November 27, 2007
The San Jose Earthquakes made a couple of trades yesterday. Frist, they sent former DC United midfielder Brian Carroll to the Columbus Crew in exchange for forward Kei Kamara.
Carroll was one of two defensive midfielders selected by San Jose in last week's expansion draft and it was a lot of speculation at the time that Carroll shouldn't pack his bags for the Bay Area yet.
San Jose also sent a fourth round pick to Chivas USA for former Seattle Sounders goalkeeper Preston Burpo.
Ives Galarcep also has a blog post that throws out the theory that the Earthquakes could go after two players with ties to the San Jose area. Forward Kamani Hill, a UCLA grad who was recently released by German club Wolfsburg and is a Berkeley native, could be an option up top should he be willing to return stateside at this point in his career. The tough part there is that MLS has always lowballed players that have opted to start their pro careers in Europe only to flame out. Just ask FC Dallas forward Kenny Cooper.
Ives also opines that former San Jose Clash player Eddie Lewis might be looking to jump ship with Derby County. Although, I think the chances that Lewis would want to move to MLS at this stage in his career may be lower than those of Hill. Lewis may have other options in Europe, whereas Hill may have a harder time getting a solid offer from a new club.
And I can't see San Jose giving Eddie Lewis Designated Player money to make it worth his while.
Other news and notes:
- Vancouver Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi is still bullish on the future of the USL and hints at upcoming expansion for the USL 1st Division. Rhinos CEO Steve Donner also talked about USL 1st Division expansion in 2009 or 2010 when he was on Kick This! a few days ago.
- Steven Goff of the Washington Post has not one , but two blog posts with some juicy MLS rumors. My favorite one is the speculation with regards to the NY Red Bulls head coaching vacancy and how NY may be interested in Chicago Fire head coach Juan Carlos Osario despite the fact that the Fire haven't given NY permission to even talk to Osario about the job.
- Speaking of the Red Bulls, Jozy Altidore has a cool blog post about going home for Thanksgiving at NYTimes.com. I sure hope he sticks around MLS for at least one more season.
- MLSNet.com has a good article on Andy Dorman and his decision to look to try and land a job in England since his contract with New England has expired. Dorman grew up in England, so my guess is that he must have an English passport as I can't see him being able to lock down an English work permit otherwise.
- Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle is stumping for the Dynamo to get their own stadium. I'd love to hear any reasonable argument against that happening.
- The Puget Sound Business Journal as a big article on how the Seattle Seahawks management is jumping into the soccer business with two feet. But, I still don't think that an MLS team in an NFL stadium is a great formula for success long term.
- Which leads us to this story that makes even less sense to me. How many kicks at the can will pro soccer in general, and MLS specifically, give Florida?
- All those questions about what the LA Galaxy were going to do in 2008 with Landon Donovan requiring a Designated Player Slot just went out the window............
This news is good for LA and bad for any team that wanted to peddle their DP slot to the Galaxy.
- The Guardian newspaper in London chose Fulham and USMNT M/F Clint Dempsey as their Saturday interview this past week. It's cool that Americans in the Premiership are being viewed as real players and not imposters.
- Someone sent this link to me and it gave me a laugh, so I thought I'd pass it along.......
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.
