http://www.soccertimes.com/americans/2008/jul27a It was a foregone conclusion, but IMO Benny had a bad deal. Derby County was a mess before he got there and the minute they secured promotion they had no chance of competing in the EPL. It just wasn't a good situation to come into. I think a move back to Germany is in order. He's well adapt to that style of play. Anywhere, even to the MLS, would be better than Maccabi Tel Avi. No disrespect to them, but it's too early to toil in relative obscurity at this stage in his career (unless some of you watch or even have access to the Israeli Premier League; I had to look that up just to find the name).
I wouldn't be surprised to see him do better in Bradley's H'veen role. Anyhow, let's just hold our water until we see what happens here. As far as I've heard, nothing's happened just yet.
I've said the same. A place like 'Veen seems like a good place for players to go and develop. If Benny stays healthy, I don't think he'd need to be there for more than a year. And like Marko said, I wouldn't be surprised to see him do better than Mike in the same role (maybe not in goals scored, but overall).
Didn't Maccabi Tel Aviv get into the Champions League group stage not that many years ago? One would think Benny could at least get some UEFA Cup games there.
This isn't an NFL type "release" - Benny still gets paid by Derby. If he can't find the team - and he is under no compunction to do so - they'll either take him back or try to loan him out. Most teams try to get something out of a salary.
What a promising young player, and what a turn for the worst. He was the flavor of kool aid everyone was sipping on last summer, and was basically a regular starter. Had he even played in 2008 for the nats? Hopefully he can do well in the olympics, and get back on track. He actually has the ability to make some game changing passes. I think he should come back to the MLS. It really is on par with a lot of other leauges, and going to Tel Aviv would be a downgrade.
According to a poster in the YA forums, Maccabi is still interested. I'll never understand why Derby didn't accept their bid in January. i know, I know, they wanted more money. Still, now they're just releasing him. What was the point of holding onto him for 7 months and never playing him? It'll be interesting to see whether Benny signs with a team before or after the Olympics.
Why? Bradley's role at H'veen wasn't remotely similar to anything Feilhaber has played in. Bradley was positioned ahead of a deep-lying mid and in defense performed like a two-way midfielder. In attack he functioned as a center forward. The offense ran through the wide mids including Sulejmani who was the best player on the team. Feilhaber is a creative midfielder and needs to go where he's going to be used properly.
I think he needs to go to a level of soccer where he can see the pitch. I don't think that arguments like "He was just too creative for Derby, therefore he sat on the bench" hold much water.
From what I saw, it would be fair(er) to say that Derby County couldn't maximize Benny's strengths, but they really exposed his weaknesses.
A truism obviously. Feilhaber doesn't have the physical tools to make it as a two-way mid in a league like the Prem(I saw some his games). He can make it at the high level if used as a creative mid.
Great. Get Eddie Lewis out of there, too. I don't want any Yanks playing for Paul "Barney Rubble" Jewell. If Jewell & Big Sam were hanging out together, I'd bet money that Betty & Wilma would be somewhere close.
He can play in front of the sole destroyer too, similar to Mike Bradley. He wouldn't get into the box as much obviously but he would distribute more and penetrate the defense centrally, while enabling wings to get more open depeer. There are many ways to play soccer. As to his "level of play", it may have been just one game but he received high marks for his play vs. Arsenal. Granted, Arsenal isn't a rough and tumble team like ManU, 'Pool or Chelsea but it was a quality performance against an excellent Premiership squad. In that regard, he should be more than good enough for most, if not all, Dutch squads as well as a majority of the bottom half Bundesliga teams.
He's made 19 first team appearances in his club career that is three years old now. He simply needs to start playing. Whatever level he has play at to get in 30 games this season, that's where he should be. Even if it means USL-2.
I agree that Feilhaber could probably play in a two-man central midfield with a destroyer and the right type of attacking talent in the other four players. However I don't think Roorda is that type of deep lying player player to pair with Benny, and so wouldn't fit into H'veen. Feilhaber is a creative player in an age that values power, pace, and technique. Like Adu he needs to be in the 'right' situation more so than the 'best' situation.
feilhaber is more a pure play maker than bradley is... that's why MB and BF complement each other fairly well, given BF plays and gains form... these two plus edu and szetela will battle for playing time, and that means only good things for usmnt..
Interesting that you say this, because those are the four that would play with Adu in a 3-5-2. Perhaps in one of the first 3 matches in Beijing?
I think Kljestan starts over one of those four. I'm still not convinced that we are only playing three in the back. Guess we'll find out tomorrow.
How can we not play with only three? We only have four defenders, five if you count Edu. I fully expect to see a 3-5-2. Basically half of our playable roster are midfielders. I expect to see them absolutely running their asses off out there, because we have no real stars on this team, just a bunch of guys trying to make their mark. I like the roster. All of these guys have skill. I don't really understand bringing Dax in for Freeman, but he is a good player to have... There is going to be some tough competition for PT out there in the midfield. If Feilhaber can do well there is no reason another club won't pick him up. Coaches DO watch the Olympics.
Benny came on for the 2nd half of the U-23 Ivory Coast 0-0 friendly and got good reviews in the game thread. He played in a three man central midfield of himself, Dax McCarty, and Bradley. Nice to read that the team didn't lose anything defensively with him in there.
He didn't really have to defend much though. He was playing in front of Dax and Michael, and not too far behind Davies up top.