News: MLS 2016 Season (other teams)

There is only so much sleuthing we fans can do, so I don't know why the Revs need to be like the Kremlin Politburo. Some day MLS will be big enough that it will be impossible to keep secrets. Well. MLS is starting to get that big, but if the Revs continue to shun any kind of attention, they will always be irrelevant.

If they are scouting in a "small" country, it might be easier to figure out who it might be. Let's say we found out Burns was on a flight to South Africa. There's probably a short list of guys who could play in MLS who might make a move. Factor in the positional need, and you can probably figure it out.

But if he's going to, say, France, there are a lot of "wish list" players way beyond our price range, but also a lot of guys playing at a lesser club than PSG who could be very good players for us. We got 2 guys from the Swiss league, so it wouldn't shock me to see them dip their fishing pole into that pond again.

Then again I figured out we were going to sign Steve Howey from the time I brought my cat to the vet's office, so anything is possible.

 

Surprised he didn't go to one of the expansion teams. They'd have given him more minutes.

 

Atlanta United FC signs Paraguayan midfielder Miguel Almiron - https://t.co/NWXQ5o9WYR pic.twitter.com/23GSvUwLeI

— SBI Soccer (@SBISoccer) December 5, 2016

Almiron transfer in perspective: Reported $8m fee is enough by itself to place Atlanta United in top third of #MLS spenders.

— Kyle McCarthy (@kylejmccarthy) December 5, 2016

 

Hearing from sources that @OttawaFuryFC poised to become USL affiliate for @impactmontreal, which will shutter @fcmontrealusl.

— Neil Morris (@ByNeilMorris) December 5, 2016

 

The big slightly obscured news in Atlanta's continual crushing of this off season is that they intend to spend in the Almiron's range again for their 3rd DP.

It feels like we are not even playing in the same league some times with how little new we have

 

Supposedly San Jose are down to 5 finalists for their vacant GM job.

Honest question: would the Revs even have 5 finalists for a vacant GM or coach position?

 

Maybe the fact that Atlanta's owner also owns an NFL team will eventually shame Mr Kraft into stepping up.

 

Looks like Atlanta is going all in with the South American strategy as they try and fill out the first years roster
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Atlanta United closing in on young trio from Newell’s Old Boys
http://www.dirtysouthsoccer.com/201...ta-united-newells-old-boys-loan-transfer-news

Valenzuela is an 18-year-old left back who has cracked into the first team at Newell’s this year. Valenzuela is a 21-year-old center back who was in the mix as a young player when Martino managed the squad in 2013 prior to leaving for Barcelona.

Joaquin Torres is a 19-year-old attacking central midfielder. He joined Newell’s when he was twelve years old after three trials against other talented young players at his age. He is small, fast, and has scored goals with the junior teams of the club.

These additions would be loans, with Atlanta United having an option to buy the players’ rights if they choose. There is another player, 21-year-old Franco Escobar, that Martino likes but Newell’s does not want to let him leave.

 

In Kraft's defence, Arthur Blank is hardly contributing any of his own money to build the new SphincterDome because the government down here can't give away our tax dollars to sports owners fast enough. So of course AUFC has more money to spend. Each new signing by AUFC could have been a new school or a bunch of playgrounds or public parks or pay raises for local police officers, but who needs that?

 

Or even won it with Cincy, just on a loan to a non-Rhinos club. After all we had roster spots open. It would have cost us nothing to have kept him and yet given him his wish of playing time by giving him a season long loan.
Now let's watch Steve Neumann head to some random USL club, light it up and return to MLS as a player with value.

 

But it was just "bad luck," I tell ya!

 

Fail, yes, epic, the jury's still out. Let's see how Okoli does against MLS competition -- he could be the equivalent of what they call in baseball a 4-A player -- good enough to be great against AAA, but not good enough in the majors.

We definitely aren't good at all when it comes to player development. While this would be helped by an effective Rochester pipeline, I'd argue that if there's an epic fail here, it's mostly on the part of Heaps for not cultivating what was there in Okoli as a player.

 

what harm is it in telling people that Burns and Heaps have scouted in say Belgium, Holland and France and are planning on going to Germany and finishing up on Switzerland? Stupid. Instead of trying to maintain interest with the fans by giving them a little crumb they try and alienate them by cutting them off from all information

 

Yeah, the Revs could have held on to him and loaned him out to Cincinnati or whoever else, but it seems that Okoli was probably looking to move anywhere from here. Heaps' stubborn insistence of playing a single striker meant that there were no minutes for a proven guy like Charlie Davies, much less a young guy trying to work his way in. The fact that Davies, a local guy with 2 infants needing medical care asked out of the place with perhaps the best medical facilities in the world says a lot.

 

Hard not to be impressed (at least on paper) with what Atlanta has done so far. Today it looks like they traded for an old friend that should be a steady piece for them in the back
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Sources have confirmed to Goal USA that Atlanta United has completed a trade with the Columbus Crew to acquire veteran central defender Michael Parkhurst in exchange for allocation money.

 

I thought he didn't want to come back here because of the turf...

 

At least for the first year, he will be playing on grass in Atlanta.

 

For some reason I thought Bobby Dodd was Field Turf, but I don't folow college FB at all, so what do I know? But isn't the new place going to be ready some time in the middle of the summer?

Still, it is amazing how you can build a team from scratch and it looks like they could be pretty competitive right out of the gate.

 

its is amazing what an ownership group can do that is not afraid to spend money

 

http://www.dirtysouthsoccer.com/201...lanta-united-bobby-dodd-schedule-stadium-2017

"Mercedes-Benz Stadium won’t be complete until 'late June to early July'”

I've heard rumours that it may not be ready to go until just before the NFL preseason kicks off, and the cynical New Englander that I am 'knows' that was the main target date all along.

Apparently the delay is related to the additional roof reinforcements needed to support all of the Falcons banners. (Forgot where I heard it, but I love that one!)

 

According to wiki it was astro turf between 1971-1994. All other years dating back to 1913 is grass.