March 23, 2009
On Saturday, the Rhinos kicked off the 2009 pre-season with a scoreless draw versus the Cleveland City Stars.
I called Devo after the game to give him my quick hits on the match that he put on Devo's Direct Kicks and Rhinos Soccer.com has a recap as well.
Since that was covered, I'll go over the players listed on the game day roster as trialists and cobine trialists for those that weren't in attendance.
Rhinos Trialists:
Nano Short - He didn't stand out to me on Saturday. And given that it appears that he would take a foreign slot, I wouldn't bet on him to land on the team.
Walter Moore - Moore likely got invited to camp because of his ties to Chris Nurse via Guyana's National Team. He played in the left side of midfield to start and had a poor touch on a glorius chance in the box that had a lot of fans calling for him to be cut on the spot.
Mike Ambersley - Ambersley looked really good on the right side of midfield and had a little chemistry with John Ball playing behind him. I would be surprised if he doesn't earn a spot on the roster.
Doug Rice - Rice played indoor with the Detroit Ignition after playing college soccer at Oakland University. He was a guy that didn't really stand out to me.
Sean Cameron - Cameron has played in the USL 1st Division with both Miami FC and the Atlanta Silverbacks. He was born in Brooklyn, but plays with the Guyana National Team, so there is the tie in with the likes of Ambersley and Brent Sancho (Atlanta) and Moore and Nurse (Guyana). Cameron looked pretty good up top in the first half and I would think that he has a good shot at making the team.
Conrad Smith - I believe he is a forward from T&T that played for the Toronto Lynx a few years ago. Given the foreigner situation, I would be surprised is he sticks.
Rhinos Combine Trialists:
John Crawley - Crawley played left back next to Brent Sancho in the 2nd half and was OK. Since he was born in Scotland, I'll just leave it at he's a foreigner, so......
Joseph Ruesgen - Joseph played for the Newark Ironbound Express of the PDL in 2008. See Nano Short's analysis.
Barry Neville - Played his college soccer at Binghamton. See Short and Ruesgen....
Mark Wood - Played his college soccer at Binghamton. See his teammate Neville's brakdown above....
Daniel Nascimento - Daniel is the 2008 MVP of the CSL. The CSL is the same league that Montreal's "farm team" the Trois Rivière Attack plays in, so there is a precident for players from that league making USL rosters. Given that Canadians don't count as foreigners, I wouldn't be surprised if Daniel makes the team.
Ludovic Dubreuil - A French player that looked OK, but not great. He was also in Minnesota's combine and must not have earned a spot.
Steven Morris - This could be an interesting find for the Rhinos. He was born in New Orleans, so he is an American citizen. But, he grew up in Central America and has even played for the U-23 National Team of Honduras. Here is some YouTube highlights as well. He is a guy that I will try and watch closer on Wednesday evening.
My two pesos:
If the Rhinos have four contracts to hand out, my bets today would be on Ambersley, Cameron, Nascimento, and Morris.
News & Notes:
- I love this take on Drew Carey, a fan's owner.
- Fabio Capello piles on MLS in the wake on Beckham-Gate. If you want to be cheared up, listen to this awesome YouTube clip.
- Jonah Freedman has his five thoughts on opening weekend of MLS action and SBI.net has it's Best XI, Worst XI, and Team of the Week.
- St. Louis is hoping to land an MLS team in 2012 or beyond....
- I thought it wasn't easy being green? Guess not!
- Landon Donovan is back.
- AC Milan isn't the only big name European club that the Galaxy will host in 2009. LA will play Barca at the Rose Bowl as well.
- If you were wondering about MLS attendance for Week 1, here you go.
- Jamie Watson has gone from a developmental deal with FC Dallas to Wilmington of the USL 2nd Division.
- So much for Claudio Suarez retiring.
- This is an awesome post about how off the ball movement can lead to scoring chances and the player that helped out gets no love.
- I have to laugh about this article that talks about brotherly love in Vancouver. It will be interesting to see if Martin Nash is still MLS quality at 35 years young in 2011.
- Eddie Lewis gives it up to Clint Dempsey as he never gave up when he wasn't getting playing time with Fulham.
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
