Here's my 2 cents on Kirk. He's still GA. In the fourth year of his contract iirc. He's had a lot of troubles with his foot which has limited how much he plays. He played a little bit at right mid for Sampson and he played a very little bit at right back for Yallop. I'll let other speak for his U-20 career which was much better. People have various opinions on him; I'm probably more negative than most. For me, his game is all kick and chase. He's big and fast (once he gets started) but he doesn't have much in the way of creativity or ball skills. His crossing started out being horrible but he has worked on it and now it's a mix of good and bad. On defense, he's good physically but lacks in awareness. His one really good game came against you guys. I always thought that his ideal position would be a wingback in a 3-5-2. It would allow him to get up and down the field without having any critical responsibilities. It's obviously still a good trade for you since he's GA and you weren't going to use Vanney. Someone said that he thought Vanney was worth a 2nd round pick. That's about where I would put Kirk.
Not this year, according to USSoccer.com: http://www.ussoccer.com/common/stContent.jsp_79-2008U20MNTPool.html
This is an absolute steal for DC. This guy is what, 6'2" and fast, can cross the ball very well, and actually can defend. If he could get over his injury bug, this guy could be a player in this league, and can even play right back in a pinch. The Galaxy is a freakin' joke.
In Quaranta's infamous return game to DC United in 2006, who scored for LA against us? - Wasn't Kirk one of the scorers, or am I thinking of another youngster?
LA -- Alan Gordon 1 (unassisted) 4 DC -- Own Goal (Chris Albright) 9 LA -- Chris Albright 2 (Peter Vagenas 4) 47 LA -- Landon Donovan 6 (penalty kick) 66 DC -- Facundo Erpen 3 (Christian Gomez 9) 69 LA -- Own Goal (Bryan Namoff) 71 LA -- Landon Donovan 7 (Herculez Gomez 1) 92+ Many people have the idea that Tino scored. He didn't. He just came over and mocked the Barra and the SEs after Gordon's goal. ASIDE: One interesting thing about that match I'd forgotten is that Ugo Ihemelu got a yellow card for persistent infringement in the 16th minute. Again, a yellow card for persistent infringement in the 16th minute. This is interesting to me for two reasons: 1) that's a pretty early yellow for persistent infringement; 2) that yellow for persistent infringement came 57 minutes before Ihemelu broke Dominic Mediate's leg an instant after Mediate entered the match (in the 73rd, as our last sub), which didn't earn a card or even a foul.
http://ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_281506.html http://ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_281617.html etc. I seem to remember that Kirk was named to the U-20s to represent the US in Canada this summer, but got hurt. Soon after that, he played for the Galaxy, meaning he wasn't actually hurt, or he was hurt and they played him anyway. EDIT: Appears it was the latter: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=12822414#post12822414
Right, but he's not currently in that pool either: http://www.ussoccer.com/common/stContent.jsp_28-2008U23MNTPool.html
I remember that foul, and wondered why he didn't see straight red for serious foul play. When refs try to "keep players in the match" it never works out well.
True, but you couldn't count him out of the process. He is coming off a rough year with the injuries, and if he gets healthy and in form Nowak could well give him a look.
Kirk to the rights for Vanney is just a step under being as much of a steal as cash + first round pick + DP slot for Gomez's rights. Kevin Payne is certainly earning his money this offseason. Seriously, DC's depth just got a lot deeper if Kirk is remotely healthy this season.
This guy sounds like the second incarnation of Yinka Dare Sam Kassali Cassel or whatever his name was...Big, fast and undisciplined. Hopefully this kid is coachable. Regardless its a win/win situation.
A little of both, but I remember Rongen thinking of him for the defense by the time the WC rolled around. He had the players he wanted (Johann Smith, who ended up getting hurt as well, and Sal Zizzo) at RM. Btw, this on his injury status from Andrea Canales on her blog: http://sidelineviews.blogspot.com/2008/02/random-thoughts.html
One thing that was glossed over in regards to Needham possibly being signed by LA: They have to give something (likely a transfer fee) to us AND Puerto Rico if they want him badly enough.
That's been batted around here for awhile. While the retirement of Harden makes them need more depth there, he's really going to have to play well to for LA to want to compensate two teams. Actually, it's Lalas so nevermind. In all honesty, I'm sure that PR would take an exhibition game versus the Galaxy as their compensation. This is the type of deal that is often struck with these teams (I believe a few of DC's games in Richmond were in part because of getting Clyde Simms) and Puerto Rico could do a lot for their bottom line by hosting David Beckham.
FYI - on Friday the Galaxy cut Needham from their training camp. Guess he wasn't good enough to warrant having to deal with two different clubs to sign him...
Well, while I wouldn't put it past LAG to poorly evaluate talent, this is a little funny given all of the man-love for Needham justapositioned with the lack of interest in him by DCU's front-office (who basically indicated to Goff that they don't see him as capable of playing in MLS).
Wait, don't tell me you're baffled that the BigSoccer 'experts' were wrong about evaluating talent, particularly someone that very few had seen in person.