Lanus is "obscure" by my subjective definition -- as mentioned, I had never heard of them. I don't even "casually follow South American soccer" and it's fair to say that 99.9 percent of Americans are similarly ignorant. I've heard of Boca and River Plate and Racing and San Lorenzo and probably a couple other clubs, which I'm sure puts me in the top one percentile of all US citizens, but I had never heard of Lanus. Don't know whether the Argentine league is currently in season or who's top of the table, or who won last season. And I'm blissfully indifferent. When we're talking "marquee" players, in my mind we're talking about people like Pele or David Beckham, who are familiar names to most Americans who have never watched a soccer game. (By the way, my octogenarian mother's limited knowledge of soccer players does not extend beyond Hope Solo, and mostly for her off the field exploits, so to speak.) I'll grant you Zlatan and David Villa and that ilk, but most Americans would not know who they were even today.
Thanks! We've made this error too many times. I fear more 4-4-2 empty bucket is in our future. Maybe there is some sort of cowardly juice in the ground water? I want to see bold initiative from the new regime. Even if we fall flat, I'd rather we try something new, build toward a recognizable vision, than play a "safe" boring style, and no doubt still lose. I fear the new season. Go Quakes!! - Mark
No, you're not the only one. I also remembered this. It came from one of our social media beat reporter I believe, just a day or two after Almeyda was hired.
So we picked an international slot kid from the draft. Which is fine I guess, though I'm sensing our new coaching team will favor international players over domestic product. Just like Jesse. Which made me think: Oh crap. Almeyda brought his whole coaching team, who know nothing about MLS. Who are they really counting on to understand the league, our opponents, all the terribly complicated acquisition and roster rules -- Jesse Fioranelli??? I feel bad for Leitch.
Our coaching staff beat Toronto (at their peak) in the champions league. So it could be that they have a skewed perspective of MLS thinking we’re all as good as Toronto was in 2017.
Wow. Even Zlatan misses your cut. Because most non-soccer fans had never heard of him. Now that he is in the US and gets on ESPN he _might_ squeak in under your guidelines. I'll run a poll this weekend to see how Zlatan does. Please, Don, read up on some leagues from which we can afford the youngsters so we aren't doomed to pick over-the-hill players from England, or wait until Ronaldo is 38 (and lose him to L.A. anyway). But don't bother reading up on Georgia. We have them covered
I'm not the one advocating for marquee players, or the one advising whom the Quakes sign, so your request appears misdirected. And speaking of reading, as I've posted previously elsewhere on this board, among the books I've been juggling since last summer is Angels with Dirty Faces: How Argentine Soccer Defined a Nation and Changed the Game Forever (Jonathan Wilson, 2016). I'm only about seven chapters in, but our discussion of Lanus caused me to fast forward to the index to see what is said about the club. Although Boca, River Plate and Racing all have a paragraph worth of listings, Lanus is simply unmentioned in the index. Not one mention, per the index. Take that for what it is worth.
Stop the presses!! Club says they got exactly the players they wanted in the (MLS, NFL, NBA, MLB, *insert your league here*) draft!
Sorry, I should have included a wink. I was just having fun with words. Lanus FC. Founded 104 years ago. Won Copa CONMEBOL 1996 Won Copa Sudamericana 2013 Seasons in First Division: 67 Seasons in Second Division: 19 Seasons in Third Division: 3 I am glad the Brit didn't mention them, if England paid them any attention then we could not possibly afford their up-and-coming talent. It is the tiny advantage we have. We need to find places that for one reason or another are under-scouted. And then we need to a good job of scouting. I think we've got that first part covered. At the end of the season we'll know more about the second.
"Stejskal: San Jose GM Jesse Fioranelli out to make up for forgettable 2018" (MLSsoccer.com - Wednesday, 1/16/19) (SJEarthquakes.com) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
There isn’t much that needs to be written about how brutal the Quakes were last year. Their 4-21-9 record and the midseason firing of first-year manager Mikael Stahre say more than enough about how bad things got in 2018. Not that Fioranelli can compartmentalize his club’s struggles that easily. For the Swiss GM, who arrived in San Jose ahead of the 2017 season without any prior experience in North American soccer, 2018 was more than just a miserable season. It was a direct indictment, a black mark that fueled the perception held by some of his peers around MLS that Fioranelli is in over his head. He knew his credibility took a major hit in 2018. He realized that San Jose weren’t looked at as a serious club at the end of last season. He understood he likely won’t get another chance to make this right. It's going to take more than Almeyda to "make this right"... dump the dead weight and bring in some top level players! "San Jose are probably at a talent deficit against almost everybody. It's not pretty."
The most important lines: San Jose’s roster probably needs some additional work for them to realistically compete for a playoff place in 2019, but don’t expect much more player movement this winter. The Quakes already have 28 players signed, including a pair of Designated Players in Vako and Chris Wondolowski. Things could change in the summer, but Fioranelli doesn’t expect many transactions in or out of San Jose for the remainder of the winter window. Almeyda will work with their current pieces, see what he has, and re-evaluate later in 2019. Looks like the roster is pretty much set! Jesse doesn't expect "many" transactions in or out of the roster. for the rest of the winter window. I guess that could mean Eriksson is still leaving.
no more player movement, only two DP's...what the hell is Magnus' status and if he's gone, why wouldn't we be shopping for a real impact DP...oh, right. we are the Earthquakes the mighty, mighty Earthquakes...
"You might not have noticed many big comments from my end or from any other people inside of the organization, but we’re talking a little bit less and we’re working very hard" talking a bit less, lol.
let's be honest, outside the coaching move (potentially) this is your typical, mundane, Fisherball offseason.
That's what I was afraid of. No DP. Waiting til summer to see what the needs are sounds like the standard line. We spend up to the cap and use the leagues TAM money to our advantage but the owners don't dig too deep into their own pockets (to spend on players at least).
Magnus isn't a DP anymore. When we signed him he was announced as 'the highest paid Quakes player ever' and a DP (check out SI's MLS ambition report from last year). Sometime during the summer the DP status went away. When the Players union salary data became available we found out he's only paid 400k (his transfer fee might have made him the most expensive player). How or why he lost his DP status I don't know - but one side effect was that San Jose looked a little more ambitious in SI's ambition report.
ahh, thanks for the clarification. our running roster thread has him as a DP and there's been all the back and forth on this. But if he's not a DP and hasn't been one for awhile, failure to bring in a real impact DP after last season has to be seen as a massive failure and absolute confirmation that last season's speculation about Fisher and how he now (finally) cares about what's going on with his south bay soccer team was all pure nonsense.
We still have a little time to sign another significant player or two. I'm hoping that we pickup another good player or two. But of course, we could screw the pooch completely. Go Quakes!! - Mark
Thank God I decided not to go for a new STH signup after Almeyda was hired. This is fcucking bullshit. Blue-collar, humble, low-ambition, cheap, whatever the fcuck you want to call it. So fcucking rotten. Gonna get trampled by the time winter comes, and then the team will sign some losers abroad just to try and entice STH to renew. Same shit, different day.
What the hell are you talking about? Jesse the Snake Oil Salesman said we're done. That's it. That's the team we're going to bat with. We are going to get fcucking murdered out there...