Yes, Soccer America wants to be popular...good job SA... Mapp was on the bench the majority of the year, due to his lack of defensive abilities...it's like what Busch and others had said in pregame interviews, "we're gonna play our game, defend from top to bottom...", well, they did...that was the focus this year...and Mapp was not utilized due to Hamlett's gameplan. When Mapp started this year, our record was good, like, supporters shield good...and for an attacking player on a DH coached team...that is quite an accomplishment.
------------Busch Ward---Dasan---CJ---Banner ------------Pause Thorrington---------Mapp -----------Husidic -------Nyarko----Carr That's our starting lineup for Opening Day 2010 if no changes are made and everyone who are thought to be leaving actually do. That is a last place squad if I ever saw one. Yikes. Get busy Klopas.
Got some speed in there though. and everyone will be playing their position. Not sold on Banner at LB.
I don't see Sega or Pappa going anywhere, and if Conde's lack of playing time due to injury means there isn't as much interest in him and he's forced to play another season with the Fire, our back line doesn't look all that bad. However, even if we keep Pappa and move Banner up top with Nyarko, we've got no real play maker in the middle, and we'd be playing a lot of 11 behind the ball defense next year.
Smolarek did not come to terms with CSKA Sofia since he demanded 1 million Euros a year in compensation and I believe they offered him a quarter of that. 1.5 million dollars a year and I think he signs with us.
While it would be good for the Fire to keep all three of these guys, my guess is that even in spite of Conde's and Gonzo's injury issues this year, there will probably be a sufficient amount of interest in them outside the US. I think Pappa will have opportunities as well so I think for him and Gonzo, the issue will be whether or not they want to come back to the Fire. I am reasonably certain that Wilman doesn't want to come back and could hold out next spring until the Fire agree to sell him. Whether or not any of them come back could be impacted significantly by any moves the front office makes regarding the coaching situation and potential new players coming in. At least two of the three (Conde excepted) will probably wait to see what happens. The other unknown at this point is the question marks around the new CBA being negotiated.
If Mapp was playing, either Rolfe or Pappa would be on the bench. Neither of those 2 are good defenders so I don't think it was for his lack of defense that he was benched. I'd have no problem with Mapp playing 0 defense if he worked hard when we have the ball. On virtually any attacking play where Mapp is not the person will the ball, he will trail the play by 30 yards. If someone is running up the line or breaking on the side away from Mapp, he will never ever ever be available far post, or even in the box on the far side of the field. He's 20 yrs from the box. Mapp's an enigma, and he'll probably start every game next year because Rolfe and Pappa are gone, and who knows how he'll do, but saying we lost to RSL because we didn't play Mapp, a guy who never saw the feld for the last 4 months of the season, was what I was disagreeing with.
Didn't you say that DG said Conde is "as good as gone"? Sega and Pappa are both out of contract. They will both have serious interest from at least a handful of teams. Sega will see a major jump in his salary, probably 3-4x his current salary. Pappa will be looking at 10x his current salary. On top of it, Pappa's rights are owned by another team. So even if the Fire WANT to pay him 300k, it doesn't mean that his club won't sell him to a Mexican team (apparently Pueblo has made an offer) to cash in. I hope I'm wrong and some of them come back.
Mapp did see the field in the last four months of the season, he got the assist that won us the game against Colorado in that incredible come from behind win, he was our best player for a stretch of games in September saving us with an assist to McBride against Toronto, and then DH benched him for no good reason against NE on October 2 after Mapp had one of his better performances in a Fire uniform, and then Justin saw 3 minutes of action before being substituted in late in our latest devastating lose. Also, Mapp, Rolfe, Pappa, Blanco and McBride can all see the field at the same time. Really, their is no rule that requires only 1 forward be used or that 1 forward must always be used out of position.
Yes I did. I also said DG made that statement before Conde missed a good chunk of the season due to injury. My hope is that other clubs have lost interest in him. Sega warmed the bench for Costa Rica, and he ain't no spring chicken. DG's going to find it a lot harder to move him than Soumare or Conde. I think he'll be happy negotiating a reasonable salary increase. Pappa, yeah I read about the interest in him too, but as milicz already mentioned, the Fire have an option to buy. He's young, he's got potential and it's in the best interest of the Fire to keep him.
I still see SOME light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to Mapp. Hamlett is a crap coach and a horrible people person. How many players have had disagreements with him? Frankowski Soumare Blanco *at the beginning of the season* Mapp didn't fit into Hamlett's craptacular defensive scheme, that's why he didn't play. Sure he's lazy and maybe out of shape, but I just think that a proper coach can get something out of him.
Unless your a striker or a specialist in the box, being lazy and out of shape is the worst damn thing that can happen to a guy who is supposed to be your speed guy on the wings lol. Who in their right mind would play a guy described like that?
I would disagree with you on this. Both Pappa and Rolfe played respectable defense and, in fact, one of Rolfe's primary assignments was to support Prideaux when he was on the right side and to cover for Blanco when the other team was transitioning through midfield. I have to believe the same was true for Pappa and both of those players were significantly stronger defensively than Justin. Both players spent a lot of time behind the ball in DH's scheme of things and both improved significantly over the year. I would agree with an earlier comment I read which said that Mapp didn't fit Denis' defensive philosophy and that may well be principally the reason he didn't play. I think he was a lot like Lowry who, just one game I believe away from scoring two goals, was mysteriously removed from the pitch and seemingly was never heard from again on the field and was replaced by what DH perceived as a better defender, Baggio. Justin's biggest problem is the fact that he has not had a coach who knew how to help him improve his game and work on his weaknesses, IMO.
Thank you for mentioning the Colorado games. I think the real reason (and this is just my opinion) Justin got benched was because he WAS able to cross to McBride's head and get the ball to the correct area with enough force from corners and someone else couldn't.
I wouldn't mind having him. He's 36, but he's a faster 36 than Blanco and has proven to be a very strong assist man and goal scorer. I'd buy that with Andrew's money.
But wait . . . . what if I told you GBS has some Polish heritage? Huh, huh . . . that's right now you're seeing it. SOLD! Okay, GBS isn't Polish at all, but for a mili-nano second you were hooked, admit it.
Would be great "IF "we could lock Conde,Sega and Pappa for couple of years and build the team around them......
Well, right before I was going to bed I stumbled across this thread in the S8C board. Link Guess we'll find out if it's true soon enough. Welcome to the offseason boys and girls.