http://www.yanks-abroad.com/content.php?mode=news&id=001971 Joe has made his move offical now and unlike previous reports, he signs a 1 yr. deal with an option for another. He scored in his 3rd and final pre-season match with Viborg and sems to have really impressed after intially being offered a 6 month deal. Now he has his eyes set on a starting spot. Great move for joe and let's keep our fingers crossed his will be joined by fellow Yank Robbie Russell soon.
That's a pretty good pay-off for a guy who chose to go to Europe instead of trying out for MLS (what was he, 4th Rd pick?). I wish more US kids chose the " nut guts, no glory" strategy.
IIRC, Zewe was not even in the player pool to be drafted, so perhaps MLS wasn't an option. He really did play his hand by going to a lower division in Denmark and pulled himself out on top within a year. I would compare this to a foreign player coming to the US to play USL Division 3 on the worst team in the division and after only one year doing enough to get attention from MLS clubs that he receives a full contract. This is an impressive feat.
This article inspired me to look for some news in the Viborg press on Joe's signing. Here's an article with a photo of him at training. My Danish is non-existant, I use a foreign translation program usually. Anyone want to take a shot? Ceres? http://www.viborg-folkeblad.dk/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060712/VIBORG/107120128/1080/viborg
A truly great story. Joe wasn't exactly a high-level recruit out of college, and his raw goal scoring statistics were not so impressive- but persistence, a dream and hard work still mean something apparently. Here's hoping for UEFA next year for Joe.
It's mostly about how they'll be playing to new defenders in their friendly match, namely Robbie Russell and Raoul Kouakou. There's a bit of talk about the Danish league being restricted to 3 non-eu players on the pitch, which with the aforementioned two and star brazilian striker Jose Mota would leave no room for the two nigerian players in the squad. Finally at the end the coach says that Zewe was signed a developmental player and that he will possibly be loaned out if the squad gets too big.
Not much chance of that happening since Viborg got a fairly small squad as it is, even if they also sign Raoul Kouakou and Robbie Russell. The Rosenborg website and Norwegian media btw write that Viborg have already signed Robbie Russell, while Viborg still deny having signed anything. but to be honest it looks like it's almost a done deal... The article above also says that Robbie Russell and Ivory Coast defender/midfielder Raoul Kouakou both are expected to be regular starters if Viborg chose to sign them. .
News on the Viborg website about Zewe now: http://http://www.vff.dk/site-box.cfm?SIID=1&COID=5175&MEID=54 Also news of Robbie Russell signing through 2008 there. I will also put that news in a RR thread. http://www.vff.dk/site-box.cfm?SIID=1&COID=5174&MEID=54
In digging deeper on the Viborg website, it looks as if there was a preseason match this past weekend and both Zewe and RR started the match. http://www.vff.dk/site-box.cfm?SIID=1&COID=5172&MEID=54
I know nothing of the Danish league. Is Viborg a quality side for the Danish league? Are they CL contenders?
Viborg is competing in the Royal League, for the top Scandinavian sides. Denmark's top two teams Brondby and FC Copenhagen usually dominate the competition. OB (Odense) would be the third team in contention.
don't those teams compete in the Royal League and their respective domestic leagues? i kinda liked Robbie playing for Rosenborg because it was nice seeing a Yank get exposure in the Champions League.
Pardon my ignorance but do only the top 2 teams from the Royal League make it to the CL? I really know nothing of the Scandanavian leagues.
Top teams in each league play in CL, Royal League is a secondary competition just for Scandinavian leagues.
Ther is just as little chance of Viborg earning a CL spot as ther would be for e.g. Hibernian or Aberdeen in the Scottish league. But to be honest, it's not realistic to think that players like Zewe and Robbie Russell would get picked up by Brøndby or the Danish and Scandinavian Champions FCK (FC Copenhagen) at this point in time. First of all, Brondby and FCK would never pick up a Danish 2nd or 3rd level player to be used in their 1st team (They mainly use players from their own youth department and then add some of the absolute league Stars in Scandinavia plus sign a few top-flight players of NT quality from the Dutch league, the German Bundesliga and the EPL) so a 23-yo 2nd division player and 26-yo uncapped player like Russell who has had trouble getting in the lineup at Rosenborg would simply not be an interesting option for Brøndby and FCK to sign. But then again, atleast Robbie Russell is expected to be a regular starter at Viborg and besides getting to face quality sides like FCK and Brøndby he also get to play Royal League (Scandinavian Championships) this season. If he then get successful, he could e.g. get picked up by a top-flight Dutch or German side. .
Yes, and herein lies the virtues (and drawbacks) of a league with no salary cap! Brondby and FC Co have huge budgets to work from so they can buy the best and brightest of the Danish talent AND supplement them with somewhat pricey foreign players as well. So, Viborg challenging for a Champions League spot is slim to none. That said, stranger things have been known to happen. Also, I would agree with Ceres' assessment about moving outside of Denmark as the next step rather than a move to a Danish CL side. Heath Pearce has turned heads all over the Danish Superliga, but we haven't heard any chatter about a move to Brondby or Copenhagen. Conversely, we do hear about a move to Germany or somewhere else. Keep in mind, however, that it was only a few weeks ago when Ceres was adamantly denying that Joe Zewe would garner interest from a Superliga side at all since he was only a 2nd division player and he needed to jump to first division to prove himself first. So perhaps even one of the Danish CL teams would change its perspective if enough Yanks light up the league there.
Yes, I did write this and I stick with it because it has almost never happened in the past that a 3rd level player makes it directly to a place in the lineup of one of the smaller Superliga teams. (Dont forget that Zewe was not signed by Viborg to be used in their starting 11 and he could be put op for loan if the squad gets too big). Though the rules have changed abit, since some of the Danish Superliga teams now are allowed to have their 2nd teams get promoted to the Danish 2nd division, which ofcause mean that more players are going to move from other 2nd division teams to the top-flight teams to play 2nd team football.. and then ofcause ther is always a chance of players getting injured and a 2nd team player getting a chance on the first team to prove their worth in the Superliga.. .
Totally agree. Zewe is very clearly an exception to the rule, which is almost universal around the globe. The liklihood is small that a third division player will make that jump to the first division in a nation with a strong system. Perhaps Zewe just started lower than his actual ability. With no youth national team caps and less than sparkling collegiate statistics, it may have been difficult for him to start off at a higher level like Heath Pearce who was already in the Youth National Team system.