April 6, 2010
I got a chuckle out of the fact that Tino Nunez's wiki page was updated with his status as a member of the Rhinos before the club officially announced the signing today.
The Nunez signing gives the Rhinos 21 players under contract with the season opener in Miami a mere four days away.
Coach Bob Lilley has said that they won't have their roster completely put together before Saturday and that they are looking to add a bit more veteran experience, especially at center back.
But the team has to be feeling pretty good after last Saturday's scoreless draw in a scrimmage versus Toronto FC.
The biggest questions I have with this team will be the relatively lack of experience throughout the attacking portion of the roster. Today, Darren Spicer (who turns 27 in August) might be the grizzled vet when you look at the attacking midfield players and the forwards.
The rest of the veterans on the team appear to be defenders (SanFilippo & Roberts), a defensive midfielder/center back (Greenfield) and a goalkeeper (Vallow).
But the hope will be that this team will have the speed to get a lot more players into dangerous areas than we've seen in the past.
News & Notes:
- Rhinos individual game tickets are now on sale.
- Jen Chang at SI.com & WV Hooligan both have top 10 DP target lists and Grant Wahl has an overview of the new DP rule. Personally, I'd hope that MLS would be able to add more game controlling midfielders (ala Schelotto in Columbus) and go with younger, under the radar types, as opposed to guys closer to the end of the road, say like Henry and Viera. Although, if someone could get Joe Cole on a free transfer this summer.....
- Seattle is already talking about adding two more DPs to go with Ljungberg.
- Stuart Holden is close to returning to practice and today is Charlie Davies tribute day on the interwebs.
- Vancouver isn't the only club that Luciano Emilio has been rumored to. FC Dallas and the Philadelphia Union have been rumored to be mulling over adding the 2007 MLS MVP.
- Jim Brennan apparently is hanging up the boots and moving up into the Toronto FC front office.
- Fred's younger brother is on trial with DC United and Ali Gerba has been released by Toronto FC per Steven Goff.
- There is a rumor that the Montreal Impact will change their name when they move to MLS and that the move will be announced this month.
- Portland is expecting to take more than a few players from their 2010 roster to MLS next season.
- It looks like Houston might be getting closer to getting a stadium deal in place.
- If this story about police telling bars to ban fans wearing England shirts during the World Cup were published 3 days earlier, I wouldn't believe it.
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.
