I wonder if you showed Robert Kraft a picture of Nicol if he'd think he was Steve who used to work in accounting.One of the most storied competitions in all of soccer, I know. As was SuperLiga:
I wonder if you showed Robert Kraft a picture of Nicol if he'd think he was Steve who used to work in accounting.One of the most storied competitions in all of soccer, I know. As was SuperLiga:
I don't know. Judging by his receding hairline at such a young age, he is on a Keller/Friedel type trajectory.I have a vague feeling that "Cody Cropper is to USMNT goalkeeper prospects as the Revs are to MLS franchises" is a pretty good analogy, so this move seems apt in that sense.
It expands the new color palette in the league, too. There are a lot of red or blue teams in MLS. Atlanta United's color scheme isn't terrible in isolation, but it looks like they are doing the MetroStars Retro Tour or something.I really like that.
It's amazing how one key player can make such a big difference. Seattle has some quality forwards and some quality midfielders, but had zero playmaking ability until Lodeiro arrived. He fills such a huge need and allows other players to focus on what they do best. Cristian Roldan has been a beast since Lodeiro arrived. Lodeiro, Roldan, and Morris will form a nice core that the Sounders can add to this winter when they get the chance to jettison some of their older players, especially the useless Nelson Valdez.Goddamn, but Lodeiro suddenly has the Sounders right back in the playoff hunt.
He has some sort of trans-Atlantic accent that he acquired after so many years in England. It is very strange indeed.Friedel has a strange Northeast Ohio accent.
Even cheaping out by not signing Jones, which kinda made sense at the time, has become a 100% Revs move thanks to the combination of Colorado making it look bad in hindsight plus not really replacing him either positionally at all or in terms of DPs except almost by accident with the Kamara thing.
The decision to let Jones go is almost a distraction from the rest of the front office's incompetence. Jones has played only 8 games for the Rapids and will likely even miss the game against the Revs due to World Cup qualifiers. They even made a decent attempt to replace him with another DP, who captained his team in Europa League, but he immediately severed his ACL after signing, because Revs fans can't have nice things. I'm not going to hold that decision against Burns and company.
Still, signing Xavier Kouassi points to the deeper issues with this team. The only international signings of any impact have played for either Sion or Sporting, with whom they have an agreement. It's obvious there is no budget for international scouting. Any player revealed to have been on the Revs discovery list (e.g. Lletget, Horton, Cropper) have all been in the youth national team picture.
Jay Heaps needs to go. I've never seen a manager with so little tactical flexibility. In my section we take bets on what minute Daigo will be substituted in. What kills me is that in moments of desperation, such as playing 4-3-3 when down big against LA or when the brought on Aguedelo to play with Kei against Columbus, they've shown signs of life, but Heaps will always start the next game in his over exposed 4-2-3-1. This team is not equipped to win MLS Cup, but there is enough talent to limp into the playoffs. Nguyen and JoGo were stars on a team that went to the final, but now look pedestrian or worse.
I already renewed my tickets for next year. I'm a sucker.
Nobody knows what happened to Packwood. The Revs passed on him and he hasn't been heard from since. You'd think he'd pursue a NASL or USL deal at this point. There were rumors that his leg break had rendered him disqualifyingly slow. I don't know if that's true, but it would explain the lack of interest in him.Oguchi Onyewu is training with the Revs. He hasn't played since February 2015 to my knowledge.
Whatever happened to Will Packwood? Best I can tell he's still unattached, but he'd be worth another look- their defense is in shambles.
Bantz:Nigel DeJong is DeGone from MLS.
http://www.espnfc.com/story/2941295/galatasaray-complete-nigel-de-jong-signing-from-la-galaxy
Released after making zero appearances, big shock. What a stupid waste of roster space and money.- DC signed Andrea Mancini, an Italian forward who is Roberto's 22 year old son. He looks like a pretty bad signing, a guy who has bounced around a bunch of low level clubs without making an impact. He'll probably be the second coming of John Rooney.
I would speculate that it is for TV reasons. In the era of soccer-on-TV, the USOC final has usually been on either GolTV or the old Fox Sports World / Fox Soccer Channel. This year, ESPN2 picked up both the final and the semifinal, which is the best TV exposure the tournament has ever gotten. I think the USOC organizers would be happy to schedule the final for whatever timeslot ESPN wants.Why is at 10pm when the game is being played in Dallas against an east coast team?
At least the Revs had the decency to ensure that I got an extra 30 mins of sleep tonight.Looks like we just witnessed the last meaningful moment of Revolution soccer this year. I don't want to hear about the playoffs.