Oh, I agree. But if people think the team is in such dire need of a backup a-mid, then he's available for a cheap amount.
Umm, youse guys are thinking too hard. Remember that this is MLS and anything can yet happen -- especially with those two rumored mystery signings floating around somewhere. Heck if Salt Lake winds up getting contracted (as Goff speculates could happen in his blog's Q & A), we might even wind up getting Fredinho back. For some silly reason or another, I'm just not ready to push the panic button at this point about the A-Mid position. But, I sure do wish that we had another good forward on board.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/2007/02/rod_is_back.html And our new backup is... Rod Dyachenko for a first round pick.
Do you mean this? "Which brings up this silly possibility: Maybe RSL shuts down right away and all their players are dispersed elsewhere in the league. Those who recently joined the team are sent back to their previous clans. Coach Soehn, there's a Fredua Adu on Line 1..." You do realize that he was joking about RSL contracting, right?
http://dcunited.mlsnet.com/news/tea...tent_id=82866&vkey=pr_dcu&fext=.jsp&team=t103 i'm really enjoying that "United Co-managing Partner Will Chang" always has something to say at the conclusion of most new United press releases. ok, now can we start worrying about all the talent we'll miss in the 2008 SuperDraft first round because of this trade? i'm really concerned that lost draft pick will come back to haunt us.
I'm not. We're still very much in the dark ages of scouting soccer at the college level as compared to pro football, pro basketball and pro baseball. For the foreseeable future, there'll continue to be some gold to be found beyond the first round of the MLS Superdraft.
I couldn't be happier. (Well, I could, but neither Pierse or Henry seem to be headed our way.) I think he is a natural midfielder, but he was almost always played out of position for the "varsity" last season because the need then was for a backup forward (and still is). Rod is versatile, much like Santino, but hopefully less fragile. Bobby Boswell told me last season after a reserve match that Rod was going to be "great, not just good." Let's get him back and let him develop.
It also assumes that his recovery from last year's horrific season-ending injury is sufficiently effective. Even the team doesn't know the answer to that yet.
I'm surprised this thread is still going -- hasn't the news of the reacquisition of Dyachenko effectively answered the question (at least as much as any question can be answered in pre-season)? [note: I'm not calling for a mod to close the thread and arbitrarily cut off debate, I'm just saying to those still reading this thread, hey, aren't we done here?]
How much is the number 13 draft pick worth anyway? Not much to MLS Cup winners (sitting alongside the supporters shield and the CCC or Superliga trophies).
No kidding. We basically offered to give Simms away for free and Toronto . . . not exactly a talent-replete club . . . preferred to pay/take a collection of other guys before Simms. Given that we are going to play upwards of 50 games this season, as well as lose Brian Carroll for weeks if not months of the season, going into the season with ONLY two of Olsen, Simms and Carroll plus Jeff Carroll and Arguez would have been insane. Stupid. Short-sighted. You can get away with 'replacement-level' guys on the edges of the formation much better than you can in the middle of the formation. DC with Mediate or McTavish on the opposite flank from Gros was not a bad team. And I still argue that if Jeff Carroll and Arguez are credibly listed on the depth chart than we should list McTavish, Mediate and Moose (along with Gros) on the depth chart at wing. And that is not including Schramm. Considering how healthy Bos, Namoff and Erpen have been on the whole. And considering that we signed Needham . . . we are in decent shape in the back (with Wilson and Stokes or someone similar as our deep bench guys). Considering we traded back for Dyachenko - the Amid spot is okay. We are really just weak at forward (Emilio, Moreno, Walker and rookies) and goalkeeper. And yes we still need an impact player at wing. But we still have plenty of cap room for that player. There have been no decisions up to this point that have a high enough opportunity cost to keep us from signing the forward and winger players we need.