July 26, 2007
Apparently new Barcelona teammates Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho are trying to get close.
Some may say they've already gotten too close............
- Day 2 of the Superliga was as kind to MLS as Day 1 as Houston defeated Club America 1-0 and DC drew with Monarcas 1-1. And DC is feeling like they let 2 points get away as they were up a goal and a man with under 15 minutes to go before a wicked strike by Diego Martinez allowed the visitors to level the match.
I know the Mexican clubs are in their pre-season and they are missing some players, but MLS has to be really happy with the early returns. But, it will be interesting to see how things go when the MLS teams have to play south of the border.
- Fox Sports.com & Yanks Abroad are reporting that US U-20 forward Sal Zizzo has signed with Hannover 96 in Germany. Sal will join USMNT defender Steve Cherundolo, who apparently helped talk Zizzo's parents into the deal and used the fact that he is a fellow San Diego native to his, and the club's, advantage.
It will be interesting to see how Zizzo adapts to the jump from the NCAA to Germany's top flight.
- Yanks Abroad has an article talking about how another US U-20 forward, Gabe Ferrari, is facing an uphill battle for playing time with his European club, Sampdoria in Italy's Serie A.
- US Soccer Players.com has a nice Q&A with former Rhino and current NY Red Bulls forward John Wolyniec. Big Apple Soccer.com has an article about how Red Bulls manager Bruce Arena has the good problem of three quality forwards and he can only pick two for the starting XI. It's cool to see Wolyniec fighting for playing time amongst Angel and Altidore.
- Steven Goff of the Washington Post did a Q&A recently and talked about DC United going after come Argentine talent. The new rumor du jour has Chivas USA going after Argentince International MF Juan Sebastián Verón . Verón was previously linked to a potential move to DC.
I find it curious that the same $20 million figure is quoted in both the DC and Chivas USA rumors. My guess is that Veron's agent is feeding some reporters some info to try and drive the price up for his client.
- The US futsal team defeated Costa Rica by a 6-5 score yesterday at the Pan Am Games. Unfortunately, the US will not move on to the medal round as Costa Rica advances as the 2nd place finisher in Pool B on goal differential. The US will face Guatemala tomorrow in the first of two 5-8 classification matches that they will play. Cuba and Ecuador will face off in the other half of the classification draw.
- Bob Bradley is still talking about the "whole picture" when the subject of Copa America comes up. He is also talking about how our guys need to play in order to get better. The last part is particularly important as I've never seen the value of a player moving to a club where he sees little, if any, playing time with the first team. I've never been one to put a lot of value on merely training with a higher calibre of player.
- Real Salt Lake attributes their fresh legs versus EPL side Everton in part due to training on grass as opposed to artificial turf.
Given that so many people are trying to figure out why the Rhinos are so beat up this year, I wonder if the fact that they train pretty much all the time at PAETEC Park on FieldTurf is an issue. If it is, I wonder if they still have a relationship with TSE that would allow them to train on their grass fields?
It couldn't hurt to ask, right?
- Apparently I'm not the only one that was shocked that the Rapids would trade away Kyle Beckerman.
- Congrats to Rhinos Women defender Carla Arbulo who became the second Rhinos Women player to be named to the W-League Team of the Week in 2007.
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.
