Obviously the Cosmos have made an immediate splash in the league signing players that have caps with our National team, and even the Spanish national team, but they are spending considerable amounts (I would assume, but you know what assuming does to you and me), to get players a little long in the tooth. Do you feel like the first Jax roster should be primarily made up of up and coming domestic players with some veteran MLS players on their way down for leadership, or a high influx of International players with big names (well big names for the NASL), that has had the game largely passed them by? Personally, in year one I just want to see a team competitive with the rest of the league, no matter what the makeup, but at the same time I know certain fans could have a gripe if no "splash" is made with the signing of at least one name of note. PS I'm not condoning some sort of ban of International players in any fashion. I think there's plenty of up and comers in this hemisphere that would love to come to our league to make a name for themselves. I just do not necessarily care to see Euro's coming here to make Florida their early retirement home.
Id love to see a couple players from our area playing in the 4th divison now in our roster, or even a few who are playing college soccer elsewhere to come back and play here. Jacksonville has a lot of players who could play at the NASL level.
I almost could care less who'll be playing in year one. I'll be excited to be in the stands watching them play. What I'm really looking forward to is having a MLS team having to travel here for an Open Cup Match. Also an agreement with Khan for a friendly/(open to public scrimmage) with Fulham of course
What Americans on Cosmos have national team experience? I know Szetela did once with youth and Senna was formerly w/ Spain. Is there more?
Szetela had 3 caps with the Senior team between '07 and '08 . . . I couldn't tell you if there are more players that have caps with their respective countries. It would take a little research, but those are the two that I know about for certain.
Szetela is washed up though (even at such a young age). He was playing for an amateur team in the Open Cup(Icon FC). He'll still be pretty good for the Cosmos.
Just curious, Does anyone know if they will hold an open try out or does the player have to be scouted? Thanks for the help
I would never say never, but I couldn't imagine them holding an "open" tryout. That's not to say that they wouldn't be looking for local talent, but at this level of professional soccer they aren't going to be just looking for some kid who had a good Senior season at Wolfson High School six years ago . . . if you know what I mean. I could see a scenario where they'd have an invite only tryout for some of the more advanced locals with a good resume though. With five tiers in the soccer pyramid in North America, and three professional leagues, chances are if you are not already on the radar then it's not likely you'll get there at this point. Of course, that's not meant to discourage anybody. I watched the movie "Invincible" too.
Open tryouts are a pretty common thing at this level. Sorry to burst your bubble. http://nycosmos.com/news/cosmos-hold-five-open-tryouts-throughout-nyc http://www.sunshinesoccernews.com/teams/strikers2.php?article_id=488 http://www.atlantasilverbacks.com/userfiles/files/Open Tryout Application.pdf http://www.carolinarailhawks.com/index.php?id=111&newsid=1538 http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/scorpions/article/Scorpions-will-host-open-tryouts-4095041.php Not that many players are signed from these deals though.
Bluesfan is right, open tryouts normally don't result in many signings. However, the NASL holds a combine every year. Try your luck there himom124
I think with the placement and interest of southern team in Florida as well as Atlanta that they will be scouting and signing young National players from the Caribian and Central America Concacaf countries. Jacksonville as well as the two other florida teams and Atlanta have been able to get a good look at Concacaf national players from these countries in the Gold Cup. For the players they would love to play and live in the US and both player and their National federation coaches would love to have them close by. Startin at the Tier II level in the NASL and being young players on the rise will also give these players the ability to be seen by MLS franchises . I know their was a kid playing for El Salvador who was born in the US in California but is playing under the El Salvador flag and played very well in his first year with the big team after played for the U23 El Salvador team who is playing for Atlanta. I suspect that we will be seeing more of this with players who were not US born from these countries looking to live and play in the US at a young age while being close to their home country to fill in their rosters that may consist of some still young NCAA players. This would also be true most likley for Carolina being close to the Concacaf federations in central and Caribean as well as a pool of good NCAA ACC players