February 1, 2008
It was a good news/bad news day yesterday with regards to the Rhinos and their defense corps.
On the good news side, Alfonso Loera has re-signed with the club after agreeing to a two year deal. Loera joined the Rhinos just before the roster freeze deadling in 2007 and looked strong in their last two regular season games and the playoffs.
On the bad news side, Kenney Bertz has made a move to SC Elversberg in Germany. The Rhinos retain the USL rights to the 2006 Rhinos Rookie of the Year should things not work out in Europe and he heads back stateside.
With Scott Palguta in minicamp with the NY Red Bulls, the Rhinos defense in 2008 could have a very different look than the 2007 edition.
News & Notes:
- Big Apple Soccer.com talks to Scott Palguta on his quest to follow in Carlos Mendes footsteps in an attempted jump from Rochester to NY.
- MLSNet.com, Philly.com, St Louis Today.com, and Big Apple Soccer.com all have pieces with the comings and goings with regards to the Philadelphia bid to get a stadium built to house an MLS team.
- Beckham is back in LA after being left off of England's roster for next week's friendly versus Switzerland. Somewhere Alexi Lalas is smiling.
- Brad Guzan's move to Aston Villa fell through when he couldn't secure a work permit. I wonder if that means that a move to Celtic could be in the offing?
- US Soccer.com has a piece on the build up to the US-Mexico game. Also, Nike Soccer.com has re-launched the "Don't Tread on Me" campaign for the USMNT.
- The Boston Globe has an update on the story of MLS blocking Taylor Twellman's move to Preston North End.
- SBI.net is reporting that the rumors that Mo Johnston was going to step down as Toronto FC head coach has come to pass.
- Steven Goff says that Christian Gomez to Colorado may happen soon. My guess is that the Pablo Mastroeni trade rumors might tie into this one.
- Jamie Trecker at Fox Soccer.com looks at how getting out from the MLS spotlight has helped Freddy Adu's development.
- And Gabriele Marcotti at SI.com says that the Liverpool fans that want to give their American owners the boot need to chill.
- And finally, we have Rhinos head coach Laurie Calloway lined up for tomorrow's Kick This! show. We also have a request in to have Dan Williams on, but that request is now in the hands of Steve Donner from what I've been told.
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.
