http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58763-2004Apr7.html Mostly about Freddy's minor ankle injury, but at the bottom it mentions this: "Nana Kwame Kuffour, a 17-year-old midfielder from Ghana who has participated in United's workouts this week, has had his tryout extended into next week. Kuffour, who is in the process of being adopted by a Northern Virginia businessman, could be offered a developmental contract soon." I guess the fact that he's already in the process of being adopted means FIFA's rules don't block him from playing abroad before turning 18? I wonder what the deal is.
Re: Additional info on 17 yr old Ghanaian trialist Kuffour Better do an extensive investigation to make sure he's not actually 20.
I think it's either a UEFA rule or an EU rule that prevents non-EU players from playing in Europe before they turn 18 (with certain exceptions, such as when the family moves for non-football related reasons). I don't think there's any such restriction on playing in MLS.
I think Ursula posted the rules somewhere in these threads recently. It aparently is a FIFA rule if i recall correctly. I'll take a look around, or Ursula if you come across this, maybe you could post again... Any word on what kind of player he is? tall, short, fast, slow? attacking mid, defensive mid, 2-way player? center mid, winger?
Frankly, unless this kid is the 2nd coming of Freddy or something, don't we need to look at adding a little more depth along the backline before we sign another midfielder? We've got 8 guys for 2 spots at forward, but only 5 for 3 spots in the backline? Seems a little out of balance if you ask me.
This does make good business sense. Why actually invest in the whole league or even the team, if you can take your chance on winning big by simply buying a Ghanan?
I could see Nowak doing it, but I have a feeling that he has already gotten his message across to Dema behind closed doors.
Perhaps, but there's nothing more gutwrenching for a competitor than having to sit out a match due to his own misbehavior, especially when he could be playing according to the league.
You're right. If Nowak wanted to send a message, he could suspend Dema for the Scum match, but isn't that cutting off your nose to spite your face? Dema is one of our best players and I think penalizing him for this bullsh!t red is a little much. If he had gotten the yellow for the slap and Nowak suspended him for Saturday, I think it would have more of an impact on Dema than piling on to the League's penalty.