Chris Rodd, an all-WCC defender who just finished his senior season at the University of San Francisco, has signed with Bryne FK of the Norwegian 2nd division. His USF bio: http://usfdons.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/mtt/rodd_chris00.html
The guy is 6'3" ... perfect for Norway. Bryne finished 6th in the 16 team Adeccoligaen in 2007, two spots up on Cam Weaver's Haugesund and one spot ahead of Brian Waltrip's Sogndal. The two Yanks had 7 goals each for their respective clubs.
Finally, a player signing! Haven't heard of this guy, but another guy playing professionaly is always good.
USF cratered this year, which is why Valentino is the guy to keep an eye on. With him - top WCC team, without him, second-to-last. I'm glad to see Valentino is leaving - he already proved himself over three brilliant years and the unfortunate timing of his knee injury should not stop him from making his move. He is a 6'3 defender who can score and who improved every year at USF. If MLS ignores him because of his injury, they will be making a big mistake. Assuming his knee does not have any serious complications, he is, IMO, MLS starter quality and a potential name to keep in mind for the nats. Rodd was more of a borderline prospect I think, and MLS was never going to get into any kind of bidding war for him. I wouldn't be surprised if he does well, but I'd much rather see MLS get Valentino.
He's one of the only guys still on college that I think still has a shot (although the odds are against him) at making the 2008 Olympic team.
The former standout at San Ramon Valley High School and USF signed a three-year contract with Bryne FK, which plays in Norway's second-highest division, last month. His base salary is in the six-figure range and his contract includes a few incentives that could push his income up another $100,000 or more. Good for him. Far more than MLS would have offered.
At this point, I'd look at Rodd as an athlete, who'll have to learn the pro game from scratch. He's a 6'3" central defender and probably more than capable of holding his own in a dead sprint. After that, you have to learn how to play the spot. Some players make that transition, some are not as lucky. Nat Borchers was a decent MLS defender but has been a disappoinment in Norway. Off the clips that I've seen, he just doesn't read the game as well as he should and that's the most important part of playing that position.
Rodd has also played as a defensive midfielder in college I believe, but he has never put up much offensive stats. I think comparisons to Borchers (who also played as a d-mid in college) might be fairly apt, although I'm not familiar enough with Rodd to be sure. I am pretty stunned that the pay would be that high in the Norwegian Second Division. If they can really pay that, they have almost their pick of the college senior crop. Given that, I'm not sure Rodd would have been my first choice.
Yeah but to get that you have to move to Norway. Appeling in some ways but it's not what most people had in their life plan.
well bigger decond divison teams inn Norway can pay well, they usaly hope to advance and then they need qualite players and to get them you have to pay. to the above poster what woude you think woude be the largest negatie thing for a footballer to move to Norway ? just wondering woude be nice to hear how folkes seem my country from the outside
Rodd has the EU passport. I think he was kidding ... but the basic response would be -- brrrr ... coldddddddd...
well if i remember correctly bryne only has 2 nonEU players inn the squad, and they can play 3 at one time so that shudent be a problem. but then maybe they are planning oter signeings to.
Nice catch, thanks for posting. Interesting sidenote there about Valentino. I assume from the way it is written (but could be wrong) that he could have taken a redshirt and returned next year but will move on. Wonder how bad his injury is now. MLS could perhaps have had Charlie Davies if they had signed him after his "lost" injury year at BC. He got healthy, had a great last season and left the country. But I have no idea how much they might want Valentino.
In this case, it might work out for MLS, because he might not be fit enough to do any overseas trials. Hopefully an astute MLS team will draft him on what he's already done. Yes, he could have taken this as a redshirt year, but he had already been the WCC Player of the Year as a Junior. Frankly, I was quite surprised MLS didn't try to sign him last year (or maybe they did try).
His personal life away from football. It's cold, very far from home, not well known to americans and isn't one of the main tourist countries that americans most desire to visit. I'm sure it's a nice country with it's own perks but it takes alot to move to another country and often money isn't enough.
true true, and depending on were he is from inn the us it is probebly much colder here, but Bryne is inn the souther part of norway so hopefully that helps a bit
Re: Rodd, Good for him. That money was never coming his way as an MLS rookie. Heck, odds are he was looking at a developmental salary so to make six figs instead, is pretty much a no-brainer. I also agree that if the Norwegian leagues start looking here for college talent, they will almost always win a bidding war. Maybe not for the high-end college talent that MLS will be willing to shell out for, but for mid-level guys, like Rodd, the money disparity is just too great. Yeah, Norway is far away from family and friends, the games aren't on TV and it's cold. But six figs in Norway beats 18K in Columbus almost any day. Re: Valentino, It's very interesting he's bypassing his final season of eligibility. I wonder if he'll sign a Generation Adidas deal. Even though this is his senior year, he has that year of eligibility remaining and that's what GA is for. There is also precedence for this, though it goes back a bit. Antonio Otero missed his fourth season at American U back in 98 after blowing out his knee with the U23 team and rather than return for what would have been his redshirt senior year, he signed a Project 40 deal. If he's GA, Valentino is a first round pick, injury or no. If he's just in the draft with all the other seniors, I still think he goes no lower than the early part of the third round. Remember, John Doyle, who runs soccer operations for the Earthquakes, is a 6-3 centerback who played at San Francisco. I suspect he'll be interested. And Dominic Kinnear has all sorts of contacts in the Bay area and even after the move to Houston still drafts a lot of kids from that part of the country. If he is going the MLS route, I think Valentino will still be picked high.
FWIW, a quick reminder is that the Norwegian leagues do play a spring-to-fall schedule much like MLS. Their season also has fewer games than most countries with only 26 matches in their top league (Tippeligaen). Chris has an English passport, so this could be a decent pathway toward a career there.
As the guy living in Trondheim stated, I will be stunned if he is going to make that much. I'm interested in what his base salary is, and what "incentives" could push his salary that high. For comparison, in Sweden the vast majority of second division players work part-time. Even the top division two players will not make $100,000. Heck, even a number top flight players in Sweden don't make $100,000.
Note to mods: Please delete my above post. No way. Either this information is flat out false or these "incentives" are completely unrealistic targets that make up the large part of his salary. The average wage for a player on a mid-level team in the Swedish top flight in 2004 was ~$55,000. That is using the current exchange rate. This number has probably increased slightly since 04', but not much. http://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/fotboll/allsvenskan/article252117.ab And that is the top flight. I know most second division players work part-time. And Norwegian salaries for footballers are comparable to Sweden. Heck, even a number top players in the first division don't make $100,000.
I have been told in the past by my Scandi friends that Swedish league has well capitalized clubs in the top four or five spots but Norway has money in the premier league from top to bottom. There's a lot of money thrown at football there. If this club is pushing for promotion then it may not be that far off - especially if he's paid on a 12 month contract as opposed to seven (just the season).
not sure what your friends told you, but i still think $100,00 is way off what he will earn. the numbers reflect that from the article i posted. and it's reliable as salaries are public information in sweden.. even if what you said is true about norway's money being more fairly spread between the clubs, the average wage from the biggest spending club in the swedish top flight in 2004 was $70,000 (Malmö FF). i'm not sure if norway has more money from top to bottom. it could be true, but it would surprise me. the swedish league is notorious for it's parity, and one of the knocks against the league is that they don't normally have a powerhouse club that can throw around cash and compete in european football (i.e. rosenborg in norway, fc kopenhamn in denmark, etc). rosenborg didn't do well domestically this year, as they notoriously dominate but that was more a glitch in the matrix, but we've seen their potential in europe. but despite that, the numbers i posted show how unrealistic his salary is.