Are folks ever going to over the league comparisons and focus on the players situation. Hamid had clubs in “better” leagues interested but he chose Midtjylland. This is what he thinks he needs at this point in his career and I don’t disagree. http://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-t...dtjylland-in-denmark-after-dc-united-farewell "I was going to be a No. 2 at [Eintracht] Frankfurt, and I didn't know if I would have preferred that. But this is an opportunity to walk in, be a starter and continue playing, which is important," he said. "Part of it is definitely about the national team," Hamid added. "Part of it is also about the fact that I've never lived anywhere else the rest of my life. "Hopefully if I can take another jump from there within the next year or two, then I can solidify that spot and be a part of that three [with the U.S.]. If there is a bias or discrimination, it’s because it has been very rare for an MLS player to be prepared to contribute at that level right away. Tim Howard is a good example of that. He moved at 24 and think he was better then than Hamid now at 27. I think Man United and Tim Howard would both like a do over on that deal. Howard wasn’t ready to play for a top team and it was ultimately found out. He went from a great first year story, to splitting time with a GK that wasn’t at the level of the league, to ManU signing a top 10 GK and him sitting for a whole season. Btw... They seem to be loving our kids that they can get at 18 or younger and develop them themselves.
Funny you should mention Howard at Man U, because the keeper he was splitting time with was Roy Carroll who also left Man U to become 1st keeper for a year or so at both West Ham and then Derby in the EPL before then moving to Denmark to play for OB Odense only a few years after leaving Man U ... he btw became 'Keeper of the Year' 2009 in Danish football. Carroll was also the reason why Anders Lindegaard left Odense to not long after become Man U keeper in 2010.
bottomline: saied: left unprotected in expansion draft, jettisoned by expansion team that was historically sucking....allowed to leave by latest mls team...journeyman MLSer. Hamid: former GK of year, MLS team so desperately wanted to keep him that they pettily benched him when a bundesliga scout was in attendance...offered him +2 million dollar contract, multiple caps with usmnt (and shouldve been more if playing time was based on ability and not "name recognition" as both guzan and howard are past it) both signing in same league is a little odd to me....and, again, not trying to bash denmark...but clearly there are other leagues that are higher up on the totem pole of world leagues that hamid could play in.
Yeah I gotta say that was incredibly petty of the club especially since they needed Hamid in goal during that time. But yeah 3 year deal worth $2.1 million in total. That's a huge amount for a keeper in MLS
Ultimately he chose soccer over money. He aspires to get to the next level, and play for the UMSNT team. He could have easily went for the money and take it easy in the MLS, like so many other 'former' USMNT stars. Mad respect to Hamid.
I have investigated a bit into the $2.1 million deal, and found it to be based on rumours ... if he ever was offered that much at one point, the offer was clearly off the table by the time he was negotiating a deal with Midtjylland.
League quality is not stationary, especially not in Europe where lots and lots of young players constantly move from league to league and there suddenly can be a drop in talent from one year to the next ... if you look at the past 3 years Europa Cup performance, then the Danish Superliga is the 11th best league in Europe, while the Dutch league has dropped to being in 13th place, probably due to loss of talent ...: https://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/data/method5/crank2020.html Question is also if Hamid actually had an offer from a "better" league, or that he just do not want to move to a place like Russia, Ukraine or Turkey where most people do not speak a word of English and the culture is vastly different to what he is used to ... and where you actually also kind of drop off the radar, because it's in the outskirts of Europe ... for to be honest ... Danish players do not move to these leagues either because they know the NT coach won't have time to visit there and the media is not really interested either...
According to quote I posted above, he had an offer or at least interest from a Bund club, but was likely to be the #2 which one can understand why he didn’t want to go down that path at his age.
Why did they need to play him ? 2nd last game of the season (iirc) and they couldn't make the playoffs.
