Cunningham On Trial With Eintracht Frankfurt The German club is 16th in the 18-team German First Division, and with little money to splash on new players they have brought Cunningham with an eye on the winter transfer window. The team has only scored nine goals this season, and with young star Jermaine Jones set to miss a large chunk of the season after surgery Cunningham might have a chance to stick. http://www.ussocceruk.com/news/?Cat...&ContentId=1058 There's no doubt he'll be the best dribbler on the pitch, but can he work within heavy-tactic (fairly rigid) German system ? Maybe he'll stick on the dribbling alone (hope he catches groove in trials)..
Cunningham given trial I don't know if anyone caught this but plantfootball.com reported that Eintrancht Frankfurt has brought in Jeff Cunningham for a trial. If he impresses he'll be signed in the new transfer window. Frankfurt's homepage best I can tell also confirmed the trail. Given the injury woes at Frankfurt, Cunningham has a shot at being signed and seeing some good minutes in the new year.
Re: Cunningham given trial Good for Jeff...maybe this will help him get over the hump with the national team. I have a feeling this is the first of many trials and loans for American players this offseason.
as long as all dribbling will be in a straight line! If there is a need to turn, pass or shoot, he is hosed.
I disagree (partially)...Cunningham actually has quite a few assists.....I believe he has led Crew most years, even high in overall MLS total...he creates A LOT of dangerous opportunities, but yes his "conversion" ratio is low....because he MUST get better at letting others flow with the play and inclusion.... Shooting....na ja as they say in German....he needs to do better.. (Straightline) If you are implying Cunny is predictable, I would strongly disagree...he may overdo it (beat one too many), but he is the most creative, effective dribbler in MLS...without question, IMO
Gotta disagree jri.Whatever his attributes, he is just not EFFECTIVE.I will plead gulity to actually posting that I thought Cunni should get a chance for the USA 2 years ago.Then I went to the playoff games at the Boro last year, Revs vs Crew. Did you catch that on TV perhaps? It was not just that Llamosa handled him like a school-boy, but that Cunni used the same freakin move over and over, and it never worked! He would come up to LLamosa, and just push the ball past him and try to run around Carlos.Well, it didn't work at all, since LLamosa stepped between Cunni and the ball. So what did Cunni do? He proceeded to try the same move about 5 more times, each time LLamosa did the same thing and snuffed out rally after rally.My friends and I could not believe it. Even us weekend players know that if a guy can easily handle your move, gotta try something new. So as for Cunni's alleged creativity, he is about the least creative thinker in MLS in my opinion.He has one move, and even that is not a particulrly good move. It never fools a good defender.
his stats seem to say otherwise there bruce. sure, i saw those games and could not agree more with what you say...but did you happen to watch the first round games against san jose when cunningham practically carried the crew on to even have the chance to face the revolution...in that series he turned around a few defenders savy defenders like agoos <despite being a putz internationally he was/is a solid mls defender> and that is in your opinion but in the minds of many mls defenders he scares the living crap out of them. just ask around; i have talked to a few opposing defenders and jeff's name always comes up as one of, if not the most feared forward they have to defend.
Speed Kills. If Jeff Cunningham has nothing else, he has massive amoutns of speed. Thats ok if he leaves, MLS has Jamil Walker to take his place
I hope Walker has a better soccer brain.I have not seen Walker play much- what do people who see him more think of him?
well, I had the impression that Crew fans had grown exasperated with him.I would guess he could not have been all that effective because the Crew certainly struggled this year and McBride seemed to be playing fairly well.So fidlere and jri, let me put it to you both, why has Cunningham NOT been more effective than he has.If he has lightening speed( which is a fact) and he is such a great dribbler, why has he managed to, at times, play himself to the bench?
While its true I haven't seen much of him, but I have liked what I've seen so far though. Great athletecism, a lot of courage in the PK box, decent first touch, and has a willingness to take people on. I never really considered him international material but if Bruce Arena thinks he is good enough then he probably really is good enough to play for USA.
