Looks like he is off to France and Germany for a few trials, but is maintaining his college eligibility just in case. "Right now I'm going to make a couple stops in Europe. College definitely isn't over for me; I plan on graduating at some point in my life. I'm not sure if it's going to take four years or 24 years, whatever it takes. For now I'm taking my spring quarter off at UCLA, so no eligibility lost there. I'm paying my way to France and Germany so, again, no eligibility lost there. I'm keeping everything eligible so I can have a chance to go back next season and hopefully win a national championship." http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ht...ng_up_with_local_product.html?syndication=rss
I agree. In the interview he says that he knows it is difficult to break into the European leagues and that MLS is an option and that he isn't excluding any possibilities. Surely a wise approach on his part. And when the worst possibility is to live in LA and play another year for a very good UCLA team, things are looking good.
Rowe is a legitimate number 10 type. Lets see how this turns out. It is great that he is keeping his eligibility.
He's being smart about it which is good. He hasn't messed up his eligibility hopefully he does well during his trials. If not he has another year of college and the MLS draft.
France and Germany ehhh. Well I want him to go to a club where he will actually play, so then I guess I'll root for France. I can't imagine he'd get first team on any Bundesliga clubs, and realistically maybe a mid to low table French team he could play for. It'd be nice to know which clubs rather than just stabbing blindly in the dark.
I'm thinking that his trials may tend to be in the lower divisions. But, I would not be surprised if he got trials with a 1st division team.
I wonder if Montreal having next year's #1 pick will come into play at all. Perhaps a player like Rowe might think if he has to live in foreign-language environment, he might as well go to Europe. Certainly, there is no guarantee he would go #1 next draft. I would freaking love to live in Montreal, but American provincialism has definitely helped MLS keep more players in the US, so I guess they have to accept the flip-side as well.
I don't really think that is a factor at all. You can get around Montreal just fine speaking only English and the culture is distinct obviously, but nowhere near as foreign as France or Europe.
I wasn't that impressed with him. He had some nice goals in one of the games, but looks small, slow, and weak. Obviously soccer isn't all about size, strength, and speed, but a player's upside is limited without those things. To me he looked like a guy who was on the team more because of his skill and less because of his pure athletic gifts. I don't know if that's the best recipe for pro success, but I hope he proves me wrong.
This is the first time I've heard somebody say that an American player was only on the team because of his skill.
They are actually both quite athletic in my opinion. Great balance, endurance, coordination. They wouldn't be able to use their skill to extent that they do without their physical attributes. There is a reason a player like Riquelme struggled in Spain while these two thrive.
what? Riquelme was great at Villarreal? His problem at Barca is that they played him out wide... And did not build the team around him Rowe looked a smart player on my limited viewings but who knows how he will work
Xavi routinely covers the most ground of any player on the field. Both players score off the charts in small space agility tests. It truly is a shame US Soccer does not have more of that type of athlete.
I can't decide if you're being sarcastic here. Do we really need to highlight all the big stars that are filled with skill and mediocre athletic gifts?