hell to the yes: 'El Chelis' to Chivas USA... http://www.mediotiempo.com/futbol/mls/noticias/2012/12/07/chelis-sera-tecnico-de-chivas-usa you soccerheads are going to like this guy. when he was at Puebla, i always taught he played a very direct, bruising 4-4-2 like you see in MLS. this will be interesting.
I found his quotes to be very Ruud Gullit-esque. No matter what he should be a very entertaining edition to MLS, which is never a bad thing. Also, Christmas came early to New York. On the one hand, I'm glad MLS is getting rid of one it its bigger cancers. On the other, it means that NY has a chance to get better. I'll just take heart in knowing that, whatever they call themselves, the Metrostar legacy continues and they'll screw it up some new way.
a move to finally get the Dynamo monkey off their back? actually probably means one of their midfielders is gone (officially). my money is on Roger Espinosa.
SKC's owner tweeted something the other day wishing Espinoza the best with his move to Wigan, so that's probably a done deal. SKC will need to get a lot of defensive work out of Nagamura and that guy they picked up who was in the Barça academy. Espinoza did a lot of heavy lifting for them.
I completely agree with you Anderson. No way Feilhaber covers as much ground as Espinoza. Espinoza was faster as well. The only area where Feilhaber may help is that he may be better at taking shots that stay on frame. He may contribute a few more goals for them but they may have just lost a little of the pace they had in tracking down a ball in midfield or defending 1v1.
I'm curious to see how he does. The conventional wisdom is that he'll fail because (1) no foreign coach without US soccer experience at some level has ever had much success, (2) the Mexican roots approach has already failed in the past at Chivas USA, and (3) Vergara is a flake and will **** things up anyway. Who knows how (3) will work now that Vergara has the whole Chivas playground to himself (and his wife). But just because (1) is true doesn't mean that it must necessarily remain true forever. There are reasons why foreign coaches without local experience often fail in MLS. But those things can be addressed if the FO is smart enough. I have no idea if that'll be the case here, but their record doesn't inspire confidence. When it comes to (2), well, let's see if the rumors about quality players from the first team in Guadalajara coming up are true. It won't work if they try again to bring in a bunch of young, inexperienced guys and second division players. That approach failed. But what if they bring in some experienced pros? The style of play in MLS is very different from Mexico - and the officiating is even more different. But we know that an experienced pro from Mexico can adapt and play well here. Suarez and Blanco did well. Personally, I think even Hermosillo and L. Hernandez had some very good moments, although their experience was mixed. I think it may depend on what sort of players they bring in. How much help they give the coaches in navigating the particularities of MLS player and salary rules will also matter. The smart money is with the conventional wisdom, but we'll see how it goes.
Diskerud to Portland? http://www.soccerbyives.net/2012/12/breaking-timbers-lining-up-move-for-diskerud.html
Up Lord knows they need some help but at the price he is likely to demand, that's a lot of trust in a young player with a short track reocrd.
Our buddies in Dallas continue their head shaking ways-according to the 3rd Degree, Daniel Hernandez was just fired after being named full time assist to Schellas three weeks ago. Now keep in mind Daniel was one of his SMU boys. We're in the East now and rarely play our old friends, but man, what in the hell is going on with that franchise?
NYRB officially confirms that they've signed Juninho Pernambucano. He can still hit free kicks and make some nice passes, but the pace of MLS may be a challenge. NYRB has made a number of interesting moves this off-season, but still haven't announced a new coach. Edit: Matthew Doyle tweets that Juninho won't be a DP.
Not a DP, I don't think RB fans have anything to complain about in this case. Solid on free kicks and set pieces, I say that's a decent signing for them, plus it will help pull in Brazilians in the NY/NJ area too.
Eh, even though I'm a fanboy of Juninho, I personally would rather him not be with Dynamo. I like what we're currently doing in that reminds me of Borussia Dortmund in getting decently young players who can maintain the pace of the league and can play for a while with the team.