If you heard Rob Stone on the ESPN broadcast this afternoon then you know he spilled the beans about possible allocations. If you didn't hear it you may have guessed it anyway. Keller and Mathis to RSL. Keller is the more probable one at this point. Team sources have confirmed the negociations. Stone put the odds at better than 50% for them both. I'm not so sure on the odds for Mathis.
I would be surprised if Mathis came back to the US. Not saying he wont or cant, just saying I would be very surprised. It seemed he wanted to get the hell outta MLS as soon as possible. Just because things arent working out in Hannover, I would assume he would try other places before coming back to MLS. But what do I know.
the question is do other coaches want him? I would, but I'm concerned others might shy away. Hannover probably would want a transfer fee in January, right? I don't think Keller or Mathis are out of contract until next summer, so a lot depends on what their teams want and if MLS might meet demands if Tottenham & Hannover require any
WE WANT KELLER! *clap, clap, clapclapclap* WE WANT KELLER! *clap, clap, clapclapclap* MATHis too i gues.... kidding, I would love to get Mathis on the squad.
blitzzfan I heard Stone say that Keller and Mathis might come to RSL, but besides the usual optimistic Rob Stone comments, I don't know if there is any substance to it. Do you know anything we don't? Of course, I am all for it. KELLER is the man and who doesn't want Cleatus?
ReAL foggy there, eh? Keller and Mathis in the midst of you, and you can't see them for the mists englufing SLC. They could be there right now, and you wouldn't know it!
I checked hitchhikersguide.us and I did not see it. But to plagiarize, errrrrr, sum up, now we can have Redneck Heritage Night!: -Mullet growing contest -Line dancing at half time -Display of '78 Camaros with raised white letter tires & lift kits.
If Keller's contract doesn't expire until next summer, and Seattle and MLS announce that they will be an expansion club for the 2006 season, then Keller is goin to Seattle, period.
It also depends on how bad Keller wants out of Tottenham. Sounds like he doesn't enjoy riding the pine. I would bet that if he wanted out that MLS would pay any sort of transfer fee for him. The Seattle bid is still uncertain. So if he wants out now and wants to come play in MLS, he'll most likely land in SLC next year. I think that would be great for SLC and good for MLS.
True, but he's also said NUMEROUS times publicly that he would love to go back home to play in Seattle specifically. From what I've heard he's had continous talks with Adrian Hanauer and if by next spring it's 80-90% certain that Seattle will be in MLS for 2006, he'll more than likely just wait until his contract expires next summer with Tottenham and just do Nats duty until the Sounders hit the pitch for 2006. It would be much better for the league and for Seattle for Keller to be playing there, as Seattle is his hometown and would REALLY help market the team up there.
How many times has Seattle been 80-90% certain of MLS expansion again??? Keller's getting old. He better not wait too long. Perhaps he might work a deal with MLS to allow him to transfer to Seattle from SLC if and when they get their bid.
Well, there were news reports saying that Adrian Hanauer personally asked Don Garber to skip over Seattle for 2005 expansion because he wanted more time to get attendance up and market for a change to MLS up there...besides, he already got an investor group in place anyways. And Keller is getting old, yes, but his fitness isn't. Hell he's STARTING for the USMNT...he looks pretty good to me. I'm just saying that I personally want Keller up in Seattle for the good of that market up there...there are many other keepers per the expansion draft that you guys can pick from.
And would you really want him under these terms. Hey John Q Public....here is our big star goalkeeper and US National Team'er....the face of our franchise........who will be leaving in a year. Not the best way to start out a franchise if you ask me.
Understood. I hope Seattle does get an expansion franchise. And IF they do, I'm sure Keller will end up there. However, if Keller wants out of the EPL soon, he'll most likey spend next season playing for SLC. He is a solid player, no doubt. He is getting old though and there will come a time in the next few years that he will begin to decline. I'm not so sure he wants to waste an entire year sitting the bench for the Spurs.
that would be sweet if we got keller. i go to the u of p where keller played before going big. i wish i would have been around to see him play in the couple years he stuck around here. would have been sweet. it would be awesome to see him on the field for RSL come next summer. clint would be sweet to see also. hopefully we can put together a good roster. I AM SO FVCKING EXCITED.
Keller & Clint would take us from being the '99 Metrostars/'04 Burn to at least the playoffs. Wouldn't that be sweet if this weather pattern repeats itself next season & we do end up in the playoffs? Hosting the Earthquakes, the Goats or the Galaxy in a snowstorm..............
That's '03 Burn, buddy. You could do a lot worse that the '04 Burn, that is, finish 7th out of 10. Anyway, I don't see how you'd get both Keller AND Mathis. I know you guys are at the top of the list for returning USNats (along with Chivas), so I'm sure you could snag one of them. But once you do, every other MLS team with an allocation would have to pass before you got the second one. Then again, somehow Jovan Kirovski wound up at LA last year. Remain to be seen if ya'll have that kind of juice. But this is Calvinball.
You got that backwards. Who is to say if RSL got Keller he would go to Seattle the next year? I think RSL building around Keller (ie GK for the USMNT) is an excellent move and sure to give some more credibilty to RSL's chances of success.
I think it's just a mistake to waste an allocation on a goalkeeper, even one as talented as Keller. There are plenty of good ones just hanging around.
Thats just it, Keller is a very good GK, and GKs are always great to build a team around. And Kasey being on the USMNT is even better. Although that can be a minus when Kasey gets called up every other week and RSL suffers. You are right though, there are many other good GKs out there, like Zach Thornton. And of course this is all hear say. I mean our source is Rob Stone for crying out loud!
I think I'm with a lot of other people when I say, thanks but no thanks. Mathis has shown that he IS a primadonna. And not even that good of a primadonna at that. He's an average striker and decent playmaker but he has ZERO work ethic. He is a cancer to teams. Once with the National team, twice with the Metrostars, and a third time in Germany. Coaches have NOT worked well with Mathis and to bring him in from the get go and put him with a coach who went from having absolute authority with his players, to relatively little... it's a powder keg waiting to explode. And as someone else said, I'd rather use our allocation on a field player. It will depend on who we pull in the expansion draft, but I just don't see Keller as worthy of an allocation.