By dropping Woodworth and Behonick, are we opening room for a player to come fill a spot in defense? Where does that put our cap ?
I thought they already dropped them - there were separate threads for each. I guess this just makes it official. It would still be nice to get a third keeper on the developmental squad.
Boehenick, Woodworth, and Swann were originally "released." The team retained their MLS rights, but allowed them to pursue other options. Boehenick and Woolworth were "waived" in the latest action. This allows other MLS teams to sign them if they want. The team doesn't want to waive Swann until it finds out how his ankle injury turns out. Swann has found an A-League team, and I believe signed a contract with them. However, D.Kasper said the team wants to keep its options open in the short-term. They might want to make another offer (how that works, I'm not certain) for Swann either for a Reserve Squad or regular spot.
This is what we did prematurely with Daouda Kante last season. I'm not saying we'll rue the day as we did last season, just pointing out the similarity.
Injuries are going to cast a huge shadow over this season, but could it be the spark that we need to get Hudson to get us a good defender?
I may be wrong, but my understanding was that after the whole Kante fiasco, the league tried to remedy this by creating "roster protection" that gives the drafting team the drafted player's rights for 2 years. So if we drafted Woodstock in 2003, no MLS team could sign him until the 2005 season unless they traded with DC United for his rights. This allows guys like him to get A-League experience without being stolen by other MLS teams when they start to develop--like New England did to us with Kante. -Digital
According to the Charlotte Eagles website, he's played and started 3 games, for a total of 210 minutes. No goals or assists. http://www.charlotteeagles.com/proteam/players.htm Hayden Woodworth taken down hard
I think another "good defender" is the lowest of our priorities. Petke, Prideaux, Ivanov & Nelson when he was there have been for the most part excellent, IMHO. A mediocre striker, on the other hand, might be an improvement.
A couple of A-League updates I searched out this old thread because I didn't really feel it warranted a new one of its own... Saw Hayden Woodworth play for the first time this past Saturday as Charlotte came to town to take on the Thunder. He played 90 at left back and looked like a very solid A-League player (how that translates to ever playing at an MLS level is hard to say). He seemed to have good speed, some nice foot skills and passing, and read the game well, going forward occasionally, but never getting hung out to dry. I would say he was one of the better, more skillful players on the Eagles, for whatever that's worth. He also looks like he wants to be the second coming of Mario Gori on the hairstyle front. Also saw John Swann play for Indiana a few weeks back. He played central defence and was solid, if a bit thuggish with a number of hard fouls. Unfortunately he has now gone in for ankle surgery and is apparently out for the remainder of the season.