I noticed 2 problems with Columbus. No Stud defenders, and no other midfielders to take away the defenses attention form the A-Mid in the midfield. Opposing midfields would just collapse in around Martino. And his game isn't robust enough to take a beating and still keep going. Of course it doesn't help that MLS officials generally let anything go as long as it doesn't involve a weapon. Like a club. This team would do wonderfully with Bobby Convey. If Cunningham doesn't end up in Germany they should swap him for Convey straight up. I mean the midfielders that Columbus have are old man Mais, Freddy Garcia, Rosse Paule, and uh Diego Walsh. Cunningham is basically unneccasry on the squad because of McBride and Edson Buddle. Forwards who more talented than Cunningham
I didn't see the Revolution game you mention (but have no reason to doubt you), but I did see part of that Earthquake series, and enough other games to know Cunningham can (emphasize CAN) be on a different, better planet when dribbling sometimes. By the sound of it, btw, sounds like Cunningham was trying to "play games" with Llamosa, and got too caught up in that, and not adjusting....just a guess (don't know why else someone would do same move 5 times in row) (Why does Cunningham have problem with Crew) Look, he overdoes it....sometimes he tries to beat guys in low odds situations, and in general, one can tell that Jeff is just too enamored with dribbling....its made his a great dribbler, but harmed other parts of the game. Having played with such a player in college, I know how frustrating it can be (to make runs, and not get the ball)...and eventually your team can quit making the runs, and start standing, and then everything breaks down. I don't think the problem is THAT severe with Jeff, but probably some of that occured. Especially with McBride coming back from the English game, in which ball moves quickly and many get touche... Cunningham certainly will have to adjust in Germany to be successful. Remember too....Buddle is not chopped liver....he is a very good striker already. Finally, I think Columbus had overall cohesion problems which were not the fault of Jeff....Quite honestly, with their talent, i don't understand why they didn't win more, and I can only blame the coach....I know they had some injuries, but they shoulda won a lot more...
Here is the story from the Eintracht Frankfurt website: http://www.eintracht.de/aktuelles/details/9192/
he hasn't "played himself to the bench," injuries placed him on the bench...at the end of the season greg stated he would have started all 3 forwards in columbus this year <like they did in their first game of the year> if all 3 would have been healthy, that was his plan from day one until injuries took their toll. when cunny was healthy enough to play 90 he normally did...
And here is something from a Frankfurt newspaper. It is mentioned toward the bottom of the article. Perhaps someone can translate. http://www.f-r.de/ressorts/sport/sport_rhein_main/?cnt=338919&
It says that Reimann (Frankfurt's coach) might let Cunningham, who is on trial in Frankfurt, play in today's friendly against Arminia Bielefeld (which should start in 30 minutes). That was all Cunningham related in this article.
That’s Frankfurt’s offense: Markus Beierle – 31, finisher/center type, 108 BL games (5 this season), 29 goals (1 this season) – doesn’t belong to the skilled forwards, but sometimes has a run and scores when you don’t have him on the bill Doo-Ri Cha – 23, playing/counter attacking forward, 34 BL games (12), 1 goal (0) – he’s unbelievably fast, but that’s everything… extremely poor finisher, hates physical play Nico Frommer – 25, finisher/center type, 17 BL games (9), 2 goals (2) – proven 2.Bundesliga striker, but still has to show permanent Bundesliga level (yet he’s their best striker) Jermaine Jones – 22, playing forward, 7 BL games (5), no goal – talent with a major attitude problem that kicks him two steps back whenever he makes a step forward… bad luck with injuries… next year in Leverkusen if they don’t manage to annul his contract… I’ve never seen Cunningham play, but if I were mean I’d say: it’s hard for him to be worse…
Does anyone recall what the judgment of Leverkusen was when he trialed/trained there a year or two ago? I remember he wasn't good enough, but does anyone recall why?
Well here you go (Windows Media Player files): Jeff beats Man Utd's keeper: http://play.rbn.com/play.asx?url=ml...3_METCLBcunningham.asf&proto=mms?mswmext=.asx Jeff dribbles through traffic and scores: http://play.rbn.com/play.asx?url=ml...3_CHICLBcunningham.asf&proto=mms?mswmext=.asx Jeff shakes and bakes and McBride finishes: http://play.rbn.com/play.asx?url=ml...2003_CHICLBmcbride.asf&proto=mms?mswmext=.asx He's quick and dangerous with the ball at his feet. The big criticism that he usually gets is that he holds the ball too long.