As a companion piece to 'who will graduate', here's one for wild speculation. We're not a true group of fans if we don't suggest *our* team buy Ronaldinho. There's a couple over-the-hills that I'll throw out for the fun of it. Jacob Thomas, who used to play for the Lone Stars, was dropped by the Crew at the beginning of this season. I have no idea where he is, or if he's still capable. And (at the risk of draining the 6th Street bars), what about Clint Mathis? He just tried out over in some Scandinavian country and was rejected. He's apparently still working out with.. Salt Lake, was it? It's probably a pointless thread until the spring, when MLS starts dumping players. More useful might be scouting the other PDL teams, looking for players that are about to come out of college that won't make the MLS ranks, and won't end up overseas. And, of course, there's always the Caribbean. The old New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers did very well bringing in players from down there. What do y'all think?
The one that obviously comes to mind would be Sonny Guadarama. Willie's brother who is playing in Mexico. I would assume he's happy where he is at, but you never know......
Tesfaye Bramble, Titus' younger, less skilled brother. Come on, you know you want him. I'm sure Stevenage Borough would sell him very reasonably...
As per Jacob Thomas, I've heard that he is done with professional soccer family/work reasons. I cannot confirm or deny the validity but since this is part gossip I did post it. Personally I think we should scower the NCAA DII ranks like West Texas AM, St. Eds, Incarnate Word, and Midwestern. I think there are a lot of strong players from these squads who often get over looked. I think Central America and Eastern Europe have potential because of the lure of America. Work visas would be challenging though I am sure.
I Agree with Willy fully. There are too many DII colleges out their, that can't compete in american throwball, with really great football programs that have not yet been at least looked at, and we've all ready benefited from a St. Eds product in Kevin Klause, soo yeah Heath and his staff should definatly have a close look at some of these DII college squads in the Austin area, and in texas in general. But on a very low key cus we don't whant the likes of MLS, Major.Lu.Shit., scouts to find out about our little gold mine of talent do we?
Are there any USL1 players of quality that seem unsettled in their current sides? I certainly don't know enough about the league to say, but poaching some veterans would seem like a nice way to augment the team. Maybe too, there are USL2 players capable of moving up, more likely than PDL. Looking at the table, anyone on a team below the Timbers might be looking for a more competitive team. No guarantees on our first year, of course; but that includes Atlanta, Carolina, Minnesota and Montreal. The Thunder, who don't play in their own facilities, might be the most likely target - though they do play in a soccer stadium I believe. Ricardo Sanchez is a Mexican midfielder for the Thunder who is currently tied for 3rd along with four others for USL1 assists leaders. Maybe he'd like to play closer to home.
I think the other thing that we have to calculate into the equation is the desire of a player to take the next step at possibly playing in Europe. If Stoke City does well enough (and frankly, that has to be figured at clearing 40 points at the end of the EPL season, a commonly used points level to determine relegation or not), then we may see players coming to play for the USL1 Aztex side for that. I also think that it may not be too far of a stretch to say we may even see some possible MLS players considering this. Although they can be seen in the MLS, it's a free for all and they don't necessarily have focused relationship that the Aztex have. Of course, although possible, I think it's minimal.
Someone we're all forgetting is our friend Real Madrid. Nah, thats just hoping on hope. I'm sure he will be tearing up the EPL or some other league or maybe the Aztex USL-1 team next season. JK RM - I get tacky on Fridays.
Budatex.... Come on dude...I already said that I don't believe I am good enough for the USL1...maybe USL2...but even that might be pushing it. That is why I am thinking about not trying out next year to give a young kid a chance. Cut me some slack......I'm really a nice person....opinionated but nice.
While I don't anticipate any MLS players wanting to come down to USL1, I do think that there may be college players that consider the connection in a positive light to the benefit of the Aztex, especially given how difficult MLS has historically made it for young players to transfer over to Europe.
On the other hand, it could happen. My first thought has always been "are there really that many players in the US that could take advantage of it?" And then I think about Nevin Subotic and have to admit that there's a crapload of players here in the US that have EU passports and would have no barriers (other than ability) getting on a Premier League side. Keeping in mind the number of players that MLS drops every year (both Willie and AJ were with KC last year, and Jamie was with RSL), with the Aztex actually paying a salary, I think it's very likely that we'll end up with at least that many more former MLS players on our USL-1 team next year.
And consider how much the (small) pay scale is for a rookie in the MLS compared to the (fair) pay scale in the USL-1. That's why Eric Brunner signed with Miami FC instead of Red Bulls of New York. Another thing that we could considered is that Seattle is going up to MLS next season, so some of the Sounders players would probably not get signed up by MLS. So far only Sébastien Le Toux is the current Sounders player to be in MLS next season with Seattle.
Remember too though that MLS are expanding by two more teams in the next two years. So there will be an increasing demand for players in a pool that's not growing at anything like the same rate. Admittedly Seattle will not cause a talent drain since they already exist, but Philly in '10 is sure to draw some USL talent away. Though like you said, some may choose $ now over a chance at the big leagues.
We still ended up with three ex-MLS players, and San Jose was added this year. There are so many faucets for soccer players (US college players, foreign college players, imported players, players like Jamie that leave college early) that MLS opens that there will always be players dropping out the bottom. And the Aztex have an Overseas Development person as well. I fully expect that we'll get a couple players that direction.
Well this question can go either on this forum or on the one titled, 'Who should graduate" With Jamie gone I think we need to look into getting a few lads that could be our potential "front man/men" so ta say. Say what u will about Jaime, we deffinatly need ta look in to finding some bodies who have at least half as much energy, and drive, ta go forward and get goals as he did. And at the least if Paisano, a.k.a Andrea Currero, ends up being the salution, I think we should at least have one, or two, lads who can either complement, or take some of the performance heat off him. What you guys think? I prepose, and I can not beleive the words are comming out of my mouth considering the team, that Mr. Heath and co. have a look at Felix Garcia. He was a goal slottin machine against us, he's uber young, and if he is willing ta come over ta the other side who am I ta stop him, regardless of my animosity toward the team he is currently associated with.
I was looking at the Carolina Railhawks website today, and their roster page is interesting. It lists each player's "Last Club", and there are just 2 on their current roster listed as coming from MLS. I guess some of the other guys might have also been in MLS, and "laundered" through another USL-1 or USL-2 team, but that was fewer than I'd have thought.
Don't forget about Willy. He's a traditional striker, where I think Jaime is more of an attacking midfielder. I noticed that even the press release for Jaime's move to FC Dallas has him listed as a midfielder.
There is a little more information out now, as well as an image of Jamie in FC Dallas kit. Apparently, RSL was not releasing him as they promised, according to the 3rd Degree website.
A few I wouldn't mind seeing on the roster : Josh Gardner Johnny Steel Tony Donatelli Fabrice Noel Mac Kandji Brian Farber Marcus Story There are quite a few others but these were easy choices. Some of my other choices would depend on what the team needed to fill in gaps.
I wonder if we can't make a partnership with FCD or Dynamo to get some reserve players on loan. Seems like it'd be helpful for them to play in a league more competitive than the MLS Reserve league, plus it has the potential to make plays who would otherwise be making under 20k a year more happy by supplementing their pay. On the plus side for Aztex, they get good players that might be partially subsidized, assuming they still get their 15k or whatever from MLS. We could pay them another 15k and they'd have doubled they're salary. But we only had to pay half. I'm not sure what the average salary in USL1 is, so the example may be totally off, but you get the idea.
It would certainly be closer than Portland, who Dallas loaned their backup keeper to earlier this year. I expect that there will be a little of something like that.