Re: Status of Casal? Like I said, none -- just the fact that he hasn't been getting minutes and in some cases hasn't made the gameday roster (before he went to Nigeria, heh); the Coach has said that bringing it in practice is a necessary pre-requisite for either. To be sure, it's not the only pre-requisite, and so maybe there are other reasons why he hasn't. Well, again, it's only a rumor. Maybe nothing is going on.
Re: Status of Casal? Maybe he is gone, and maybe it is justified that he is gone. But I, like soccermad claims, go to practices every once in a while. And Casal was far superior to Moose in practice. There must have been something else going on.
Re: Status of Casal? LOL Well clearly he had some adjustment problems with the weather, that are documented. As bootsy has said, the guy was struggling with heat ........... in May. Yo kid, it only gets worse from there.
Re: Status of Casal? It seems like one could eventually get somewhat used to that, especially a professional athlete. Then again, my frame of reference might be a bit askew, since I'm from a place where 100 degree days in the summer are common, yet I can go out in 30 degree weather wearing a t-shirt and be nothing short of cozy. Maybe I have no nerve endings. Maybe I need to see a neurologist.
Re: Status of Casal? The weather in Lagos, Nigeria is currently (3:30 p.m. over there) 84 Fahrenheit with a humidity of 74%, according to weather.com. They also say it feels like 92 degrees Fahrenheit. In DC, weather.com's hour-by-hour forecast predicts high seventies with a humidity in the low 30's. So, I guess Casal wilted in the Nigerian heat too.
Re: Status of Casal? I feel you on that, but he was raised in London. What is the weather like there right now?
Re: Status of Casal? Maybe that's why he did so well against Colorado in 30 deg weather... when players like Fred froze up. Can we re-sign him for April, May, and October?
Re: Status of Casal? You'd think that the solution would be for DC United to divide into Warm weather & Cold weather teams instead of the starters & the reserves. The only problem is that I believe that Dynachencho is the only attacking player with substantial playing time DCU has who is not from a warm weather country. Oh well. March-May & October bring out the 4-5-1
Re: Status of Casal? And the Goff-ster reports that Casal has been released: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/2007/07/casal_released.html#comments This frees up another Senior roster spot!
Re: Status of Casal? I fully agree, his defense was bad but he is young, he could easily learn that side of the game. If he is gone i think it is poor that DC are just letting go of their young talent. Casal was one for the future
Re: Status of Casal? Im sorry i dont agree, he defensive skills are bad but to say he has none what so ever is going to far. I recall a game against Chivas when Casal tracked Jonathan Bornstein who is a full USA international and he made a good tackle on him. Defending is not just about making crunching tackles, there is defending your zone, defending from the front by closing down side backs, and defending by tracking runners, look at the game against LA when Casal only played 10 minutes, when did his runner get past him? I know it is only 10 minutes but he did a good job defensively, which proves that he is learning.
Re: Status of Casal? Also he has only not made the game day roster once, which was the draw against New England and the second leg against Chivas. You need to look at is that you have Brian Arguez who is a full under 20 USA national team player who has not even got near the first team, and you have a boy the same age who is constantly with the first team. Not saying that Arguez is a bad player, i actually rate him highly from watching him for the u20, in training, and in the reserves but this all shows that the boy has potential
Re: Status of Casal? Do the dropping of Casal and Erpen seem uncharacteristic of this front office, or is it just me?
Re: Status of Casal? I don't think there's anything inconsistent in saying that Casal is just as good a prospect as Arguez and also that we have to let him go. Arguez is, I believe, a P40 player, meaning that there's special treatment for roster and salary cap purposes. Casal was a full senior roster player with no such breaks. According to Goff, the team offered him (Casal) a dev contract to stay and he decided to take his chances to catch on somewhere else instead. DC isn't passing judgement on him as a bad footballer, they're just saying he doesn't fit in to their plans at this time.
Re: Status of Casal? 1. I'm sorry to see this happen. He was fast, young and had potential. 2. People are missing the larger significance here. Kasper said that DCU approached Casal and asked him to take a developmental contract b/c they needed a senior roster spot. Now why would they need a senior roster spot? --they are likely to sign someone from MLS (Kasper denied there were any trades or foreign signings immenient but didn't say anything about a waiver pickup to add defensive coverage) --the team wants to avoid guaranteeing his contract for the remainder of the season b/c we want the cap room b/c we're serious about adding a DP this year. It comes down to one of those two options (cap space or senior roster space)--those are the only two that make sense for this timing. As Artie Johnson used to say "interesting....velly interesting....".