Yeah I believe it was Frankfurt. Their no.1 is the no.1 for Finland and has been there for going on 3 years now. Maybe he might have had to wait patiently to compete with him, but I can't imagine he was a Neuer in such that Hamid would never be able to play (like Reina when he was at Munich).
Frankfurt isn’t Man United, but one mistake is all it took for people to turn on Howard. His confidence was crushed and his play suffered. Roy Carroll may have gone on to have a decent career, but he was barely EPL quality at the time and don’t think Man United ever considered him as a possible #1. FC Porto forward Benni McCarthy launched a seemingly nonthreatening injury time free kick right at Howard as young and little known coach Jose Mourinho looked on. Howard made a big error, dropping the routine catch, which allowed Ricardo Costinha to score the winning goal and sent Manchester United crashing out. While the incident was a career springboard for the brilliant Mourinho, it was the start of a tough time for Howard. United fans and media immediately turned on Howard with “Yanks a Lot Tim” and “The Yank is a Plank” being among the crueler headlines. Howard had been excellent at United, and even been voted Premier League Goalkeeper of the Year by the players themselves in the prestigious PFA awards. However, the Porto error led to a spell on the bench as Roy Carroll replaced him. Brave Howard battled back to reclaim his place by season’s end, picking up an FA Cup Winners Medal in the process. However, such is the tough nature of football. His difficult times were not over. In the next season, Howard made more errors and was never really forgiven by the United fanbase. Manchester United signed Edwin Van Der Sar, and Howard found himself down the Premier League food chain at Everton in 2006.
Damn that's crazy. One small mistake at a huge club dooms you forever in their eyes. But overall Howard showed his talent. Maybe not no.1 at United but he proved himself at Everton. Basically he could be no.1 for 10 years at a mid-tier club.
maybe they didnt NEED to play him as they really had nothing left to play for in 2017....no relegation really does make a lot of matches at the end on MLS season meaningless. but it was clearly spite as I dont think Hamid had ever been a healthy scratch in any recent seasons with Dc United before a bundesliga scout was in attendance to watch him.
Certainly reasonable though many of the fans would have preferred them not play Clark, much less signed him to begin with.
It's the former Brøndby keeper Lukáš Hrádecký who is 1st keeper at Frankfurt ... and he has made it quite clear that he won't be extending his contract but is leaving Frankfurt at the end of this season ... so he will be gone 6 month from now ... I believe he hope to find a club in England ...
Giving up a starting spot as a goalkeeper at a Bundesliga club to try and establish yourself somewhere else seems like a large gamble on yourself... No.1 GK jobs at that level are extremely hard to come by.
Never the less they have gone very far to keep him, but he has rejected all their offers ... at the start of this season he said that he want to play Europa Cup on a regular basis and he doubt this would happen with Frankfurt .. it should be said though, that it has become much easier for a team like Frankfurt to qualify for Europe because the top-4 German teams now qualify directly for Champions League, while number 5 and 6 qualify directly for Europa League. https://www.bold.dk/fodbold/nyheder/?vis=294176,281580,276253 https://www.bold.dk/fodbold/tyskland/bundesliga/
if the GK @ frankfurt is leaving....why didn't Hamid go there?? surely looks like he woulda had a chance to be the starter there......
it's America. everyone has a say. they just don't have rights Is he good enough to be a no.1 in the PL or simply cheap enough that a smaller club takes a chance on him?
He probably knew how keen Frankfurt were on keeping Hrádecký so signing with them would be quite risky if Hrádecký suddenly changed his mind. Truth is that Hrádecký is too good for a team like Frankfurt .. when he had just turned 20 he was already a huge talent and Man U were trying to sign him as replacemet for their reserve keeper Thom Heaton, but Hrádecký refused, stating that he would only sign with a team where he would be sure to be 1st keeper .. so he did not want to leave Denmark ... and then he went to Germany and Frankfurt in his mid 20's , where he also became an instant success ... he has now just turned 28, so he feel the need to move on to someting bigger than Frankfurt ..