Who knows but they are looking for a midfielder and certainly have S. American connections and style of play. Wait I looked him up and he's with the Rapids. Are you taking an MLS trade?
With the Argentine economy in a free fall I would think there would be some great players to look into that normally wouldn't come here.
The truth is that he told FCD over a year ago of his desire to leave. For a year there were no suitors. He came to terms because he had zero other choice. Why would his family being in the next state over cause him to stay at FCD as opposed to a bigger better club where he can thrive? Feel free to disagree, but my points are based on first-hand information and not speculation or hearsay.
Link to his stats page: http://www.soccerway.com/players/andres-ramiro-escobar-diaz/129515/ 2 goals and 4 yellow cards in 21 games for Dynamo Kiev last year. Mostly sits on the bench at Evian now after being loaned there. Coming off an "ankle/foot injury". It appears all of the above YouTube highlights are from his days in the Colombian league. Looks like he could be useful. If not, at least he'll amuse us with some tricks.
Tricks like Denilson? Hope he's more than that. Anyway it's always good to have the Escobars from Colombia on your side.
Looks like a replacement for Jackson to me. If he plays like he does in the videos, he should be fun to watch and seems to be a pacey striker with flair. If we are committed to going 4-3-3, this potential signing makes perfect sense. I am still not understanding how this team is going to win the ball and link play with the three forwards with the midfield personnel on our roster. We are going to either leave the back four exposed, or will have clumsy types who lack the creativity to link. You MUST have really great two way players when you play with only 3 mids. Otherwise, the wingers have to drop very deep to find the ball and/or defend. When that happens, you are really playing a 4-5-1.
Speaking of Jackson... Anyone else terribly interested to see what he's capable of with the new TFC roster? Can the guy play within team tactics?
Jackson will do fine for awhile then go into one of his patented funks. Michael Bradley will then give him that deatheater look that he and his father have and Jackson will combust.
i think he could do really well. he took a lot of ballhog criticism while here at fcd but the way we played, his only two choices were really try and get it to blas or go it alone. with a CM that is capable of providing outlets to wide players, jax has the tools to excel.
Hope Papi's got his eye on Laba. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...yer-too-many-toronto-fc-part-ways-matias-laba
Me too. The problem is Laba is pretty much a destroyer (and then a good deep lying facilitator). FCD already has Moffat, Luccin, Jacobsen and Warshaw in that position. At some point what's too many?
The problem lies in the projected formation. While Luccin shows the skill set to play a "deep lying facilitator" or stopper/playmaker, , I don't see Luccin holding up physically for a full MLS season. Moffat and Jacobsen are serviceable starters in a supporting role position along with a 2 way stud. Warshaw is at best a marginal sub, or Open Cup type of player. We do not have a durable and legitimate box to box quality mid. This is exacerbated, especially when FC claims we will go with a 3 man midfield. We have a ton of spare tires, but none that will get us smoothly down the road.
I don't mean it badly. It's just that "serviceable" is the type of adjective used for players who actually are not.
'destroyer' is a poor adjective to describe Laba's play. more like 'interceptor', using anticipation and positioning to break up plays rather than physically. and while he doesn't have a long range passing, his ability to make the first pass (at least short passing) is far superior than most MLS DMs
I don't think the destroyer moniker is meant to imply being overly physical, it's more meant to describe a players whose man role is "destroying" the other teams attack. One of the shining examples was Claude Makelele who was never overly physical, just knew where to be, how to shut down, etc.
Ghost, what I mean by "serviceable" is meant more as journey man / pro? Will probably never make an all-star team. Will probably not be the name that kids are wearing on the back of their replica jersey. But, you don't put a quality budget team together in MLS without quite a few of these types. On the other hand, if you don't have marquee type players, you fail to reach .500. Either guy, (each with their own distinct characteristics), can be good in a midfield with a in form: Ferreira, Toja, Leonel Alvarez, Oscar Parejea, ect. In a midfield where they are expected to do the heavy lifting? Disaster.
This is where I'm glad Oscar is running things. If he thinks he's ready or not ready for that then I believe him. Didn't feel that way about SH. He always had one central midfielder that I thought had no business starting (Marcelin, Watson etc). If Acosta is ready to handle the physical side of the position I think he will excel. Perhaps he should be eased into it.
Interesting, so you are saying Loyd told you personally that he informed the team he wouldn't be renewing his deal? I know there was some discussion and tough negotiations, but never heard he had told them he was going to test the open market. I am not surprised he didn't have teams banging down the door, I think he is a decent player but nothing out of the norm on the open market.
Steve asks a good question about Hassli. Anyone else note that he didn't play in either of the Hacken scrimmages? See note at the end of the post about the MLS rule.... Wonder if Hunt would be willing to blow off $200K?