July 11, 2008
Andrew Gregor has a chip on his shoulder.
And the Rhinos are gambling that it will make Gregor into what he was as little as one year ago which is one of the better offensively productive midfielders in the USL 1st Division.
So, when the Rhinos host the Seattle Sounders as the USL Game of the Week on Fox Soccer Channel and Andrew Gregor pulls on a #12 Rhinos jersey for the first time, everyone in Rochester is hoping that his game will get back to where it was in 2007 when he had 8 goals and 5 assists.
Andrew should be in pretty good spirits today. Portland hosted Puerto Rico last night and promptly lost 2-0. If Gregor feels like he was made the scapegoat for the Timbers relative offensive struggles this season (14 goals in 16 games prior to the trade), then he has to be laughing, at least after one game. Obviously Timbers head coach and GM Gavin Wilkinson wasn't happy with how his team played after trading away his team's captian.
Jamil Walker played 51 minutes off the bench for the Timbers and Chase Harrison was not in the 18 man roster.
News & Notes:
- US Soccer.com has a big article on how Abby Wambach is only one goal away from the century mark. You can watch Abby go for #100 versus Brazil at 4pm on Sunday on ESPN.
- I bet you didn't know that Jimmy Conrad scored his 4th goal of the season last evening making the USMNT defender the Wizards' leading goal scorer in 2008. Josh Wolff can't get into that lineup fast enough!
- I wonder how happy Preki was with getting a tie against the Galaxy and keeping Landon Donovan off the scoresheet?
- Aston Villa perhaps going after as many as three Americans , Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan may be on the move soon.
- Will Darren Huckerby help solve the San Jose offensive woes? It can't hurt....
- Ching Kong to Seattle in 2009? I can't see Houston giving him away, but the ties to Seattle are obviosuly there for the former Seattle Sounder and Gonzaga alum.
- The current gameplan for tomorrow's edition of Kick This! is to have Rhinos head coach Darren Tilley and Rhinos midfielder Ze Roberto on in the first hour and have Detroit Iginition head coach Bob Lilley, new Rhinos midfielder Andrew Gregor, and Miami FC defender Avery John on in the second hour.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
