Galaxy Sign Brazilian Midfielder Alvaro Pires

Discussion in 'LA Galaxy' started by El Paisa, Mar 28, 2008.

  1. El Paisa

    El Paisa New Member

    Sep 21, 2004
    Palmdale, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    "The LA Galaxy today completed the signing of Brazilian midfielder Alvaro Pires. The 23-year old has trained with the Galaxy for most of the preseason and started all six of the club’s preseason matches, playing 472 minutes in those games, collecting one assist and one caution. Pires, will travel to Colorado with the club today and is available for selection on Saturday night against the Rapids. Per league and team policy, details of the contract were not announced."
     
  2. socluis90

    socluis90 Member+

    Aug 11, 2004
    So Cal
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  3. mbar

    mbar Member+

    Apr 30, 1999
    Los Angeles, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Sweet. I'm optimistic on this guy and glad he can play on Saturday.
     
  4. convergecrew

    convergecrew New Member

    Jan 17, 2007
    Los Angeles
    Hes a much needed addition to our midfield. Now if we can do something about that defense...
     
  5. Calexico77

    Calexico77 Member

    Sep 19, 2003
    Mid-City LA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Awesome.

    Pit-Bull Brazilian D-Mid - TAKE 3!!!!!!
     
  6. forzagalaxy

    forzagalaxy Member

    Oct 5, 2007
    Austin, azTeX/SB, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Solid pickup.
     
  7. MGFan

    MGFan New Member

    Jun 8, 2005
    Boston, MA USA
    Does anybody have any background info on this guy? Where was he playing in Brazil? How did he end up trying out with the Galaxy?
     
  8. Socrdork

    Socrdork New Member

    Feb 16, 2008
    Alvaro is in

    Early this morning we received the International Transfer Clearance for Alvaro Pires, meaning that he has officially been added to the roster and is eligible for selection on Saturday.

    In order to complete the signing of a player from a foreign club, teams must have a P-1 visa approved and completed, as well as the ITC from said player's last club. That came in today meaning that the deal could be completed, meaning that Alvaro will join the rest of the team in flying to Denver today.
     
  9. Beckhamania

    Beckhamania New Member

    Jul 16, 2007
    Dublin, CA
    Re: Alvaro is in

    Not sure how I feel about this. I liked what I saw of him during preseason, but I'll reserve my judgement after a run of a few regular season games. He's got talent, that's for sure. I just wonder if he's going to be this season's Kevin Harmse for us. *shudder*

    He's a pit bull, I'll give him that. He even looks a little like one too. :p
     
  10. rtdavide

    rtdavide Member+

    Apr 20, 2005
    Whittier, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    in a article earlier on, ives galarcep had said he was playing in russia for spartak nalckhik. their website is only in russian, therefore I'M not going to get any info out of it, but if perhaps there is someone on the board that reads russian, we could find something...
    he is listed in the lineup of players for SC Internacional of Brazil from 2005 it looks like. This is a very good club that won the FIFA world club championships... but....

    i found a page:
    http://www2.uol.com.br/cbf/bid/ti2007.htm

    there are 52 tables on this page, he is table 46, sixth from the bottom...

    that shows him as a transfer from joinville esporte clube to spartak nalchik in 2007
    joinville looks to be a brazilian serie C side. so he may have been loaned out from inter where he perhaps was not going to get any time to this other club. i'm just guessing right now...
     
  11. shirteesdotnet

    Feb 13, 2007
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I got my wife to check some of her russian websites on Pires. Not a lot out there on him. He was #55 with Spartak Nalchik. Nalchik is a city in southern Russia of about 250,000 people (size of pasadena or thereabouts) and their stadium holds about 15,000 people. Looks like Nalchik is approx 200 miles east of Sochi and the Black Sea at the base of some mountain range, much like Pasadena is. And with the Black Sea nearby, id bet its similar to southern California here.

    Anyhow, most of the websites searched on Pires come up like this...

    http://football.mts.qp7.ru/champ_info/tourney_clubs/spartak_nch/players/9210
    http://www.rubin-kazan.ru/season/statistics/fc96c23a498c474bad843646ca5b00fb.html

    Lucky to find a picture of him at best, with no bio info. One site we found a report with him in it here...

    http://www.sportsdaily.ru/issue.aspx/623/18642

    But said he was rather worthless during the 2007 campaign and didnt contribute much of anything.

    If you can read russian text you can try searching more:

    Альваро Пирес (Alavaro Pires)

    Энрике Алвес Пирес (Enrique Alvis Pires)

    Алвес Пирес биография (Alvis Pires biography)

    Alvis and Alavaro were the way his name was spelled in Russia.
     
  12. iride_mybike

    iride_mybike Member

    Mar 31, 2004
    DFW
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    According to Bravo the G's had been interested in signing him last year before he went to Russia but it just didn't pan out. I guess Russia didn't pan out either so we renewed our interest. Gotta say in preseason he looks like a huge improvement over what we had last season in his spot.
     
  13. KennyWoo

    KennyWoo Member

    May 21, 2007
    Pasadena, California
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Let me be the first to say that I'm going to buy a Galaxy jersey from MLSNet Shop w/ "Энрике Алвес Пирес" on the back!!!
     
  14. shirteesdotnet

    Feb 13, 2007
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    May I suggest "Буйвол" which means "The Buffalo". :D
     
  15. jmaestro

    jmaestro Member+

    Mar 27, 2008
    Bakersfield
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    And let's be totally honest---we're just plain happy to have a Brazilian on the team, even if he is a C-leaguer. =) That's just how it is with the midfield prospects we were forced to field last year.
     
  16. Cyclonis

    Cyclonis Forza Juve

    Jul 12, 2007
    Los Angeles
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    I think he should fill our needs. With an enforcer stealing the ball away from the team in the midfield, maybe our defense won't look so vulnerable on the counter
     
  17. haaamean

    haaamean Member

    Aug 8, 2004
    Santa Ana, Costa Rica
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    I thought he came from Inter in Porto Alegre:confused::confused:

    whatever, good pick up though.

    EDIT: I just read the original rumor by Ives and he says he is "of" Brazillian power Internacional but that he last played with Spartak Nalchik.

    I guess it depends on the meaning of the word "of".
     
  18. rtdavide

    rtdavide Member+

    Apr 20, 2005
    Whittier, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    yeah, we could probably use someone that speaks portuguese to navigate the pages... i speak italian and some spanish, and i can understand some portuguese, but really grasping what they are saying is beyond me.

    however, Internacional is in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul.....
    he is linked with them in several sites back in 2005-2006.
    the one site I found showed him being traded from Joinville to Nalchik

    but when I looked through the Joinville site archives and pictures, I couldn't find him anywhere.
    I know Galaxy Steve has some access to these guys, maybe he could just ask and find out what his history is.
    and by the way.... who edited the Wiki page within a couple of hours to show him being signed by the G's? anyone here?
     
  19. Calexico77

    Calexico77 Member

    Sep 19, 2003
    Mid-City LA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    I'm watching the game at my friend Rafael's place. He's from Porto Alegre and Inter is his team - I'll try to get some answers
     
  20. Wicked1

    Wicked1 New Member

    May 16, 2007
    Southern Cali
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I watched the preseason Asia games and Pires is nice, a very nice addition.
     
  21. arkjayback

    arkjayback Member

    Mar 29, 2008
    Le Mars, IA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    He seems to doing alright so far
     
  22. Regal

    Regal Member

    Aug 10, 2007
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm not sold on Pires, yet.
     
  23. sanda

    sanda Member

    Aug 29, 2007
    Virginia
    I don't think I saw him much in this game either.
     

Share This Page