Palermo, pink jerseys and all, kicked butt this season. Just promoted from Serie B and they qualified for the UEFA Cup. Here's their site's page for Luca Toni, who's recently been capped by the Azzuri: http://www.ilpalermocalcio.it/it/prima/scheda.jsp?id=655 Oh yeah, to make this post somewhat less off-topic. I stood next to Nelly once and he was roughly my height. I'm 5' 10".
Exactly. Nelsen plays hard as nails which is why he excels at every level. We can only hope for the same from this Argentine.
Offtopic: this reminds me of a story about Charles Mingus. Mingus was famous for having a very powerful, in-your-face personality, and that made a strong impression on how people saw him physically. After describing a powerful encounter with him, Joel Dorn writes:
Weekly Garcia note - his missed PK attempt near the end of the game was a weak effort. He shot it low down the middle and the diving goalie was able to make the kick save. Oh well - not a good weekend for DC United or its targeted Argie.
Continuing off-topic, I actually appreciate Palermo and Sport Boys wearing pink or "rosa nero" as the Palermo site calls it. Home or away, those jerseys must start trash talk and opposing fan abuse. However the color is significant for those teams for some reason and they keep to it. Bravo for them.
Well, let's face it, it's not everywhere that you can find a place that's nearly as homophobic and liberalphobic as America. It could be that pink doesn't have the ... ummm ... intense negative connotation ... that it has here. Or maybe the pink jerseys match their makeup and the glitter they put in their hair ...
The Weekly Walter Garcia Report: Our AAAA (Annual August Argie Acquisition) did not play this weekend against Quilmes due to a case of the flu. He better heal up before PayneKasperNowak head to Argentina in a week or so to watch him in a game (there are only 3 more weekends of games in the Argentine Clausura) as Goff reported.
The rumor in Argentina suggests Gabriel Loeschbor is leaving San Lorenzo to play in the United States! I bet he is the guy.. a hard nosed defender, fast, good in the air, and a leader. exactly what D.C needs. How much money can D.C spend on this allocation? He would probably be a max salary guy.
Loeschbor is 28 years old, and the word has been that the superdupersecret prospect is "young." That doesn't mean you're wrong, though.
Here is the link to Loeschbor on the San Lorenzo Website: http://www.sanlorenzo.com.ar/jugador.php?num=31 His birthday is 04/06/77.
I found this posted in the forum on San Lorenzos website (I think It pertains to the most recent game, but I'm not sure as I can't speak (or read Spanish): O lo colgaba del travesaño o mandaba al carro viejo de Paredes al ataque.... después que se tomara el colectivo para volver, el sábado no cruzó una sola vez el mediocampo y la defensa estuvo mejor parada. Botinelli comienza a andar mejor y hasta Loeshborg que es bastante maleta anduvo bien, eso se llama jugar mas tranquilo y no para salvarle el ojete a un bufarrón, Veira anda a la ******** madre que te parió y no vengas por Boedo nunca mas quemero hijo de ********, cojemenores. Put through babblefish this is the translation: Or it hung it of the crosspiece or sent al old car of Walls al attack. ... after was taken the collective one to return, on Saturday did not cross a single time the mediocampo and the defense was better stop. Botinelli begins to be better and even Loeshborg that is enough suitcase walked well, that is called to play but tranquil and not to save him the eyelet to a bufarrón, Veira walks the prostitute mother that you parió and do not come for Boedo never but quemero son of prostitute, cojemenores. No idea what this means but I think it's implying that Loeshborgs workrate or pace has not been "top notch".
I know that in Italy one of the main sporting newspapers is printed on shockingly bright pink paper. A brazilian friend of mine tells me that one of the main sporting newspapers in Brazil is similiarly printed on pink paper (its funny watching a line of men all reading pink newspapers, but again, only because here in the US, pink is not seen as a "manly" color),
Although Loeschbor seems to better fit an Argie coming to MLS (i.e. Argie vet like Christian Gomez as opposed to Garcia, a 22 year old up and comer with U17 and U20 experience who seemingly could fetch more $ in both transfer fee and salary in Italy or Spain than in the US), I would think that we would not see the "young" term (i.e. Goff articles, quotes from Mark Simpson on cybersoccernews.com, etc.) used everywhere to describe a player who has played since 1996 including stints in Spain (Murcia) and France (Rennes). Perhaps Garcia is the original target (and still DC's target) and Loeschbor is the one who San Lorenzo would rather sell to us at this point.
