Hi Guys, I saw that Samuel is training with you guys and if anyone has seen him play so far? We've been wondering on the Bolivia forum what was up with him. He was a great player at our youth level, but since going over to europe loss his 'flair'. As a player, he essentially emulated (and was amazing at it) Riquelme; he had amazing touch, visiojn, ability to hold the ball and create space for players to run before threading amazing passes. After europe, he turned into a 'defensive' minded player aka essentially converted to a Dmid. That's not him....at all...and you could tell Europe did that to him. How has he looked in training? Take a look at these videos and you will see that he was being touted as the next etcheverry for a reason. And yes...I know the excuse that it's against a bunch of kids...but at 17 he played Mexico in a Friendly here in the US and did the same thing to grown men as he did to kids. He was brilliant...but hasn't been the same player after going to europe/coming back. Watch this goal he had at 17 years old in Spain at his first or second game (1:10 in Video below). Kid is talented...and as DCU fan I am shocked Marco or Jaime didn't arrange for him to have a trial first....it really makes me sad and shows how different the team is under Ben compared to when Jaime and Marco were there.
Thanks for all that, not sure when we will get to see him with pre-season not scheduled for much TV Broadcasts.
Unfortunately, I think the earliest most of us will get to see him, if at all, will be February 22nd. Not being in the area, I have no idea if pre-season practices are open to the public.
Thanks! We'll be watching. Also happy to answer any Q's if you guys want more info on his background.
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...occercom-partners-stream-more-25-matches-live Apologies for the formatting, I just copied and pasted from the link. Feb 22 5:30 PM ET Colorado vs Real Salt Lake Desert Diamond Cup mlssoccer.com Tucson, AZ Feb 26 3:00 PM ET Chivas USA vs Colorado Desert Diamond Cup mlssoccer.com Tucson, AZ Mar 1 8:00 PM ET 1 vs 2 Desert Diamond Cup mlssoccer.com Tucson, AZ Okay, I'll be a little more realistic... Mar 1 5:30 PM ET 3 vs 4 Desert Diamond Cup mlssoccer.com Tucson, AZ
I also thought I caught in AMA yesterday that some would be posted to Rapids YouTube account, maybe I am dreaming it up?
From the videos Bolivianfuego posted, Galindo is a pretty big kid-- looks to be a lot taller than, say, Rivero. If he has playmaking ability and a bit of size, could be really helpful. I hope the trial is impressive.
He's huge. He's like 6'4...and with that, has amazing long legs to keep it away from defenders when he has his back to them ala Riquelme. Weird thing is, he's amazing with the ball at that height (or he used to be before Arsenal/europe).
Agree, looks good and the bigger size would help when facing MLS' physicality. Good ball handling skills. Hopefully he works out.
Arsenal and Everton fought over Galindo after that tourney. Really hard to appreciate him in those videos, but Galindo's passes and moves had him as one of tourneys most dangerous players. Very fluid and smooth for size, hence the comparison to Riqelmi. Within a year or so after being signed with Arsenal, he broke his leg, and really hasn't been used much with any team he's been loaned to. Don't know if he's damaged goods or not at this point. As far as I know, he hasn't had much opportunity to play when 100% healthy. I wish him well. If he makes team, many of the 500k + Bolivians in dc may actually attend a United game when the Rapids visit. I know my family and I will.
It looks like he played around 60 minutes or so in each of the two pre-season games so far. I haven't heard anything about how well he played in them, though.
I think you will be able to see him play in the pre-season game vs. Chivas USA from Las Vegas on Sunday. the game will be streamed live on mlssoccer.com. Hopefully we'll all get a look at Samuel Galindo and the other new and trialist players.
It seems no one who posts here has seen him play in person. That most likely will change next week in Arizona. If Galindo can play multiple roles his chances of sticking will be better. Can he go box to box? Could he play somewhere among the 3 in the 4-2-3-1?
We've seen him play (bolivian posters). He is best used as a '10' but arsenal tried to convert him to a def. mid. It didn't sound like the dmid experiment worked very well as he wasn't getting much play during his loan stints in Spain, and even succumed to injury because of being played as a d mid. The kid can probably play a supporting striker in the style of say a Valeri. I haven't seen him play much though, since he left to europe. I am hopnig he is the same player and getting back to playing more like a 'classic' 10. He could def. do that in MLS. SPain or europe not so much anymore.
What I meant to say is that no one who posts about the Rapids from Colorado has seen him play. Apparently that will change tonight. Just musing here, but could he would up top? He seems to hold the ball well, is tall and can lay it off to his teammates. Those are some of the qualities that the Rapids need in the player that plays the lone striker position. Of course the ability to score goals is important as well
Def. not. At most--he's a supporting striker under a CF. He's def. too slow to be used as a stand along striker though. He'd be a great '10' though.