I think we had a trialist thread last year when we saw players from ever corner of the world. I don't remember any of it really materialized, but it will be fun to track them for this season too. Does anyone know any of these players? According to Centerline, we have: Ancil Farrier - Trinidadian defender who went to Southern Connecticut State Will Beague - Forward from Algonquin College. Warren Ukah - Forward who played with the Atlanta Silverbacks in the USL-1 last year. Had no goals in two games, but had five goals each of the two previous seasons. San Reynolds - Goalkeeper who was with Chivas USA last year. Andrew Weber - No, not the award-winning composer, but the goalkeeper who was on the books of the Montreal Impact last year, and basically spent the season backing up Matt Jordan. Had a cup of coffee with D.C. United a few years ago. Matt Watson - English forward who played in the USL-1 last year with the Carolina Railhawks. Scored one goal in 25 games. Alfonso Montagalvan - Midfielder from UCSB, who hails from nearby Gilroy. Scored four goals in 22 matches this past season. Jesus Flores - 21-year-old Mexican midfielder who was with Hungarian side F.C. Tatabanya last year. Yes, bizarre. Even more bizarre is that Tatabanya’s manager is none other than Octavio Zambrano, who once managed the L.A. Galaxy and the MetroStars. Matt Murphy - Cal-Irvine midfielder/forward who had 11 goals and eight assists last season.
Have only seen Warren Ukah play. He looked sort of fruitless when I saw him, I think two years ago. Sort of like Kamara in that way. We will probably have an El Salvadorian trialist sometime this week, who I am very familiar with. I'll tell you more about this guy if he does indeed get a trial.
This is a little bit intriguing, as they say "on paper." Young and yet played abroad, which may translate to a mature 21 emotionally and showing he's devoted to a soccer career. Played in Europe which shows he might transition to an MLS playing style well while still having some of that Mexican technical ability. He may want to be located closer to home. Perhaps still young enough for our coaches to bring him along over 1-2 years? It sure seems from last year's group of players where we look for someone to bring along that Somma has stuck and will be a bona fide member of our team this year. sko16... El Salvadoran player plays what position?
Just to be extra-sure to give our friends at centerline full credit (and hits), here is the direct link: Carlilse's story on trialists at centerlinesoccer.com.
Striker, but he can also play attacking midfielder. I think his prospects of joining might have been hurt by the Quakes signing Quincy.
??Is this linkable? Or something you know but can't "show"? (If linkable, I'll go update the roster thread right away.)
Oops, I guess Quincy hasn't signed. Maybe my friend will get a chance after all. No links sorry. This forward will be playing for El Salvador against Peru next Friday I believe.
Haha. TheBaySoccer seems to go through a lot of editing issues too. I first saw the story about the first training session, it said they were signed. They it was completely off the site. Then back on with only the interviews working. Then today I look and the article has been tweaked, saying the draft picks werent signed.....weird.
If anyone speaks Hungarian. Here is a link to 21 year old Mexican trialist Jesus Flores Hungarian team. http://www.tatabanyafc.hu/index.php?page=player_136_hu
They have another Mexican: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Pérez_'Kichi' 19 goals. Why aren't we looking at him?
And to add insult to injury, his wiki page says: "This biographical article related to Mexican Association football is a stub."
The El Salvadorian midfielder is going to LA on Monday to try and earn a spot on the El Salvadorian National Team for the match against Peru and will be gone for most of this coming week.
I posted this in the Roster Thread, but thought it would fit here as well. Quakes notes: Progress on a stadium? (down at the bottom). These are the trialists who made it through the tryouts and into camp: Kenichi Nishihara (D) (Foothill College, Japanese?) Ricky Vargas (M) (Holy Names University, local) Shintaro Harada (D) (USL 2, Crystal Palace Baltimore, Japanese?) Kenichi had 4 goals and nine assists for Foothill last season! Ricky mad the California Pacific Conference All-conference First Team, and is listed as 6'2" or 6'3"! Shintaro is 28 years of age, has several years of experience in the J-League, and made the USL Second Division All-League First-Team last year! Diamonds in the Rough?
While very funny, the question marks have to do with citizenship as dealt with in the Roster Thread. Shintaro Harada has a J-league background, so Japanese yes, but greencard? Kenichi Nishihara played at Foothill, so I'm not sure about his citizenship rights. There are plenty of Asian names in the greater Bay Area, and most are US born citizen. My family included.
I had checked for both on google. The Palo Alto paper said that Nishihara was from Fukuoka, i.e., Japan born, a Japanese national. Likewise Harada is a Japanese national, so neither of them are JA's. If we are trying to find out whether they are international player candidates or green-card holders, or even US citizens, that's another question.