Marcelo Kobistyj - Argentine Defender on Trial

[Blacksheep]

Info on defender on trial with DC

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2201-2005Mar2.html

[tmas]

Any info on one of our final two candidates?

[GrillMaster]

33, yuck. Well, I guess one could expect two years from a defender at that age who had maintained his fitness well over the course of his career. Any ideas on how to pronounce the guy's last name: Kobistyj ?

GM

[CHICO13]

I seem to remember him knocking in a header against Boca a few seasons back. Tall, rangy player but I'm with the Gman. 33 is too old to break into MLS as a defender. It'll take him at least 3/4 of the season to adjust to the speed of the league. But what the hell do I know? Nowak's the man....

[Knave]

33?

33!

33 ... :(

[NattyBo]

Yikes.

[United_Caps_Fan]

33?

33!

33 ... :(

GOD that makes me feel old. :eek:

[McOwen]

Perhaps he just heard about the Adu conspiracies and is lying about his age to play it cool? :D

[URwormfood]

42<---- key

~~Worm~~

[elconejito]

Im a bit put off by the age too, but I trust in Nowak & Co...

[Zman Gunner]

I'd rather end up with Vanney than a 33 year old who has been playing in the Italian and Spanish 2nd divisions the past few yaers and failed in a trial with Vanney's Bastia team in early 2004.

[Jose L. Couso]

In Nowak we trust.

[doctorjim]

I hope this guy is terrific. And we won't know for at least a little while. At the same time, the fact that the best DC management can do so far is a trial for a 33-year old who played in the Spanish second division last year and, I presume, is now out of contract hints that finding help overseas may be a lot more difficult than anyone imagined.

[Sundevil9]

I hope that at age 33, this guy is option #2 or lower. At that age you figure he may have one or two seasons in him. Especially when you consider that MLS is a summer league, and very hard on a player's fitness.

But then again, maybe he'll come in pretty cheap, and having a countryman around could help keep Gomez perked up.

[fatbastard]

I love it, the metrotards are excited about a 37-year-old, and we're mortified that someone as old as 33 is being considered :)

[TEConnor]

How old was Lubos Kubik when he joined Chicago in 1998?

I do not worry about age for a central defender as much as most any other field position. The key qualities that this guy must have can still be there at 33. In some ways he could be at just the right point in his career for what we need. We need a guy who has no "development" curve. We can't wait for that.

What does concern me is his last gig. I can understand that there could be some really good defenders in the Spanish second division but that does cast doubt on which side of the peak we are seeing him at.

Cheers,
Tim

[Liverpool_SC]

I love it, the metrotards are excited about a 37-year-old, and we're mortified that someone as old as 33 is being considered :)
Good point. 33 is not ancient for a centerback. Granted we are a warm climate Summer league and that might impose an additional challenge even on exceptional players of an advanced age, but all over the world there are (or have been until very recently) stellar defensive players who were effective at this age.

Thurem, Maldini, Cafu (I know, he is not really a defensive player), Campo and Hierro (still playing at EPL level for a good team), Desailly (until this year), Stam, Montero . . .

Center-backs can play well into their late 30s if they are positionally sound and have a speedy partner or two (like Namoff), or good support from defensive midfielders in front of them.

Also - I think that we tend to put too much emphasis on finding a really athletic guy for this spot. Ezra Hendrickson was much faster than Ryan Nelsen and he did not play the position that well at all last season. Nelsen was not that fast. He was sure, he was well-positioned, etc. But he is not a terribly fast player.

I think that Nowak is far more concerned with finding a player who is positionally sound, fairly comfortable with the ball at his feet and decent at comfortable playing ball forward/getting more involved in linking play than Petke, Namoff or Prideux.

Those are areas that Nellie's de facto replacement last season (Hendricksen) was fairly weak in (except maybe ball at feet). And they are areas that Petke is only average in, although Wanker really turned in a great performance in his better role outside (with the exception of a few games a third of the way through).

If you look at some of the effective organizing centerbacks early in MLS - Vermes and Kubik in the early years and Agoos and Fraser more recently - it becomes evident that Nellie was much more the exception than the rule.

[DCAustinite]

Who is our backup to petke right now? Stokes? We need Depth, even if it's not the greatest. Does anybody know if Arthur Numan is still being considered? I remember rumors about his 2 years ago. He's a bit like Stam.

[The Cold Sea]

Yikes.
Yes, 33 can be old, but is it in his case? I try not to venture down the road of age determining a player's quality. I mean, by that analysis I should have jumped for joy to get Kenny ArenA. I didn't. I should feel comforted by David Stokes patrolling my back line. I don't.

[SteveWWJ]

An older article, with pic of the guy... nice Cliff Huxtable sweater.

http://hoy.eplatenses.com.ar/96/10/19/cla2y3-2_f.html

Another pic farther down the page:

http://hoy.eplatenses.com.ar/96/11/13/cla2y3-1_f.html