Re: Brian "Cobi" Span Training With Örebro SK It became clear today in interviews that the Djurgården manager intends to continue playing with inverted wingers this season so like he said in the video above Span will mostly compete for a place on the left wing against Sebastian Rajalakso.
Exciting prospect for the future of the USMNT. Hope he gets plenty of pt for his first season and stays healthy.
I agree, I think he has good potential and the Swedish league has been good to Nats in terms of development. Hope he has a good 2 years before moving on to a bigger club in a bigger league.
I also agree. His size, skills & pace make him to be a very intriguing prospect. Along with other good prospects in Sweden like Schuler and Dewee.
Fotbolldirekt posted an interview with Span today, here's some of the things he had to say: "Things feel really good. Before I had to mix playing football with studying in college. Now it's all football which allows me to focus completely on becoming a better player. The difference in playing style is that here you work more on technique and your positioning while the US is more about speed and physicality. The swedish style suits me well. My strengths are my technique and being good one-on-one. I've also got a good shot. I don't know how long it will take me to adapt since we haven't played any games yet, but I develop every day and keep getting better. It might take some time before I reach my full potential. I know I have big expectations that I should live up to Charlie Davies status. You feel the pressure. But I will continue to do my best and work hard to be a good football player for Djurgården."
Thanks for the quotes iamfred! Wow, amazed at the kind of impression that CD left in Sweden. I can understand that Billy Schuler has to live up to it but Span doesn't even play for Hammerby. Pretty cool but also makes me sad.
Imalfred, somewhat off topic could you remind us why Djurgardens passed on Agbossoumonde? From what I remember he was regarded an impressive talent, undermined by poor concentration and a not-very-stellar attitude. That's what I remember, but I could well be wrong. It's not like that hasn't happened before
He started of well but his performances got worse after that and then when the manager benched him for turning up late the team suddenly started winning after a horrible start to the season and I don't think he played again after that. I don't know if his concentration was the problem but he did have the unfortunate habit of making blunders of the more spectacular kind. This happened in the U21-games too so it wasn't really a case of the level of play being too high or anything like that, they were more of his own doing. We also have another central defender of the same age who performed slightly better (or at least in a more stable way) so it probably didn't make much sense to pay a transfer fee for something you already kind of have.
Djurgården played their first preseason game today which resulted in a 1-2 loss against IK Sirius. Unfortunaly I didn't watch the game but according to reports Span played the second half and had a really good game. Svenskafans gave him a 3/5 rating praising his speed and talent but also hoping that he will improve his defense. Here's a few more short comments about Spans performance from the forum: Brian himself commented after the game: "I thought I played pretty well today. I created some chances for the team which is my job. To put in crosses and get the ball to my teammates in the penalty area. We came out with alot of energy in the second half, even if they scored a couple of goals the feeling was still positive. They had a strong defense and were good in the air. But if you look at the game and not the result then we were the better team."
Yeah, left wing in a 4-2-3-1 formation. One final thing to report about the game, I just watched the post-game interview with the manager and he also said that Span was his man of the match together with the new brazilian striker Ricardo Santos.
It's a longshot, considering the short time frame and all the competition he has. It's much more important for him to establish himself at Djurgardens. He's one of those players who can either way- stay as a journeyman or lower Euro leagues vagabond, or... emerge as a potent offensive weapon who can contribute to the USMNT. His size and athleticism make him an intriguing prospect.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKIOj7-KHaw"]Brian "Cobi" Span Interview + Goal Against Aalborg - YouTube[/ame] Yeah, he played the first 70 minutes and received some very positive reviews after the game. In the other matches played so far besides this one and the first one I reported about he has been more subdued in his performances, but that's normal for a young player and he has made a good impression overall on the fans. Unfortunaly I have only been able to watch one game so far this preseason in which Span only played one half and barely touched the ball so I can't personally give very detailed accounts on how I think he has looked.
Cobi played the full 90 minutes today as Djurgården beat a danish second division side 3-0. The club is currently at training camp in Marbella, Spain. Like I wrote earlier I have unfortunaly not been able to watch much of the preseason this year. Here's how Spans playing time has looked in the games Djurgården played so far: Code: 120128 1-2 vs. Sirius 45 minutes 120203 1-1 vs. Brommapojkarna 38 minutes 120209 1-0 vs. Finland XI 45 minutes 120211 1-0 vs. HJK Helsinki 30 minutes 120214 4-2 vs. Nike Academy (U21) 70 minutes SCORED GOAL 120217 2-3 vs. GIF Sundsvall 20 minutes 120225 2-0 vs. Aalborg 70 minutes SCORED GOAL 120226 2-1 vs. Vasalund (U21) not in squad 120303 4-0 vs. Vålerenga 10 minutes 120307 1-2 vs. Aalesund 0 minutes 120310 3-0 vs. FC Vestsjælland 90 minutes He's had some "luck" in that the first choice on the left wing Sebastian Rajalakso has been unavailable in some games but Span has also been performing well according to reports. The season starts on March 31st for Djurgården with a difficult away game against Elfsborg.
Thanks and he's a prospect to watch out for in the next few years will see how it goes for him. Let's hope for the best for this kid.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My5E58ufquU"]Brian "Cobi" Span Interview In Spain - YouTube[/ame] Span was outside of the gameday squad for Djurgårdens 1-1 draw against Malaga, but here's a new video interview.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma-xLpaKiac"]08Fotboll Discuss Brian "Cobi" Span & Manager Comments On His Preaseason - YouTube[/ame] Here's a video with people talking about the latter part of Cobis preseason.
Is it me or does Sweden have an extraordinarily long preseason? It feels like this thread has been featuring reports of preseason matches against second-tier Danish opposition for nine or ten months, minimum....
People over here do refer to it as the longest preseason in the world The actual season does however start on saturday with the first round of the league, so no more preseason reports after that.