http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/07/thursday-west-c.html So during the day i visit a few soccer news websites just to see different opinions in the MLS community. One that i've really gotten to respect is Ives Galarcep. He recently started to look into the western conference a bit more (he feels he has an east coast bias). Well his first post about the West (by correspondent Odeen Domingo) is just sooo out there i had to share. i've already posted my .02 on the piece... i was flagged cuz i'm know to talk a little bit of mess... feel free to go on and share your thoughts on the story
Gotta be the dumbest thing I've ever read on that site. I check out his site at least a couple times a day - but that rumor has got to take the cake. MLS-Rumors.net didn't even pick up on this doozy!!
It looks like Ives has a "West Coast Correspondent" who wrote that story based on a Seattle newspaper article on Ching. That is usually a better site than that as they post mostly legitimate news and not lead with misleading headlines. The San Jose guys will be in here in 6 hours with the latest way that the entire team may come back to the Earthquakes. I will say this, roster turnover is in my opinion inevitable this offseason so I would not rule anything out and with the age of most of our core guys, if we can get good value for 30+ year old players we need to consider it.
Thanks for finding that - I needed a good laugh! You know what this means, right? It means that despite our apparent inability to win games lately we are still doing SOMETHING right. Otherwise, they wouldn't be constantly wasting their time trying to split up our championship team.
I totally agree with this statement. Why not try to move a player or two if you can get some good value for them. We "love" the players and all but we need to continue winning and not just be happy with "Well, he is not winning any balls for us or putting anything in the net, but LOOK what he does in our community and he is such a nice guy!" But, Trust in Dom, right, he will keep the Dynamo train on the tracks.............i hope
This place is going to meltdown WHEN it happens. Not IF it happens. Change in the roster is inevitable. If Euroland comes calling, players are going to jump at the chance. While possibly losing Ching or DeRo would definitely suck, its better to lose them when they have value for the club to acquire another quality player. Rico has been down this year, Davis has been hurt, Waibel has also been hurt so some of the senior players are either going to move on or retire. Pat can stay in goal as long as he wants. We are toast without him. I agree with the poster above that we are going to see some departures after the season. Such is life.
You can't deny that someday we WILL have to let ching go? Good teams in all sports let go of players when they have value to keep the team strong. Look at Man U selling players, Keane, Beckham, Van Nistelroy, Stam........ But of course in our MLS playoff system we are still in the running. But if we were in a single table system we would NOT and would be looking at next year.
This is not as dumb as many posters seem to think. Forget about a knee jerk reaction, these moves will happen over the next year, here is my take on possible moves of key players and why. Ching - As injuries continue to dog him, a west coast move would not be out of the question and an expansion team would benefit from his experience. Could prolong his playing career by a year or two. DeRo - Seems to only be able to turn it on for big games these days (MLS Cup, All Star Game, Canadian Team) and not ofthen in regular season play for Dynamo when we need him. He is high profile and a move to Europe still beckons for him whilst the league can get some money for him. Clark - Hasn't been lighting it up this year but hope for a good second half (ditto half the team). Another candidate for Europe in the next year and a half. Davis - Putting aside his many injuries, he looks disinterested this year and appears to want a move sooner rather than later. Could see him move tnother MLS team this year (Kansas City?). Holden - Assuming he does make final Olympic selection and does well in Beijing, expect to see him head back to Europe at the end of this MLS season. His stock continues to rise, has a Euro passport and only one year on his contract after '08. Waibel - Love this guy but he's showing his age and lack of speed is killing us. Another guy who could be good for an expansion team for a couple of years in terms of experience, work ethic and model professional. Other lesser players could easily leave for other clubs where they may see more playing time, but the list above constitutes 6 of our best players! So don't sneer and say this is a joke, it's highly likely!
The only W Coast expansion team in the near future is Seattle and they probably wouldn't want him, nor would Dom give him up. A trade with San Jose in the future isn't out of the question though, but they'd have to give up a boat load to get him. I expect him to be with us through 2009 and maybe the WC. His Eurotime is just about up, really. Not too many clubs go for 30-somethings from across the pond. Sure, he may get the odd offer, but I doubt he'll take it at this point in his career. IIRC, we have him signed through 2010 and after that, he'll get A) traded to TFC or B) leave on a free Europe is hardly out of the question for him, but it'd probably be in a 2nd tier league. That said, I haven't heard or read any rumors about him so maybe not. If he could nail down the starting DM spot on the USNT, he'd probably be gone, but that's not happening with this coach. In regards to trades, sure, he's the one I could see traded the most from this list, but even then thats unlikely. We don't have anyone to take his spot, longterm and there are maybe 2 others in this league who are as good as him or better (Mastroeni and Joseph). Nah, I don't think it's disinterest so much as all the damn injuries. It's hard to stay in form when you go out for 5 minutes and get reinjured. If he can get consistent playing time, he'll be fine. Ashe is a great kid, but nowhere near the level of Davis. If he plays to his potential the rest of the season and does well in the Olympics, he's gone in January. Good for him, too. He's settled in way too much here in H-town to see him go anywhere. And he is NOT the type of player an expansion team wants to build with for "experience". Too injury prone and, realistically, he's a great RB, but hardly the best for his age, either (pardon me, Sir Waibel). He'll finish his career here and retire and go into coaching and/or announcing/broadcasting.
I think El Naranja has hit the analysis spot on. One thing to consider for most of these guys is that unlike many pro athletes in the US, these guys are going to have to develop a solid post-playing career and staying in Houston and working with a club and doing coaching, training, media work, whatever is probably a better option than playing for an expansion club for a year for 100k. Houston is probably as good a place as any to do that right now. Ching, DeRo, Clark, and probably Holden are making or can make some good coin at soccer going forward but most of the rest of the guys are MLS lifers at this point.