January 29, 2009
Earlier in the week, the news was positive in that the Rhinos had re-signed MF/D Danny Earls. Now the news is not so good in that Luke Kreamalmayer has signed with the Carolina RailHawks.
Kreamalmayer tied the Rhinos club record with 9 assists last season, his lone season in a Rhinos uniform.
Personally, Luke was the one player that was forgotten when the team handed out the season ending awards as his 9 assists and 17 points were huge for the Rhinos.
Now the question will be whether it will be easier to find a right outside midfielder or whether the club will look at moving John Ball back into the midfield and then bring in a new right back.
News & Notes:
- Carolina has also added former Seattle Sounders MF Josh Gardner , former Columbus MF Brian Plotkin and NY Red Bulls D John Gilkerson. Plotkin and Kreamalmayer should be big improvements for the RailHawks midfield.
- News10 NBC has this cryptic bit about the suites at the stadium. I wonder if this means that the grant money has been released to the City?
- I love how long it took for US-Mexico to sell out. 90 minutes of course!
- The US will bid for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups per Steven Goff.
- SBI.net suggests that LA and San Jose could both be after Bobby Convey. I wonder if Convey's history with Bruce Arena will give LA an edge?
- Becks scores again, so you know where everyone (especially Arash Markazi at SI.com) is going. There is also talk that Beckham needs to make a decision quick.
- Don Garber made a trip to Ottawa and says that a lack of a stadium plan is the biggest negative for the Ottawa expansion bid.
- MLS has released the full 2009 schedule.
- If you want to play for the USMNT, it would help if you were a left back.
- Houston has signed US U-20 forward Felix Garcia. It will be interesting to see how quickly he adjusts to the pro game.
- I love how desperate the fans of El Tri have become!
- It looks like the Dax McCarty to San Jose deal is dead now.
- I like the way this message from DC United about Marcello Gallardo sounds.
- Former Montreal backup goalkeeper Andrew Weber is in San Jose Earthquakes camp.
- Jeff Bradley's First XI at MLSNet.com talks about the 2009 MLS schedule has Sigi and Sounders versus Columbus as the best early match of the season and who can blame him?
- SBI.net has a great entry about Andy Williams' wife battle with leukemia. Do what you can to help.
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
