He's always one of the few non-athletes that plays in Steve Nash's annual celeb soccer match for charity. IIRC, Stein's not half bad. You can tell he's played his whole life and at one time was probably a pretty decent player.
Haha, that would be hilarious if MLS just goes after every single USMNT player just because of what Jurgen said. They do have a count of US players who have signed with MLS this year.
Yeah, he's clearly happy enough there if he's renegotiating. Nantes, Le Ligue, France - all nice enough, but nothing too special either. But the guy has played in enough towns that he knows the alternatives, a he must like something there.
He recently gave a nice interview to BeIn Sports -- might still be on their website -- talking about how he loved the passion from Nantes' fans and felt comfortable at the club. And L1 is very physical and competitive, so playing there every week should keep him in the mix for the USMNT with so many others heading to MLS. But he can't have made a ton of cash playing in Scandinavia and at Nantes, so I'd think he'd be interested in a big pay day if an offer came.
Playing regularly in a mid-table club in the #6 league in Europe is still more prestigious than any other Yank field player, except Cameron, Chandler and Fabian. And Fabian is in probation, at this point. Oh yes, and about even with Brooks, who is in bottom-third Hertha in the BuLi.
Solid Bedoya outing, even if only 20 minutes. He came in and generated three chances (would-be assists), and his team scored at the 80' mark (not involved in the goal though). Helped change the pace of the team. 1-1 in the end.
Ives Galarcep retweeted Lyle Yorks @Lyle_Yorks 14m14 minutes ago Congratulations to @AleBedoya17 who signed a new contract at @FCNantes. Off to CDG now. Au revoir Paris, a tres bientot. Allez Nantes!
Spanish, Swedish and now French. And they say Americans are not good at languages Michael Bradley speaking Dutch, German and Italian. Jozy speaking Dutch, French and Spanish.
Pfft. Tell that to my Ukranian friend's 12 years of Russian language schooling. Took him that long to get fluent at reading and speaking it. He's not even that good at writing it.
True, but the point was, just because you're ethnically tied to a language doesn't mean they aren't difficult to learn, nor does is mean we shouldn't laud someone for having learned them. For example, I know a guy who's half Mexican. He never spoke Spanish in the home, and he's not fluent. I think it'd be a little harsh if, supposing he learned Spanish now as an adult, his work were to be discounted because of his background. Just my two cents.
As a 25-year (Irish) expat and currently an EFL teacher let me endorse that. Your ancestry or family background counts for squat when it comes to a language. Hell, even your parentage counts for nothing unless at least one of your parents is a) around and b) actually speaks the damn language to you. Unless you hear a given language in the home or street or kindergarten during the first 6 years of your life you are no different to anyone else learning the language from scratch. Even then, it counts for little unless you actually use it in some way. In my school, there are three 11th graders who have been in love with English since elementary school. In 7th grade they decided to speak only English to each other. At this stage they indistinguishable from native speakers, except for the fact that they have an unplaceable lack of an accent of any kind. Once you get into senior high, any language gets really hard.
I'm impressed with these guys' attitude. It's a far cry from the English attitude. Ian Rush couldn't settle at Juventus because, in his own words, "living in Italy was like living in a foreign country." Apparently one of his biggest problems was getting hold of tins of Heinz baked beans; he didn't like all that fancy pasta stuff and wanted "proper English food!!" - like Heinz' 57 varieties. To be fair, Kevin Keegan set his mind to learning German from the moment he landed in Hamburg and became fluent in it. An English newspaper asked him why he was so determined to learn the language when it wasn't clear how long he'd stay there. "Respect" was Keegan's answer. For the Germans? asked the journalist. "No. Self-respect" came Keegan's reply. These lads have that in abundance seemingly.
The latest entry in ASN's "On the Record" series, this time on Bedoya: http://americansoccernow.com/articles/here-s-what-they-re-saying-about-alejandro-bedoya I really enjoy this series. If you aren't familiar with it, it highlights a U.S. player, and goes fairly in-depth about how the media and fans in the country where that particular player plays. Give it a read.
glad he resigned, that was the right move. Hes in a great spot and a great situation. Much better thought out than plenty of other YAs who tried it overseas lately. Could learn a two from him.