July 13, 2007
The Rhinos had been hoping that Diallo would be back in time to play tomorrow night in Atlanta. Unfortunately, that doesn't appear to be the case according to Jeff's latest blog entry.
To make matters worse, T-Bone Bonseu was injured in practice yesterday and is now questionable for tomorrow night.
If Bonseu can't go, that would mean that the Rhinos would be without 3 central defenders as Jason Perry is out with an achilles injured that was suffered on Tuesday vs New England and Kenney Bertz is out 4 to 6 weeks recovering from wrist surgery that was performed yesterday.
The Rhinos may have to go either with three in the back or Josh Bolton could slide next to Scott Palguta in central defense. That could put even more pressure on the newest Rhino, Nuno Santos.
Either way, the roster juggling due to injuries and players being out of town continues. And the consistently inconsistent lineup selections can't help the chemistry of the team.
Soccer Sam had to be in heaven yesterday
The MISL held their supplemental draft yesterday and plenty of current and former Rhinos were selected.
The expansion Orlando Sharks used the first pick on former Rhino and current Carolina RailHawk Connally Edozien.
Scott Palguta was selected by the New Jersey Ironmen in the second round and was the first current Rhino selected. Other current Rhinos that were picked up yesterday were Mike Ambersley (4th round selection of the Milwaukee Wave), Ryan Wileman (7th round selection of the Chicago Storm), and Kenney Bertz (12th round selection of New Jersey).
Other former Rhinos that were selected yesterday were Chris Bagley (2nd round selection of Milwaukee), Noah Delgado (4th round selection of Orlando), Neil Dombrowski (5th round selection of Chicago), Charles Gbeke (5th round selection of the Detroit Ignition), and Chris Carrieri (9th round selection of the California Cougars).
In the 13th round, Chicago also selected University of Rochester grad Nate Micklos.
Your Beckham fix for the day
Since we are about an hour away from Beckham's introduction as the newest member of the LA Galaxy, here are the some of the Beckham stuff that is out there today:
- MLSNet.com has it's own Beckham page with Beckham modeling the new kits. And don't forget about the David Beckham Collection at MLSgear.com .
- SI.com with the story of the Beckhams landing in LA.
- Fox Soccer's Nick Webster is pumping up Beckham. For me, the question isn't whether Beckham will provide MLS a boost. The question is whether MLS can take the boost that he will give the league and build upon it. Or, will it be a blip on the radar ala the splash that Freddy Adu made when he entered the league.
- Fox Sports.com has an AP article talking about how everyone has an opinion on Beckham. While this is an obvious overstatement. Beckham is most certainly the biggest thing to ever happen to MLS and perhaps even soccer in the US. Personally, Pele shouldn't be the measuring stick for Beckham. What should be is the 1994 World Cup that was hosted in the US. That event spawned MLS and it will be interesting to see what legacy Beckham can leave behind in the US.
- MLS Underground has a guest piece on Beckham's arrival.
- Soccer 365.com has a Q&A with LA GM Alexi Lalas. Who has more pressure on them right now: Beckham, Lalas, or LA coach Frank Yallop?
- The LA Daily News asks if Beckham to the Galaxy is good for Chivas USA. My take: Who cares?
- Speaking of Pele, Jack Bell of the NY Times and US Soccer Players.com bring up the subject of Beckham, amongst other things, with the soccer legend.
- Andrea Canales of the Sideline Views blog has her take on how the Galaxy now have a huge target on their back. Can one of the worst teams in the league have a target on their back?
- And as expected, the BBC is in on the action.
Honestly, all this Beckham stuff is becoming my soccer guilty pleasure of late. You won't see me rocking a #23 LA Galaxy shirt (although I do like the new look) and I won't be buying extra copies of SI this week, but I do think all the attention that MLS and soccer in the US is getting is pretty darn cool.
26 hours until the U-20 World Cup Quarterfinal between the US and Austria
US Soccer.com - Drama Class: A Three-Act Play About Overcoming Hardship on the World Stage
Big Apple Soccer.com - Altidore hope to play on Saturday
Big Apple Soccer.com - Michael Lewis on Toronto
With 26 hours until the US takes on Austria with a trip to the U-20 World Cup Semis on the line, the availability of NY Red Bulls forward Josmer Altidore is still up in the air.
Altidore picked up a charley horse early in the second half against Uruguay in the US' 2-1 Round of 16 win. Altidore scored both US goals in their 2-1 victory over Brazil to close out group play and clinch first place in the tournament's "Group of Death".
Also up in the air is the availability of first choice goalkeeper Chris Seitz. Seitz was a game day decision against Uruguay and is likely to be again tomorrow versus Austria.
Hopefully we can get some breaking news tomorrow when Neil Beuthe of US Soccer joins us live from Toronto on Kick This!
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.
