August 22, 2008
Well, it didn't take Rey Martinez long to find a new team.
Five days after the Rhinos announced that the popular forward/midfielder was let go, he was introduced as the newest member of the Carolina RailHawks.
Rey is traveling with the RailHawks as they face the Minnesota Thunder tonight, so he could be making his Carolina debut.
Rey will have a couple of familiar teammates in Hamed Diallo and Frankie Sanfilippo. He'll also be familiar to head coach Scott Schweitzer and President/GM Chris Economides.
US Women take Olympic Gold
In what was an edge of your seat affair yesterday morning, the US Women's Olympic Soccer team defeated Brazil 1-0 in Extra Time to take home the gold medal.
Now the debate will start about whether this win is the greatest ever in the history of the US Women's National Team program. With what happened in last year's World Cup, the injury to Abby Wambach, and the horrible start to the tournament versus Norway, it's hard to argue against that position.
It will also be interesting to see what this loss means to Brazil.
They were a team that was supposed to take home gold after losing last year's World Cup Final to Germany.
But yet again, Brazil's great offensive players came up empty in a final.
And in what should be a no-brainer, it looks as if Pia Sundhage will have her contract extended by US Soccer per Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer.com.
News & Notes:
- If you stayed up late Wednesday night, I hope you were watching the USMNT get a half ugly - half gutty 1-0 win in Guatemala. I like some of the wrap up stuff at SBI.net , especially the post-game interview questions that Bob Bradley got.
- The LA Galaxy dropped Bruce Arena's debut as coach by a 1-0 score to the Chicago Fire. If LA fans are looking for a silver lining, Beckham, Donovan, and Eddie Lewis were all out of the LA lineup because they had all played for their national teams the night before. Although, Chicago was missing Blanco, Gonzalo Segares and Marco Pappa for the same reason.
- The Colorado Rapids are looking for a new head coach after Fernando Clavijo resigned. Former assistant coach Gary Smith has been named the interim coach.
- I'd love to really know why FIFA is going back to the jersey numbers 1-18 for World Cup Qualifiers and tornaments like the Olympics.
- Brazil destroyed Belgium to take home the bronze medal in the Olympic Men's Soccer tournament.
- Former Toronto FC midfielder Maurice Edu has been granted his work permit, so his move to Rangers is complete.
- Montreal is trying to get their offense going by adding two more strikers to the mix. I wonder which club has had more forwards wash out the past 5 years or so: Montreal or Rocehster......
- In what might be good news for the Rhinos, Macoumba Kandji was not in the 18 man roster for Atlanta last evening in Montreal. With Ansu Toure in Miami and Kandji potentially out injured, the Silverbacks may not have near the firepower that they did the last time they came to town.
- The Rhinos will have a very interesting musical act for pre-game, post-game, and halftime action in Beatlemania Again. I wonder if Matt Ford and Darren Tilley have made any requests?
- If people are wondering what Dan Williams and Laurie Calloway are up to lately, I am hearing rumors that they could we working together to either bring a USL 1st Division team back to Syracuse, or perhaps even buying into a current USL 1st Division team. If Williams does indeed buy into a USL 1st Division team, it will be interesting to see if there are any current members of the Rhinos family that move on to work or play for a Williams/Calloway team..........
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.
