December 18, 2008
We were unable to get Ross to spill the beans on Saturday's show, but Rob Clark has announced that Ross Smith has signed a one year deal to return to the Rhinos defense in 2009.
This gives the Rhinos 12 players currently under contract for next season.
The starting defense would appear to be pretty solid as long as neither Ross nor Scott Palguta make the jump to MLS this off season.
Now the focus turns to the midfield and forward positions.
It will be interesting to see what the Rhinos do with regards to trying to bring back Danny Earls and Luke Kreamalmayer.
Also, it will be interesting to see if the Rhinos take a look at some USL vets that are currently without clubs in David Hayes from Atlanta and one or two of the players that Vancouver (Kindel and Clarke....) have cut loose.
US-Mexico game will be in Columbus
US Soccer.com podcast with Run DMB
So much for the rumors that this match will be played in Salt Lake City.
Personally, I'm glad that this match will return to Columbus as it will give the US a decided advantage, one would assume.
News & Notes:
- The St. Louis Lions are looking to get a USL 1st Division team in 2010. I would assume that this bid is dependant on the St. Louis group that is bidding for an MLS team falling short. While St. Louis has a strong soccer history, it will be interesting to see if the market embraces USL soccer or not.
- Morgan Campbell's blog take on the DeRo to Toronto FC trade is as balanced as you can get from the Toronto side. In Houston, Stuart Holden is happy as he looks to be getting the first shot at replacing DeRo in the Dynamo's midfield. And Glenn Davis says good bye in the Houston Chronicle.
- Carl Robinson has announced that he has agreed to a new deal with Toronto.
- Are the Whitecaps getting ahead of themselves?
- Matt Jordan has re-signed with the Montreal Impact.
- Former Rhino Chris Bagley is heading back to the Wilmington Hammerheads as a player/assistant coach.
- Vancouver has picked up the 2009 options on Justin Moose and Jay Nolly. Moose would have been a guy worth looking at if he had hit the open market.
- SI.com has a look at how Beckham should fit in with AC Milan while he is on loan there. I wonder how many Beckham AC Milan jerseys they will sell?
- Frankie Simek's return from an ankle injury didn't last long. Now he's on the shelf with a hamstring injury......
- Potential USMNT defender Neven Subotic is moving from Germany to Napoli.
- SBI.net looks at what the Red Bulls will do with Matt Cassel possibly leaving Maryland after his freshman season.
- On a related topic, Ridge Mahoney's latest at SI.com suggests that MLS needs to tweak how they do things for seniors leaving college as MLS's current policies can push some good players to Europe. I wonder if the USL will look to sign any guys like Greg Dalby in the future?
- Ethan Zohn does a Q&A on his 550 mile dribbling expedition for charity at Soccer 365.com .
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.