you're pretty close. it says Bontelli is doing better and even Loeshburg who is a real suitcase did well. The "real suitecase" comment is an expression which you can take to mean he is their weak link on D (imagine dragging a suitcase around with you), he isnt very good, etc. It isnt something that inspires confidence, altho from a message board (as we all know) sometimes the descriptions can be a little over the top. Do you have a link for their boards? maybe i can read a little more about him (my spanish is OK, but my spanglish is excellent )
Well I posted the question outright on the San Lorenzo forum and the responses (just 4 so far) have no idea if either of them is the guy but that neither would be very useful. As far as Garcia, he's described as the Convey of San Lorenzo; i.e., got hyped as a reserve for Argentinos Jrs. and did well on the youth national teams but has, largely, failed to live up to expectations as a full pro. In addition to this, the speculation in Argentina is that he will probably go to Italy or Spain. Loeschbor is described as being generally mediocre and one poster even offered him up with Paredes as a 2 for 1. I'll keep a lookout for more
Weekly Walter Garcia Updates: 6/4 - No Game (World Cup Qualifiers) 6/11 - San Lorenzo 2 Quilmes 0 (Garcia did not play - thigh contusion) 6/18 - Alemagro 3 San Lorenzo 1 (Garcia makes a Kenny Arena reserve game-type whiff on the 3rd goal. Alemagro goalie punts the ball far upfield to the right flank where the winger heads the ball to the center of the field about 25 yards from goal. The ball bounces once and goes toward Garcia who has no one with 5 yards of him. He whiffs on what should be an easy,uncontested chest trap and the Alemagro forward then swoops in to collect the ball and beat the keeper for an easy goal. I only saw the highlights of the game but this blunder was bad). 6/25 - San Lorenzo vs. Lanus (PayneKasperNowak to attend -Garcia needs to show something in this game)
Steve Goff has a story up: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062201936.html
I suspect that DCU initially had interest in Garcia--there's a lot to like there. But since then the money from Europe has shown up on the table and unless it falls through, we're not competitive. Plus, since the initial interest in Garcia, we've added Wilson and Boswell has continued to grow his game and Rimando has had some gigantic efforts. So while the idea of a technically talented backliner is still attractive, how the team has evolved as well as the market for Garcia now means we're open to other players. Remember, the initial comments from Payne talked about how DCU was interested in a specific player. And now we're not--we're looking at a couple of players.
When Garcia's name first arose as a potential target, I did wonder how a 22 year old Argie defender with recent U20 and U17 experience could be a MLS target without being a European target (i.e. Spain). Garcia and his team (San Lorenzo) have not had a stellar 2005 Clausura (the team is 3rd from bottom but the league uses a 3 year average for relegation purposes so the team is safe. Their goals against is among the worst in the league. Garcia has gotten a few red cards), but one would think that a transfer fee would be well over $1M (there was a January article from Argentina which rated him much higher than the $1M amount). In terms of the other young defenders mentioned by Goff, here is some info on them: #28 - Santiago Hoyos [Age 23] - 6'0" 175 lbs. 2005 Clausura - 2 games 0 goals 2004 Apertura - 3 games 0 goals #15 - Hernan Mattiuzzo [Age 21] - 5'11" 160 lbs. 2005 Clausura - 1 games 0 goals 2004 Apertura - no games played #13 - Leonardo Alvarez [Age 24] 5'9" 160 lbs. 2005 Clausura - 5 games 0 goals 2004 Apertura - 2 games 0 goals I can not see the allocation being used for any of these players unless KPN see something great in their team practice (not sure that any of them will see 1st team action on Saturday - none of them played in last weekend's game).
Here is the skinny on some of the San Lorenzo defenders: Probably Too Pricey for MLS Walter Garcia [22 yr - 6'0" 170 lb] - Right Center-back 2005 Clausura Stats: 14 games, 1 goal (3rd season as a regular 1st teamer starting in 2004 Clausura) Argie U20 team at 2003 Championship Argie U17 team at 2001 Championship Jonathan Bottinelli [22 yr - 6'0" 175 lb] - Left Center-back 2005 Clausura Stats: 12 games, 1 goal (1st season as a regular 1st teamer - made 1st team debut in 2002 Apertura) Argie U20 team at 2003 Championship Probably Not Worthy of Allocation Santiago Hoyos [22 yr - 6'0" 170 lb] - Left Center-back 2005 Clausura Stats: 2 games, 0 goal Leandro Alvarez [23 yr - 5'9" 170 lb] - Right back 2005 Clausura Stats: 5 games, 0 goal Hernan Mattiuzzo [21 yr - 5'11" 165 lb] - Left back 2005 Clausura Stats: 1 games, 0 goal There are some other under-30 defenders on the team who KPN could be scouting such as: Gabriel Loeschbor [27 yr - 6'1" 185 lb] - Center back 2005 Clausura Stats: 6 games, 0 goal Overseas experience with Murcia (Spain) and Rennes (France) Celso Esquivel [24 yr - 5'9" 165 lb] - Right/Left back - Paraguay 2005 Clausura Stats: 8 games, 0 goal To summarize, much of the speculation as been about Garcia who Kasper admitted might be too pricey for MLS. Bottinelli is also likely to be too expensive given the fact that he also was a member of the U20 team with Garcia, although he may be cheaper than Garcia so I wonder if DC may focus their efforts on him. Loeschbor could be an option if DC wanted a more experienced defender (probably would have been the type of player that DC would have wanted to trial during the Odvan-Kobistyj period).