Didn't they just get back? There's an MLSnet.com interview with them about the experience. Said they played with the reserves most of the time, so definitely only a training gig.
Yes, this was only a training stint.....FCD sent Ramon Nunez over to Celtic last Fall for a similar deal. He came back with a completely different mindset with much more respect for the professional game and had his breakout season. They are hoping for more of the same. The team actually had additional training stints set up with a different EPL club, can't remember which one, but that fell through for some reason. Looks like they plan on making it a regular off-season thing with their youngsters.
Wagenfuhr: Over there it's more about playing, and maybe this is because we weren't with the first team that much, but we didn't work that much on shape or very many tactical things. It was mostly just playing, a lot of small-sided stuff. There was no down time at all. We were always doing something ... Wagenfuhr: That's true especially for the younger guys and the reserves, more so when they had two training sessions (per day-SFS).
...to make it in England/Germany as a "yank abroad" you best be one mentally tough Muther fcuker....the locals do not take kindly to some "yank" trying to take their spot and will try to kick the siht out of you....every day...add to that the cold and damp of an interminal English/German winter, the constant, daily competition for playing time, the politics, pecking order, favoritism etc can beat the mentally soft real quick..... (see Landycakes...some of the reasons I think the guy is way over-rated)...survive this environment and you can play anywhere....IMO Landycakes has prooved he can't
you really aren't a fan of young "hyped" american footie players are you? I remember some scathing comments about convey from you. what american soccer players do you think are worth they're salt?
IMO the USA national team COLLECTIVELY is very good and IMO they will do well in the WC......the sum of the teams parts is, IMO way better than the individuals who make up the team.
I don't see what's wrong with this post. You may not like the way he said it but it's true. Mentally, you have to be real tough to make it over there (100% committed). Many more hurdles for our guys to overcome. The way soccer is run is very different from how our sport systems are run here. You forgot the $$$ issue Mike. Boca/Knight is perfect example. CC signs a player to big bucks. He is obligated to play him. He is responsible for the books as well as the results. He just can't wait until next year to draft a new player like we do here. If he spent his cash already he can't buy another one. He is stuck. Sit this guy you shelled out big dollars for over a young player and you hang yourself for all intents and purposes. Thats' why Knight has been given so many chances. He finally seems to have run out. IMO, Landon never wanted to play in Germany. I was counting the days until he came back. If he got to choose his situation right now I would give him a clean slate because he would be 100% responsible for his choice (he's not a kid anymore). He wasn't 100% commited so it never hada chance. LD gets hyped here becuase we have had so few players ever like him. This will change over the next decade, but the kid performs for the Nats. That's for certain. If he can in the cup, 4 years of doubt and BS will go away, if not, it will be Landon season.
I wasn't saying there was anything wrong with his post, or that I disagreed, only that this is not the first time I've seen him note how another yank is over-rated on a thread having nothing to do with that yank to begin with. I was just curious if there were any yanks that he did feel were not over-hyped/rated.
If he performs at the Cup, he will have vindicated his career choices, something akin to "having its cake and so forth". If he blunders however ...
Thats why the Looney Toons - It's Landon season comment Yeah, I like the having his cake analogy. Fits. We will see.
I wouldn't be so quick to reach that conclusion. Donovan had a helluva lot more to lose by sitting on the bench at Leverkusen than Bobby Convey did by riding the pine at his club. Two completely different situations. Two different solutions.
I would agree with this and personally I have more respect for Convey now than I did last season....he strikes me as being mentally tougher by far than Landycakes
I have been talking about this for some time....it's called the "Pecking Order"... some on these boards don't believe in this (superdave is the leader) and can't see the woods for the obvious trees....If a manager....lets say Rafa Benitez....signs a player for bigish bucks....lets call him, for wont of another name, Peter Crouch, and puts him in the starting line-up....and say Peter Crouch doesn't score a goal for like, 16 fcuking games but is STILL in the line-up.....why do you think that is ??....it is because Rafa's neck is on the line...his judgement of a player is on the line....his reputation is on the line....his job is on the line.... ....had that player been named Cooper and had cost sweet fcuk all....then he may have gotten 2 or 3 games tops and then would be on the bench or in the stands...this is not brain surgery....the player who cost the most will ALWAYS play ahead of the player who cost less who will play ahead of the player who cost nothing....until such time as the player who cost the most has shown he cannot do the required job and then the manager (if he still has a job) sells him for what he can recoup...
I agree. Some may want to take you to task for trying to promote Cooper, but in Europe, from what I have seen, this is how it works. Talk to any fan in Europe over a drink and who a manager purchases, how much they cost, and how they are doing (relative to $$$) is talked about and scrutinized every bit as much as game day tactics and results. The managers are held very accountable for their purchases and how much they payed. As you said, necks on the line. All I know is this. I make a major purchase or decision, and I'm responsible for it, because I have told/convinced someone it will succeed and it is the right thing to do, and they have laid out the money for me - I am going to give that purchase every chance in the world to succeed. Why wouldn't I? I'm human. If the purchase I made is clearly worse than some youth player, free transfer or cheap purchase I have available that can help me win over the expensive purchase I stuck my neck out for - I'm out of a job anyway becuase I am going to lose the boards trust.
Retract that. You've got me confused with someone else. I actually believe in the pecking order, I just don't think it's ironclad like you do. Hell, I was talking about this last year when Coleman kept playing that useless git Zat Knight.