December 16, 2008
As SBI.net said yesterday, Seattle fooled nobody today when they named Sigi Schmid the first head coach in the team's history.
With the MLS SuperDraft a little under one month away, it will be interesting to see how Schmid deals with the fact that some major pieces of his team's roster have been put into place before he came aboard.
In other Sounders news, goalkeeper Kasey Keller is already bumping around town trying to drum up support for his new club.
News & Notes:
- Rob Clark's latest blog post talks about the stadium naming rights situation. He also hints about a player signing that will be announced soon. I wonder if it's anyone I've talked to lately?
- Over at RhinosZone.com, I believe it was Rob posting as "Post 206" saying that Umbro will be the uniform supplier for 2009. I liked the Mass look, but Umbro has quality gear as well. I wonder if they can re-make the 1999 Yellow/Black/White "ManU" look at the Rhinos wore in their run to the US Open Cup title? It will be the 10 year anniversary of that magical ride next season.........
- The Toronto media is all over the DeRo trade, as expected. Gareth Wheeler at The Sun wants more moves, Dean McNulty of The Sun plays up the DeRO is a winner angle, and Larry Millson of The Globe & Mail has the allocation dollars headed to Houston ($125 to 150k)
- Was Glenn Davis hinting that HDNet might not continue to broadcast MLS matches? I hope not.......
- The MLS is trying to crack down on agents representing players and coaches at the same time and there may be a lawsuit coming because of it.
- Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com takes his off season look at the Western Conference of MLS. I love his update given the DeRo trade.
- The LA Galaxy could be looking at adding Jamaican goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts. They should have kept Joe Cannon and never have gone after Carlos Ruiz.
- Marcelo Gallardo back to River Plate? Pleeeeeeease........
- The Oregonian's Editorial Board is backing the Portland to MLS push. Although, they are taking a cautious approach to the plan to renovate PGE Stadium.
- Abby Wambach will be a part of the first game in WPS history when Washington plays LA on March 29th per Steven Goff.
- Andrea Canales has a piece on WPS coming back at SI.com. I find it interesting that she is assuming that Marta will sign with LA given that it hasn't been announced yet.
- Goal.com has a really stupid rumor - Chivas USA might be thinking about letting Preki go. If that happens, I hope that DC fires Tom Soehn and hires Preki the next day.
- Andrea Canales at SI.com is saying that Salt Lake City will be hosting the US-Mexico WC Qualifier in February. I was hoping for a colder venue for the match. But, the US has played so well at home recently, I doubt that it will matter.
- English National Team boss Fabio Capello says Beckham needs to get into matches on a regular basis for AC Milan if he is to get called up soon.
- Vancouver is teaming up with the Harrisburg City Islanders to hold a player combine.
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.
