their moves to Europe put off due to a transfer fee sought by the MLS?
In Ireland he gets a chance to learn to become a professional. He will also likely earn more and have a chance to experience a different culture. True, Texas culture is quite different from that of California, but you know what I mean.
We'll see how Ryan's development compares to that of Erik Ustruck, another player I know. Erik was selected by Houston in the supplemental draft and has made the reserve squad. They both come from WCC schools and had some looks from the US youth teams.
Granted, they are different types of players, but their backgrounds are similar enough to compare.
Keep up the good work
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