If you haven't seen it, FC Tallavana posted: Quote: EDDIE'S NOT READY Nov 28 2004 MANCHESTER United could lose out to PSV Eindhoven in the chase for USA sensation Eddie Johnson - because of a work permit problem. The 20-year-old striker was in Manchester training with Sir Alex Ferguson's first-team squad last week and is now due in Holland for a stint with PSV. The six foot tall Dallas Burn forward has made American football history by scoring on each of his first three appearances for the national team, including the goal in the recent 1-1 World Cup qualifying draw with Jamaica. But Johnson's lack of international experience means it will be impossible for United to gain the work permit they need for him to play in Britain. ---in the BBC thread
i saw that article, but it doesnt state how he was doing, it had to be good right since he was training with the first team? anyways thanks
Per this article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/grant_wahl/11/30/us.qualifying/ He scored a goal in a reserve practice game on Saturday.
You know, awesome if he signs with either of them, but it really sucks that we might not even get to see this kid try to follow up his break-out season in MLS. At least we got 4 plus years out of Landon and DMB. Eddie could be our first truly world class foward and there's a chance we won't get to see him play outside of USA home games. This feeder league thing is starting to blow.
I get where you're coming from but it's not as though a guy like EJ has a choice. He can earn three or four times what MLS will pay him if he goes to Europe. If ever there was a case where I would support a player "holding out" in order to be dealt it would be EJ's.
hardly players don't stick with the same team in any sport... we should be use to that as sports fans it's fire and national team... players come after that
Can one really say that Donovan and Beasley had played a scintillating brand of soccer in MLS? Landon picked his moments and DaMarcus was virtually absent the few months before his transfer. And, while this is certain to draw ire of the MLS fans, I don't think EJ will develop into a World Class player while in this league, all things being equal.
Ugh!! I hate this meaningless phrase!! It pops into soooo many conversations, and it's useless. Howzabout, I don't think he'll develop into a player good enough to start on a World Cup finalist in MLS. Put some meat on the bones. Sorry to pick on you, tons of people do this, but what the hell is World Class????
How about, "Good enough to be a serious candidate for the All-Star team for EPL (or Serie A or La Liga)"? That's the way I think of it. People used to write that Reyna and O'Brien were world class, but c'mon. That cheapens the phrase. There's still room for 100, 150 players to be World Class under my definition.
That's a great definition. There are probably 4-5 great definitions, some that would be as tight as, serious candidate for World Best XI (which would be about 20 players) and some as loose as, could be a star in EPL/Serie A, etc. (which would be, what, 500 players?) The problem is that every friggin' time that phrase pops into a thread, someone wants to use a definition at one extreme, and someone wants to use a definition at the other. Is Claudio Reyna world class? Maybe. Is Carlos Bocanegra world class? Could be...playing out of position, he's probably the best defender on a legit EPL team. Is Michael Owen world class? Maybe...he's on nobody's short list for World Best XI.
id say no to reyna, bocanegra maybe in the future, and OWen earlier in his career was world class, and needs to regain that form to be considered that again at Real(but hes not starting much, so....)
Haha ... remember that my definition of world class was a $10M transfer fee. But I do agree that without a definition, it's a useless adjective. Reminds me of the times the NFL announcers used the "world class speed" phrase in the 80s. It usually meant "has great speed, can't catch a cold in Antarctica." One also could define "world class" as being one of the top 10-20 players in the world. Or as been said before. In either case, Eddie Johnson would not reach any of the designated definitions while playing in MLS.
The "Utterly Missing the Point" Award goes to 11Best. I disagree. Landon is projected to be a star at BL right now. (He's supposed to be a regular attacker at a CL team; that's a star.) I see no reason why EJ couldn't develop to the point of being the leading scorer for an EPL team (admittedly, it'd probably have to be a bad team, but that would still make him a star.) My point is, rather than throw around the phrase, it'd facilitate discussion if we defined a status.
A lot, according to you. According to me, it's one factor. The games I've seen over the last couple of months for both club and country, he's played pretty well.
I think JRI was being sarcastic. Owen is playing splendidly by any measure, and one could argue he is the best striker in the world at the moment.
yeah better than sheva, adriano(both scoring almost a goal a game for the entire season), eto'o, henry, etc....a lot of his goals are due to the players in squad around him, for instance how he isnt even the best strike ron his own team, without ronaldo(yes i know his stats arent impressive) drawing so much attention, some of those 6 goals in 8 games(which is good but not best striker material) wouldnt have been so easy. hes a great plaer, but the best striker? not even top 5.
One of my favorite things about these sorts of stats is that you know he didn't score 9 games ago and you also know that he did score 8 games ago. If the first wasn't true it would be "7 goals in his last 9 games." If the second wasn't true it would be "6 goals in his last 7 games." The end result is that the strike rate looks a little better than it is because it's rigged a little in his favor. That said Owen is playing well and it just goes to show how much goal scoring often has to do with a player's environment as it does his own talent. He was better than his goal totals indicated at Liverpool and maybe not quite as good as his goal totals indicate at Real Madrid. From what I've seen of him at RM (which is a lot more now thanks to ESPN Deportes) he seems to be a bit of a 'sudden' player for them. Everybody else knocks it around up and down the field and then wham Owen gets his first call in 15 minutes just as he's about to bury it in the back of the net. He's been more of a sniper compared to a machine gunner like Shevchenko. I could not stand having Luis Figo on my favorite team by the way. 70% of the time I'd want to kill him and the other 30% he's pure genius. Even if that 30% makes up for the 70% by twofold, he'd still give me hives so...