Always include the Wikipedia page in threads of this nature... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulo_Wanchope
It's quick & dirty, but style wise I'd call him a poor man's Drogba. Swift, strong & decisive around goal.
He's a lot more awkward than Drogba, isn't he? He's very tall and gangly, but gets himself in good goalscoring positions, often running behind the defence. His pace has remained steady and quick, but not blistering. Can occasionally make a few daft erratic shots in to row Z, but all-in-all is a decent finisher. His link up play isn't great though and does get caught in possession. His recent form suggests that he's matured a lot from his time in the EPL. Really hope he's a Chicago Fire play soon. Again, as a non-DP player, I'd rate is as big a coup as Abel Xavier for LA Galaxy, if not better. Experienced at the top level, talented, a recognisable name across Europe and will definitely make an impact on MLS. Hurrah!
1. This is a great signing. He's still a great athlete, very tough to match up against (in Concacaf, Pope in his prime with his size, quickness and individual marking skill was the only one I thought could stay with him). I don't rate him as efficient as Angel or even Emilio but he's the kind of striker who can make impossible chances or create his own chances from midfield. 2. I like Chicago's positioning. People are talking about how LAG has games in hand, will take their new roster and make a charge for the playoffs. Folks, Chicago is far better positioned than LAG. Their star (Blanco) is healthy and playing in the position he's used to while Beckham is gimpy and moving to A-mid. While I like Pavon, he is hurt and I like Wanchope more than I like Pavon. You put a frontline of Wanchope and Rolfe (that's a lot of breakaway talent there with finishing ability) with Blanco behind them--yikes! Double yikes! 3. I disagree with the arguments about "maybe next year we won't have teams remaking their rosters/first half of the season doesn't mean anything." I think the reality is that Chicago and LAG (and RSL and Colorado) all thought they had good teams. LAG has gone through a major makeover b/c (a) they've sucked badly and (b) Yallop and Lalas don't see eye-to-eye and (c) they're desperate to not suck with Beckham. The league has discounted the cap hit on DP's as an encentive for teams to sign. It was always clear that few teams would add DPs in the preseason--that more would come once the next transfer window openned. Additionally, this is really about 4 seasons this year in MLS. 1. Gold Cup season (that hit some teams very hard) 2. Copa and U20 season (that hit some other teams very hard) 3. DP additions/transfer window open/some MLS players leave 4. Summer (which that and fixture congestion will hit some teams hard) plus depth issues. This season has looked schizophrenic at times (with Houston and DCU looking good internationally and then sucking, other teams taking turns being hot and then cold) in part b/c it's been like we've had a combination of mini-seasons next to each other. If you're a NYRB fan, you probably don't even recognize your team b/c of the change in play. I don't write this up to the first month or two not counting. It's the dynamics of this season (plus unbalanced schedules, some teams like FCD with lots of 3 games in 8 days) have resulted in almost no consistent play. And frankly, some of the roster shuffling is b/c it's no longer okay for a team to lose consistently. There is pressure on MLS teams to win. Not as much as really big leagues but better than it was 5 years ago.
Can someone put up 2 pics? (1) Adu morphing into Pele (2) Altidore morphing into Wanchope. [The Wanchope is going to look amazing] Would be a hoot..surely someone here has the off-the-shelf stuff?
I'm not sure this is such a coup. It's his fifth club in two years. He just got released by a J-League club. He's never been the same since his knee problems.
Nice pickup... a healthy and on form Blanco, Wanchope and Rolfe would probably move Chicago from being one of the worst teams in MLS to one of the best.
wow, I'm a big fan of Wanchope. Blanco and Wanchope would be dangerous and exciting as hell. Might still be too late for Chicago, hopefully
The Crew and DC should be able to hold off the Fire with the lead they have. Plus I figure LA's got a better chance to catch up than Chicago as well since LA has more points per game and more games in hand. Folks, we have a playoff race that will actually involve some good teams.
As a DC fan, I'm getting very, very nervous about how aggressive Chicago, LA, Dallas, NYRB, and even to an extent Columbus have been. There are so many teams raising the bar...and, of course, I didn't even mention NE and Houston, probably the 2 best teams in the league right now. There's gonna be one or two teams that don't make the playoffs, and we're going to look at their roster and their record and think, man, that's a pretty good team.
picking up Wanchope, with out a DP? Hell of a Deal, hes unlike any player i have ever seen before in the way that he plays completely in his own style and is still so effective He has So many strengths and he looked like he still had them all this last summer.. Someone made a good comment earlier, LA should of got him instead of Pavon.. too bad. With Blanco, he will be as effective as Angel, better then Emilio, Much better then rolfe.. Because he has natural talent and he has certainly always been in another Class
that is, until she picks her new favorite team. then they'll be by far the best run team and the best MLS team ever. oh snap...
If Rolfe (little Solkjaer), Wanchope, FIREEAGLE, Mapp and Thiago can stay healthy from here on out....watch out. Of course it is a big if.
What's interesting to me is the salary issues. Wachope turned down a NY offer to play in Japan reportedly for around $1M a year. The NY offer IIRC was league max salary, although it was rumored that he may be a DP signing in the off season. Maybe we should pull a Columbus and claim him as a discovery. Either way, he can't be a DP if this is true so i have to assume they got him for at or near the league max. Maybe getting ride of Sannah helped free up some cap room?
that's garbage. it has nothing to do with the legitimacy of the league. frankly, i think it's good that teams can improve themselves over the course of the year, from a fan/competition perspective, and i also think it's good because teams can be a little more frugal/wise before the season starts, waiting to see if young talent steps up early in the season and then actually addressing their real needs.
"if MLS were a more legitimate league" is a wonderful sentiment, but I'd say the league is doing an excellent job of building and maintaining its own legitimacy as it matures and ages. of course, and everyone knows this, patience is needed (from the fan's perspecitive*). with a league that is in its 12th season, that currently has all of 13 teams (14 in a few more months), I think the fans need to realize that they must put up with some uniqueness (or some "illegitimacies") for a while. or as was pointed out earlier, this (i.e. allowing for all teams -- even those with a very sub-par first half of the season -- to still have a realistic shot at the post season) is a ticket-selling/revenue issue for the league: the off-set (primary v secondary) transfer windows from the (vast majority and the best soccer-playing parts of the) rest of the world means that MLS will likely continue to get a mid-season infusion of talent (and likely on free transfers) for several more seasons. i'm excited about Wanchope joining MLS, if it happens. he's an excellent signing. certainly we can all hope that he'll do more for the league than Roberto Brown was able to do. * note: this is another reason why MLS has a tough time building/expanding its fan base, as patience is not prevalent quality among most people, and they'd rather tune into leagues/sports that are already big-time. of course, more DP level signings, or guys like Wanchope or Schelotto will help MLS prove that is it a bit more big-time (or is trying to approach that status) than most people have given it credit for being in the past.
And Bedrossian, too, was on serious money. Also, keep in mind that they can sign him for, say, $400K/year, but he'll only count $200K against the cap THIS year.