Just heard from a friend in Norway that Nick Garcia is on his way to Brann for at least a week... A trial basis. If the coach likes him then he'll get to stay. Not sure what all it means for nick's mls career. The team Brann is in Bergen.
Nick's a free agent right now. Borderline MLS starters (I'm sorry but think that's where he's slipped) are doing well in Scandanavia (able to get work permits) - Dunseth, Brian West, etc. Steve Shak (was in A-League) has a job. IIRC some Seattle A-League guy was loaned there (not sure if Scandinavia). It pays more. That's the reality now in MLS but most are choosing to stay.
are you serious? i'd say he was one of the 10 best defenders in the league this year... and every year he's been in mls.
I'd say he was the 3rd best defender on KC at best. Maybe should have said bottom half of starters. It's just that a few years ago he looked on the verge of contributing to the USMNT team so maybe the expectations for improvement were unrealistic. MLS won't go out of its way to compete with Europe but I think they'd gladly have him back (~70-100k/yr, making about $83,163 now). Probably not offering the raise he would have expected a couple years ago. Conrad's one of the top 5 defenders. Esky's goal around Nick didn't look good.
thanks. heard they want him back in seattle now. my point was that guys that aren't getting good offers in MLS are able to get decent work over there
I dont care what anyone else says, Losing Garcia would really, really suck for KC. That said, if this move launches his career up another level, i'm all for it. Good luck, Nick.
a work permit for americans in scandinavia isnt that hard to come by. so long as you get a company to sponsor you (the team), and it can be proven that you would be making enough to not live in poverty, youre granted a work permit. also, bergen is a pretty cool city and in a beautiful part of norway. itd sure be hard to refuse a contract to play in bergen and look at fjords and beautiful women all day than go back to KC. although, i dunno, maybe hell miss BBQ or something.
I thought that once Garica moved back to CB where he's played a lot better, he's been one of the better defenders in the league. He kinda fell off the nats radar because he had a bad season and he was moved away from marking back, which is the position he plays the best. On Esky's goal, I've said this before and I'll say it again, I think he was expecting help from Khari who was only 3-5 feet away. Khari never came to help, and Nick had given Esky too much space on that side.
Dunseth, Shak, and O'brien were in the Swedish second division, however - and Shak left pretty early into the season. Brann are one of the better teams in the Norwegian league - 3rd last year, 6th the year before. This is a significantly harder team to catch onto than Fredrikstad or Bodens BK. However, I also think it's clear that Garcia is better than the other players listed (save, maybe West), and if he's willing to play overseas, he shouldn't have trouble finding someplace where he do well.
agreed, my point just was that if those guys can earn a living over there, Garcia won't have any problem finding a team. and that they'll probably offer more than MLS can (like West)
crap, this sucks. There's already the possibility of losing Zavagnin and now Garcia could go. I bet he could do good there, so I'm getting worried.
Interesting. When you hear of players moving to play in Europe, Norway is not usually the first country that comes to mind.
We can't lose Nick....have the wizards not renegotiated his contract yet....or are they waiting for the super draft?
Give it time. As the ability of the average MLS player continues to improve, I suspect we'll see more and more players looking at moving to Scandanavia (and the 2. Bundesliga, and Holland, and Belgium...) - they pay better than MLS, and for players that aren't really in the national team plans, there's more of an opportunity to move to bigger European clubs as well.
this would really blow scrotum if he does leave. although, i still think we'd have a good backline in conrad, thomas, zotinca, and burciaga. losing zags is almost irreplaceable.
Exactly, while it would suck majorly to lose Nick, we still have Shavar who will have an offseason to get ready. We'll still be solid in the back though. It will just suck losing Nick
I exaggerated too much above saying borderline starter. When he was getting UMSNT call-ups a while back I was thinking he'd be a strong candidate for defender of the year about now. I haven't watched him closely enough this year except the playoffs to judge him as harshly as I did. But reading here it sounds like he's disappointed a little and isn't as good as Conrad (though Conrad being among the best 3-4 in the league). Rather than watching him play, I'm more forming an opinion based on his lack of call-ups, not yet getting offers from clubs in better Euro leagues, and MLS not pushing harder to get him re-signed already. So slipped was probably not the best word, meant more that he's not progressing as hoped? KC's not exactly on ESPN2 every week and from the Yahoo games I watched I rarely noticed him (which maybe is a good thing for a defender). Where would you rank him among MLS defenders?
Well as Andy said, and I agree, he's one of the best man marking backs in MLS. In the playoffs he held both Landon and Ruiz in check. Disguard the first San Jose game, because Landon was more midfield and not forward, leaving him out of Nick's responsibility. Also for another example, look at how bad Landon torched us on ESPN2 the first time we were on there, for two goals. Look at the games after that when Landon was up top and Nick was moved into the center of the defense. Nick's move into the middle was a main reason we allowed only like 6 goals in the last 10 games, 5 of them coming in two.
was typing my reply before this post I saw all the ESPN2 games I think (was that 1?) all the playoff games the first half of the season I watched most all of the Yahoo games, but maybe more listed than watched. second half, maybe half the Yahoo games. I think KC was one of the teams that sometimes didn't have the game on Yahoo. my guess, 15. rarely if ever did I watch to see how Garcia was doing. I remember him being a little slow a few times this season. I admit most of my opinion of him is based on what posters here say and what I've inferred as stated above. I'd say I view him as a decent MLS player but not an all-star. Fault him for that crucial Esky goal. Big games count.
in general as a defender? better than Conrad? Zotinca? top 5 in the league? top 10? worse? considering that outside back is probably the worse position in MLS in terms of talent, compare him to the following central defenders CHI Curtin & Brown (I'd say better though maybe on par with Curtin) CLB Fraser (& Sanneh if 4 in the back) - Fraser was DOTY though hasn't impressed me, but I'll admit I never notice him (a good thing for a defender) DC Nelsen (I'd say worse) & Petke (even) MET Parke & Pope (better than Pope this year, but not usually. I think Parke may be more talented) NE John & Pierce (I'd say even) COL Kotschau & Borchers (I'd say even with Borchers, a little better than Kotschau) DAL Gibbs (worse), Behncke (even), Jolley (worse) LA Suarez (better), Hong (better), Marshall (worse), Califf (even) SJ Agoos, Dayak, Robinson (probably better than all 3, for a while I thought Robinson would be real good - not so sure now) that's my opinion