November 29, 2006
The Montreal Impact have announced that MLS has purchased the contract of Canadian National Team goalkeeper Greg Sutton from the club and indications are that he will join Toronto FC. It is expected that Toronto FC will introduce Sutton as their newest addition at a press conference later in the week.
Sutton was the Goalkeeper of the Year in the USL 1st Division in each of the past four seasons. However, Montreal appears to be set in goal with Sutton's back up, Andrew Weber. Sutton missed half of the 2006 regular season and Weber allowed only 8 goals in his 14 starts. That was only one more goal than Sutton allowed in his 14 starts.
Many believe that the Montreal's defensive success was due mainly to the players in front of Sutton and Weber and that the loss of defender Adam Braz to Toronto FC could be even bigger than the loss of Sutton. Although, Montreal did have a revolving door of defenders this past season due to injuries and it never seemed to matter who was in the Montreal lineup, they just kept playing sound defensive soccer that was tough to break through.
Claudio Reyna shrugs off talk of his moving to MLS
During the press conference to announce the trade with Chivas USA to acquire a second Designated Player slot, NY Red Bulls Sporting Director and HEad Coach Bruce Arena talked about giving a Christmas wish list to mom and dad when it came to building the Red Bulls roster this offseason after getting rid of a huge chunk of their roster, including 2004 MLS MVP Amado Guevara.
Well, one player that has been speculated as being on Arena's wish list has denied any interest in moving to MLS as of yet. Former US Men's National team captain Claudio Reyna denied any interest in moving back to the US at this stage in his career.
Speculation that Reyna would move to MLS this offseason, and specifically to the NY Red Bulls, had the strong foundation given not only Reyna's history with Arena at the University of Virginia and with the US Men's National Team, but also because his contract with Manchester City is up following the 2006-07 English Premier League season.
While Reyna's statements may slow down the speculation that Arena and the Red Bulls will be pursuing "Captain America", I doubt it will go away until Reyna has signed a contract elsewhere for beyond the current season.
US U-20 MNT draws Guatemala, Haiti, and hosts Panama in CONCACAF qualifying for 2007 U-20 World Cup in Canada
The good news is that the US U-20 MNT didn't get drawn into the same group as Mexico.
The bad news is that they have to go on the road and they did get drawn into the same group as the host country, Panama. The US has had the home field advantage at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California and Blackbaud Stadium in Charleston, South Carolina in their previous two qualifying cycles.
The US must finish amongst the top two teams in the group to qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada, which will take place from June 30-July 22 across six cities – Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Burnaby and Victoria.
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