As for Portland, he's got several options for finishing his degree. The University of Portland has a well respected Business program (including MBA), but he could also go to Portland State or Lewis and Clark.
Maund will take the CB spot vacated by Olave (in the yet-to-be-announced trade that has become the worst-kept secret in MLS history thanks to certain members of the national soccer media who can't keep their pieholes shut). This is a nice move from a cap clearance perspective because Braun's salary is more than Grossman and Maund make combined (according to the SL Trib). So it adds a drop to RSL's bucket
Aaron Maund is an interesting piece of trade by JK. Maund actually haven't been playing much as CB because he just kept getting exposed and Mariner used him as DM in 2nd half of TFC's season. Kinda just stood there are didn't do much.at CB, probably behind that Kwame dude in depth chart for RSL. I suppose JK can see him as a long term project of some sort, but really, as much as JK is looking to off load Braun, getting Maund in return is just making cap space IMO
No, I'm saying there were 4 CB's on RSL's roster, Olave got (is getting? will get?) traded leaving 3 CB's on the roster, Maund makes it 4 again. No way is this dude any higher than #4 on the depth chart...highly likely he won't even see 1st team action this year unless there are major injury issues. It's possible he won't even make the roster and this was just a cap clearance move.
Thank god the artards on facebook aren't in charge of anything related to RSL, if this team were run by those idiots we'd never compete for anything. Some of the comments on there about the trades being made are straight lunacy. Most astounding is the sheer blind love for Steele that almost everyone has, it's insane to me that a guy that did so little and was such a worthless player gets so much freaking love.
But, it's a difference without distinction. Both Portland and Vancouver have excellent universities. And, if he's doing well at U of U he would be able to transfer to either one, though how many credits would transfer is always a question. He also may be in a position in which he can finish out at the U online.
I have a friend who is very close to Andy Williams (coaches with and lives near him) and he related the Espy/Olave move to that of Andy. 1. Bullshit. Andy was a legend. Olave and Espy were great, but they weren't legends 2. People tend to not understand the $$$$ side of this. Their is this thinking that we can keep all these guys and add another DP and such without any issue. It's hilarious. If I ran the RSL fb page, I'd be so damn tempted to write back "look up our salary cap situation before you post retarded comments" but alas, I just have a blog...
Best damn scapegoat ever If they sign Jonny Steele, you know they are just covering their asses for when they find a way to epically fail yet again
Garth's interview is very good and says the goal is to identify and sign goal-scorers, citing many instances of 'big games' in which RSL was unable to produce offensively (NY, Dallas, Seattle in playoffs, Herediano and Monterrey in CCL). Says they're looking to make 2, possibly 3 significant signings in attack...
Negotiating with Morales. Has more $ available from interested teams in Mexico. Team banking on appeal of staying with team and in the US, but that's something Garth expects to come to a head in the next week.
thanks for the updates, Quib. I can't listen to 700 at work for some reason right now. It's pissing me off I think Javi would do incredibly well in Mexico. The biggest thing holding him back has to be his family. He has very well established himself here. Can you imagine Javi in the midfield with Suazo in front of him? Maybe that CCL final (and goal) got him a Monterrey offer...?
Don't watch much Mexican league stuff. Are they less physical? Because if we keep him, we just get to look forward to another year of hack-a-Javi from all the other teams in MLS. It's not his fault, per-se, but it was very effective in stifling the RSL offense this past year.
That's what Garth said - he thinks his family would prefer to live here...but there's more money South. They also talked about Gil's plans for development as part of the U-20 national team quite a bit...Bill characterized this as a "Big Year" for his development. The overarching thesis was "we were 25% over the cap, we had to clear space, and we had to reload around our core (Beckerman, Borchers, Rimando, Morales?) and try and get younger with more scoring punch while staying competitive and being in the MLS cup hunt". The young guys have had a year or two and it's time to give them more PT as they grasp the system...he mentioned KWS, Schuler, Mansally, Velasquez, Enzo, Yourdanis, Gil, Viana etc.
Not the same one I do, it seems. That, or they just replay the @ Portland game and vs TFC game where Steele scored... and only the minute or so that he scored. Honestly, Steele even admitted it himself, he sucked balls in that TFC match and was lucky to get the goal to make up for his play. Fans in this state are dumb. It's like the guys getting pissed about Smith not being the SF QB the last 2 weeks. Dude, Kapernick beat the Bears and the Saints. You don't bench a guy who beats the Bears and wins @ The Superdome.