November 23, 2010
The Rhinos have exercised options on 14 players and now have 15 players under contract for the 2011 season.
The biggest name that the Rhinos have yet to secure for 2011 is captain Frankie Sanfillippo. It will be interesting to see if the Rhinos can get his name on a contract or not.....
News rundown:
- The NASL has received provisional sanctioning by the USSF to be a 2nd Division league in 2011. Full sanctioning is expected at the USSF AGM in February.
- Danny Earls, along with fellow ex-Rhinos Steve Guppy and Scott Palguta, celebrated the Rapids' MLS Cup victory . But, Danny is now headed to Seattle as he was traded away ahead of the expansion draft.
- Apparently the Vancouver Whitecaps are eyeing Pat Onstad in the expansion draft list. In a recent interview, Pat sounded like the Houston Dynamo were the only MLS team he'd like to play for. But, it will be interesting to see if his tune changes should the club that he rooted for as a kid acquire his MLS rights.
- Palguta, Earls, and Onstad are available for selection in the MLS Expansion Draft by Portland or Vancouver. But, one former Rhinos isn't available: NY D Carlos Mendes.
- Six Designated Players were left unprotected for the MLS expansion draft. Teams really have to do a better job when they sign DPs.
- I really hope MLS figures out a way to not play tons of cold weather games if they do move to an international calendar.
- Don Garber also talked at the 2010 MLS Supporter's Summit.
- The USWNT have a 1-0 lead on Italy as they return home in their two game World Cup qualifying series.
- Sporting KC's President tries to explain the change. The jerseys aren't bad. Although, the baby blue one looks a lot like Colorado's powder blue look. But the best thing to come out of this mess has to be this blog post that break down the best Tweets of future MLS team names.
- I can't wait for the race to see who falls off the face of the Earth first: Atlanta or FC NY .....
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.
