http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=256199 Corrales have signed a three years deal with Hamar Kameratene (Ham-Kam). Brann from Bergen have had Garcia in Bergen for a week, so he could be traning with the club, but Brann coach Mjelde says he don't think Garcia could strengthen the starting 11.
Guys like Corrales are a dime a dozen in MLS so no big loss for the league..hope he has fun in Scandanavia, he sure the hell isn't gonna see a call up again playing there..and America thanks him for that.
You know, changing clubs, not to mention leagues, can really give a player a boost, so don't go giving all 'hope' of seeing him again on the NT, so soon. Ham-Kam's got an excellent coach in Ståle Solbakken, so he might just get that nudge that brings him up a notch skills-wise, there @ Hamar.
That's what people said about West also and the only reason he didn't come to the last camp was because of injury.
As a reference, Ham-Kam finished 5th last year with 38 poits, 10 behind each Rosenborg and Valerenga. As to Corrales's skills and tactical awareness, oen might add that he was used out of position by Arena. As a left-side midfielder with San Jose, he more than held his own against the MLS competition. He also has a decent speed/size ratio.
As a reference, Ham-Kam finished 5th last year with 38 poits, 10 behind each Rosenborg and Valerenga. As to Corrales's skills and tactical awareness, one might add that he was used out of position by Arena. As a left-side midfielder with San Jose, he more than held his own against the MLS competition. He also has a decent speed/size ratio.
Actually, a number of Quakes listed him as the most underrated player on the team. (as I recall this showed up in preseason Quakesmagic stuff and/or maybe even a few MLSnet interviews). From a fans perspective, Corrales is just inconsistent. He can look like one of the best players in one game, one of the worst in the next, and just fit in a lot of the time. My guess is that he stands out in practice - and that fans don't appreciate him much becuase he does the ....convey... when he shoots. Somehow he just seems to try to hit it as hard as he can instead of placing it, and the result is often that ....well.... let's just say he could probably earn a few NFL tryouts if the rigth scouts were at the games. If a coach could ever train him to place his shots instead of just HAMmering them, he might score a few more and then fans would think he was great. I'm not sure how likely that is though - especially given the name of the team! But overall, my point is that Corrales is not a dime-a-dozen MLS player. I hope he does well in Norway, and I expect he will.
well i think you hit it right on--ramiro can drive you nuts, but on a good day he can be one of the best players on the field. some would say 'disappear', but to me its more like cruise control. wonder why more leagues worldwide don't do an internet ppv or subscription service. don't you think lower profile teams worldwide like the ability to watch games on mlsnet? sure have more YA now than ever before.
does mlsnet work overseas? i remember a lot of threads from those abroad unable to get the Yahoo feeds
You don't scout on tape or worse on the Internet, you do it in person and you use binoculars to see someone's every step. BTW, I also assume the Europeans have scouts in the US and do not, to quote Werner Wolf, have to go to a videotape. At the very worst, some of the poorer teams can share a free-lancer. It's not like MLS has so many games happening at once. If you have someone in California, another person in the Midwest and another on the East Coast, you can gather more than enough information during the course of the season.
...and MLS would want it's middle type players being shipped more frequently overseas when you can't get a transfer fee for them......why? If guys like West, Barrett, Garcia and Corrales were not out of contract they wouldn't be overseas. What do you think a transfer fee would be on one of these guys with a year left on their current contracts going to clubs in Scandanavia? 25K? If that...... West was overseas a couple of times while under contract and Tom Dooleys Saarbrucken in D3 didn't think he was worth a transfer fee. The teams these guys are going to play for don't have big cash. If they did, they wouldn't be looking at these guys. If this club liked Corrales so much why did they wait until he was out of contract? Come on people, let's get with it here. I am very glad these types of guys are getting opportunities, making a little more money and doing well. Only helps MLS and our profile, but let's be realistic. We have our young studs under contract and will make big bucks off of them, but let's not be in such a hurry to ship our middle guys off in their mid 20's. Some will go, when out of contract, some will stay and some will be salary cap casualties. Some will pretty much have to go if they want to make a living playing the game because they won't be top tier MLS players, and GM's can spend the money they want on younger players instead of paying these guys. Salary cap has to cut out someone, and like the NFL, it will be these guys. Anyway, I think once the reserve system is up and running you will get your wish and see a lot more of the middle types heading overseas. It will improve play here (reserves), and GM's will have young replacements who are in a lot better condition to step right into the senior squad. Top attractions will stay, young studs and prospects will stay.... ....good, but not great, mid age, mid level MLS guys who want to take too big of a chunk out of a teams salary cap will be told take it or leave it, or told good luck.
Which proves that the MLS players are carefully scouted over the course of the season and the subsequent evaluations are not based on Internet feeds. As a side note, this reminds me of 1972 when the NHL scout happened to stumble onto Vladislav Tretyak's single outing with the Red Army and deemed him as mediocre. What the scout didn't know was that Vlad was playing in a game a day or two after his wedding. Of course, any scout that considered Tretyak mediocre under any circumstances was in the wrong line of work.
These guys would never command a large transfer fee, but they do dilute that talent pool in the MLS. It has been well documented that Europe is still hesistant to pay the transfer amounts that mls sets for it's superstars. But time will change, as more americans pile over there and make a name for themselves the willingness of Europe to pay transfer for our boys will increase. So the boys going to the big leagues and the smaller leagues are all positive steps for soccer in the US