Kevin Garcia and Matt Sanner to trial with IFK Luleå

Garcia:

http://www.villanova.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/011712aaa.html

Sanner:

http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10600&ATCLID=3746905

 

Looks like Tom Taylor is with Pro Soccer Consulting, which runs combines and other things and may be a bit of a family business:

http://www.pscltd.co.uk/combine.htm

As for MLS, he played for the Timbers (and other teams in the U.S.) but not while they were in MLS. He has a decent body of overseas experience it seems, but may be retired.

 

Kevin Garcia was a 2012 Supplemental draft pick by the Revolution, who left early in preseason camp to finish his degree, and those guys almost never come back. It's interesting that he is going abroad to trial in such a low division as opposed to see if he could catch on in MLS (or even NASL/USL, which have to be better than the Swedish 3rd division) first.

 

If he is good enough (and since he hasn't played a pro match, I have no idea if he is) he could be several levels higher by the end of the season. The Swedish league seems to be a pretty efficient filter for talent.

 

We'll see if the Matt Sanner trial at Luleå is gonna happen, cause he arrived yesterday at IFK Luleås rival Boden for a trial: http://www.svenskalag.se/news.asp?teamID=5094&newsID=356562

There was actually two guys from Luleå who was Ingemar Ek and Kjell Wahlberg who are both in the IFK Luleå board I think. The third one was from Boden and was invited as an instructor at the academy.

 

Talked to Sanner yesterday. He signed for rest of season with Boden BK and is starting up top today with Lester Dewey, another American from DC United. Boden is fighting to stay in Division 2 (tier 4) and Sanner said he's excited to help save the town's team from relegation. He expects to play well enough to move up a tier (or two) next season. He loved meeting the IFK Lulea guys at the combine in NYC, but said this was a chance to play immediately in life and death games.

 

Matt played the full game today against Skogså (who play 2 division below us) and unfortunately we lost the game 0-1 after dominating the whole game. Matt was our best player today and he started as a striker in the 1st half and had 2 great scoring chances which the keeper had to make some great saves on. In the 2nd half we made some changes in the team and Matt played as a central midfielder for most of the 2nd half and didn't impress as much in that position.

All in all I think the club is very happy with him so far and he seems to be a great guy outside of the pitch aswell, he's getting along with everyone just fine and seems like he could be a great addition to our squad.

 

The signing was today officially announced by the club: http://www.svenskalag.se/news.asp?teamID=5094&newsID=357819

He will stay until the end of the season in October to start with, but from what I've seen of Matt so far I would not be surprised if the club would like to keep him for next season if he does well during the coming months, of course depending on what level we'll be playing at then since we're currently facing relegation.

 

Matt Sanner made his real debut for Boden today when we beat Morön away 4-1 and recorded our 2nd straight win after only having one win in the first half of the season. Sanner made a huge impact right away playing up front with fellow american Lester Dewee. Sanner scored the opening goal for us, but also had one ball in the net before that which was disallowed (questionable) for offside. In the 2nd half Sanner had an assist to our second goal and Lester Dewee scored our last 2 goals. Sanner once again showed amazing work rate and his biggest strength is that he makes the other players much better. Dewee for example hasn't had a very good year so far, but the two games he's played along with Sanner he's been playing so much better.

 

Oh and I forgot, I did a video interview with Matt after the game: http://www.svenskalag.se/news.asp?teamID=5094&newsID=359800

 

Matt picked up another goal and an assist in our big 4-2 win at home over Assi tonight. Yet another good performance from him as he once again started up front with Lester Dewee, a duo I don't think the coach will split up anytime soon. This win means we move up two positions in the table. On saturday we have our longest away trip of the season when we play Strömsberg away.

 

Sanner was back in the lineup last weekend when we beat Robertsfors 2-0 at home. Despite not being in the scoring sheet, Matt recieved the man of the match award because of his hard work on the pitch. He had quite a few chances to score during the game, but failed to put one away this time. This also strenthens my view of Matt so far, he's not a big goalscorer, but a player who works hard and makes his teammates better.

 

Matt got his first 2 goals in a month today when we beat Hudiksvall 3-1 at home. He scored the first two goals and was involved in our third goal aswell after shooting for what ended up being a rebound that went in. He's one of our best players game after game and has proved to be a great signing for us.

 

Since last update we've had a 1-1 draw away to league leaders Skellefteå where Matt had an assist to our game-tying goal. Today we beat Mariehem at home 4-2 and Matt scored the first goal of the game, which means he's up to 5 goals and 4 assists in 8 games!