David Bingham, a local kid, evidently has a multi-year deal with Cagliari. He's 18, had a tryout over the summer and got a deal. He's from the same high school as Kyle Davies who signed with Southampton last year. http://www.insidebayarea.com/prepsports/ci_7588471 http://www.insidebayarea.com/prepsports/ci_7588471
Nice catch. Here is some background info: David was first noticed by Cagliari last year while he was playing at nationals with his Mustang club team in North Carolina. He's in discussions with Cagliari, as well as UC Berkeley, which is his top collegiate choice. ... David went to Italy and practiced with Cagliari’s lower (second) team during the first month of last summer. He played three games with the team, starting the last two and playing the second half of the first game. He helped the team win two of the three games. ... David is working on getting a dual citizenship from Spain because Cagliari requires all of its players to be a citizen from any part of Europe. He is working on getting his dual citizenship so if Cagliari offers him a spot then he will be able to quickly accept it. Link: http://my.highschooljournalism.org/ca/sanramon/chs/article.cfm?eid=9906&aid=150341
It will be interesting to follow this guy compared to other US keepers. He's an 89 so he's eligible for the next U-20's. I cant believe the article didn't have his height.
Shouldn't it read a Yank is headed to a soon to be Serie B club? I confess I know nothing about this young guy but he must have some talent given that he's soon to be a professional and the likes of 14 D-1 schools were chasing him. I wish David the best and I will be keeping an eye on him. Caliguri have produced some decent talent over the last few years.
Patrick Mboma and Gianfranco Zola, to name only two off the top of my head. Bingham could do worse. Edit: I'd be interested to hear how he qualifies for a Spanish passport.
Interesting. I have to wonder where they would put him when he arrives. I would guess that he will start with the Primavera team, since he's still only 18. At the moment Cagliari's starting keeper is the 33-year-old Marco Fortin. Then they have a Slovenian named Jan Koprivec (19 yrs old) who is listed as a first team player, but has been the starting keeper for the Primavera team lately. He could end up being Bingham's main competition early on. But then again if you look at their Primavera team roster you'll see that there are already four other keepers on the squad. So who knows? It's probably still too early to say. It's strange, because lately Cagliari has been looking towards CONCACAF for goalkeepers. Anyone remember just a couple years ago when they were looking at buying Panama's national team keeper Jamie Penedo. Apparantely they came to their senses, because the guy is horrible.
Not surprising that Cagliari signed him. The owner has a house in Miami and spends a lot of time in the USA. He probably has a few scouts around the states.
Pretty much. Many of the Italian players love Miami, Del Piero, Maldini, Nesta, just to name a few. I'm pretty sure if the Miami Fusion were still around many Italian players would want to go end their careers there.
I recall a funny bit from Dennis Bergkamp's retirement match, which took place in June. Dennis picked up a microphone after the match and said, "I want to thank Patrick Vieira for coming back from Florida".
He signed a letter of intent with Cal-Berkeley so either he's going to go the college route or he's using it as leverage/a back-up in dealing with pro teams. http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/020608aaa.html Cal, while a great school and a fun place to live and a very good soccer program, is a bit of an odd choice for him since he probably won't play much next year. Stefan Frei, Cal's starting GK last year who is a rising redshirt Jr., was an NSCAA first-team All America last year. If Frei uses all his college eligibility, Bingham could be sitting the bench for two college seasons since he likely isn't beating out an upperclassman who is an AA. http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/121707aaa.html
If I had a chance to go to UC Berkeley I would take it with both hands. If he redshirts he can still play 3 years once Frei leaves.
Interesting. But didn't Kenny Cooper sign a letter of intent with SMU, only to bail out at the last minute when Man Utd came calling?
Yeah, great school and cool environment. But the hippy chicks not shaving and all the homeless people and various other wannabes can get on your nerves after awhile. This is true. Hell, Kevin Hartman and Matt Reis each only started one season at UCLA and they've gone on to have great, and long, pro careers. Yes, which is why I suggested he might be using it as leverage and/or a safety net. Incidentally, don't be surprised if the this Frei kid that Bingham will be backing up if he matriculates someday becomes a Yank Abroad. Of course, first he has to become a Yank. He may already be one, but he was born in Switzerland to Swiss parents. I don't know when he came to the US, but his Cal bio says he played four years of HS soccer here, so it was, at the latest, 9th grade. He's 6-3, has a European passport, has a good college pedigree and plays at a program that has seen several kids (Jacobson and Purdy come to mind immedaitely) pass on MLS to sign in Europe. Here is Frei's Cal bio. http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/mtt/frei_stefan00.html
Psssht! Obviously I'm not from Cali but if you have major problems if you can't get ladies while you're at Cal-Berkeley. According to list of organizations on Wikipedia they have a decent greek life system going on. Oakland is 15 min away, San Francisco is 25 min away, beach 30 min. San Jose is not that far and there are loads of colleges in that area. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Universities_and_colleges_in_the_San_Francisco_Bay_Area If you're having problems there then you aint got no game!!!
hey, look at me. I'm nitpicking. there's a tri valley herald and a valley times. but nothing called the Tri Valley Times exists, and there certainly isn't a All-Tri Valley Times team. I'm just saying. ok. done. sorry.