January 5, 2007
Chris Bagley, whom the Rhinos received on loan from the Wilmington Hammerheads of the USL 2nd Division late in 2006, has signed a contract with the Portland Timbers. Bagley becomes the second member of the 2006 Rhinos to sign with Portland as Neil Dombrowski was a part of the Timbers' initial group of five signings last month.
The Rhinos have now seen four members of last year's squad officially sign with other USL 1st Division teams as Jonny Steele and Connolly Edozien have joined the expansion Carolina RailHawks.
Hopefully the Rhinos will be able to announce some additions to the 2007 squad within the next few weeks after the Rhinos brass return from the MLS Combine which opened up yesterday.
US MNT kicks off first camp of Bradley tenure
The Bob Bradley era officially got underway yesterday with 27 players taking part in a training camp that will lead up to the January 20th friendly versus Denmark at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California.
The squad is primarily made up of MLS based players, along with a few players that are on winter break with their Danish club teams.
The podcast of the media session also had a clip of Pablo Mastroeni talking about his potential move to Italy.
MLS Combine kicked off yesterday
With the 2007 MLS Superdraft almost a week away, the MLS Combine kicked off yesterday with 62 players showing their wares not only for the 13 MLS clubs, but for clubs in the USL and around the world as well.
It will be interesting to see how many players that fall through the cracks of the MLS Superdraft will address developmental needs that the Rhinos will be looking to fill this offseason. And if the Rhinos get really lucky, hopefully they can get their hands on another rookie like Kenney Bertz that can be highly productive right out of college.
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.
