March 1, 2007
In a move that has been rumored for months, Frankie SanFilippo officially was announced as the newest member of the Carolina RailHawks yesterday.
Even though this is something that has been expected, it's still tough to swallow the news for me. Frankie was one of a handful of Rhinos players that I really liked and it's never easy to see a player like that leave. Especially when that player is leaving for another USL team and it's not because the Rhinos feel that he's on the downside of his career.
Hopefully the Rhinos learn from this experience and don't let Scott Vallow hit the free agent market following the 2007 season.
And I have to wish Frankie good luck in Carolina. Well, except when he plays Rochester, of course!
"The Goal" - a documentary following Captain America
Apparently there is an unreleased documentary that followed Claudio Reyna around for a couple of years. They are hoping to drum up enough online support to land a distribution deal for the film.
Conor Casey's MLS career not getting off on the best foot
For some reason MLS has yet to make official Toronto FC's signing of US International forward Conor Casey. And as can be expected, Casey isn't exactly thrilled with what's going on.
I'd love to know why MLS is dragging their feet on this one........
San Jose one step closer to re-joining MLS?
Apparently Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff and San Jose State University are close to agreeing on a deal for a new soccer stadium that would become the home of the MLS expansion team that Wolff has the exclusive rights to at this point in time.
The deal would have San Jose State providing the land and Wolff providing the financing for the stadium. Once the stadium deal is finalized, Wolff will exercise his option with MLS and the Earthquakes will be back. The big question would then be when the stadium would come online and when the team would join MLS. For instance, would they come back in 2008 playing at Spartan Stadium, the former home of the Earthquakes, and then open their new digs in 2009?
Peter Philipakos has left Red Bulls camp without a contract
Forward/Midfielder Peter Philipakos has left Red Bulls camp without a contract. The big issue was that Philipakos was nowhere near match fitness and was never able to show Bruce Arena and his staff what he could do.
It will be interesting to see how many USL teams contact Philipakos and will give him a look in their camps that will be opening up soon?
Also of note is that former Chicago Fire midfielder Chris Capano is expected to receive a developmental contract from the Red Bulls. It would seem to me that he could make better money in the USL as MLS developmental contracts pay hardly anything.
Jimmy Conrad agrees to 4 year extension with MLS
This is solid news for MLS and a well deserved contract for Jimmy. Jimmy Conrad is one of the biggest personalities in MLS today and I'm glad to see that he and the league realize that they are both better off with Jimmy playing here as opposed to in Europe.
Now they just need to get MLS Radio back up and running!
Rhinos to play Miami FC in the preseason
The Rhinos will play Miami FC on March 27th at 4:30pm at Lynn University in a preseason match that is free to the public.
The Rhinos have also announced that their June 1st regular season match against Miami FC has seen the start time move to 8pm and that the player combine will now run from Saturday, March 17th through Tuesday, March 20th. The dates were shifted to allow for a day off prior to the team heading to Puerto Rico to take on the LA Galaxy and FC Dallas of MLS.
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.
