Emilio Signed

If it came down to an emergency, he could probably enter the U.S. on a tourist visa and not get paid until his work authorization came through. He probably did enter on a tourist visa, since he was here for the presser.

 

Sorry, I'm was never a Cien fan. Then you must have tipped my beers and stolen it's contents.

You won't comment on Emilio. Why not?

I have a feeling that Lucky Luciano will be a good striker. Kind of reminds me (in the sense that he can score against decent competition) of another player who led a Central American nation in scoring during his stay there, yes I am talking Roy Lassiter. We shall see how it works out.

 

One thing nobody seems to taking into consideration is that United and Emilio may have started the process for his Visa weeks or even months ago.

 

Can you start that process without some form of prrof that you will be given employment?

 

He could, but that would be illegal.

 

You can start, but you can't finish. And we KNOW Emilio is all about finishing.

 

You basically have to get a sponsor of sorts. DC signs off that they will hire you if you are granted the visa. Since the authorities don't want to give visas to people you don't sign, I'd sense that they would have gotten pretty far into talks, if not signed him, before DC sticks their neck out and starts visa paperwork.

 

Umm....Kevin Payne was with AEG at that point wasn't he? And I don't think management has ever told a coach "no, we're not going to let you have that player" when the coach wanted some talent. Nah, we were capped out both years with Hudson. And those were due mostly to decisions made by Hudson. He made offers to Dalglish based upon available cap room and Dalglish found the money amount in adequate. Hudson was the guy who had promised Ivan McKinley $100K. Does anyone think that the expansion draft selections of Rimando and Alavanja were made by someone OTHER than Ray Hudson? Hudson had no use for Justin Mapp--and felt that trading for Dema Kovalenko was a great deal. Hudson coached David Stokes at the combine and came out of it enthralled with him, only to later pronounce that he was a project. Hudson was also the guy who offered our #1 pick to Dallas for Jose Vaca. My point behind all of this is that Hudson pretty much called the shots with what talent to bring in. And if you were to go back and read/listen to all of his talent comments, the guy he lusted after the most and made repeated efforts on was not Emilio, not Gomez...but Dalglish.

The primary reasons Christian Gomez and Luciano Emilio weren't made offers good enough to sign them during the Hudson years was b/c Ray Hudson felt he had other players he wished to pursue (such as Galin Ivanov).

I'm glad Hudson noted Gomez and Emilio. But he signed neither of these players--I'd argue primarily b/c he had other priorities.

 

Well if you think Hudson was our GM or TD or whatever we called it back then then that is fine with me. I don't think so.

 

Well tell us what you know or think you know. This is a board for sharing ideas and information. Funny thing is that I Im'ed a Brazilian friend in Salvador, Bahia about the signing today, and that friend said "ahh, ele nao e um bom jogador". As i was asking why that comment, my friend had to rush off and said good-bye. So I'm interested in hearing your take.

 

Might want to watch American Soccer tonight on GolTV at 8:30 to see what Ray has to say about this signing. If he had anything to do with recruiting him years ago, Hudson will be sure to say so.

 

Well, he was 19/20 when he was in Germany, and that was almost a decade ago.

Honestly, all I'm looking for is a guy who can do with regularity what Eski did once (be a goalscoring threat for a whole season). We get that, and the Gomez/Jaime/Emilio triangle will still be one of the most dangerous in the league. We'll still need another creative player in midfield, but I have no reason to be pessimistic in that regard.

The steadiness of his record in Honduras makes me think he has a good shot there.

 

You know more about these players than I do, but I had read from other people who follow Brazilian soccer that Ruy was a decent, not great, signing and that his size might be problematic in a more physical league like MLS.

I wouldnt put the Honduran league much behind the MLS (if at all), so Emilio excites me, as he has proven to be a goalscorer on a top team in their league.

Based on pure talent, I'm not sure I'd argue with Ruy or Emilio, but I dont want the most talented player, I want the one who fits in best to what DCU is trying to do to win games and championships/cups. DCU need a forward more than a winger, so I'm sticking with this being a good signing.

Granted, I'd take Ruy too, but that looks like a lost cause.

 

Alavanja was trash but are you saying you disagree with getting Rimando in the expansion draft?

Also, I'd venture to say that Kovalenko for Mapp is one of the best deals DC United has made, ever. United dumped a petulant kid that didn't want to work, was a locker room cancer and played no defense and in return got one of the hardest working players who was very productive for the team.

Both Rimando and Dema were huge cogs for DC's 2004 championship. While Hudson certainly had his flaws, I don't think that either of those moves can be considered part of them.

 

Emilio crashing out in Germany as a kid is probably comparable to Jamie's stint at Middlesbrough, and I don't doubt his quality.

 

I was thinking this, too. Matter of fact, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Kaspar and Payne were thinking this, too.

 

Taylor Twellman didn't exactly do so well in Germany either...

 

Did great for the 1860 reserves. Scored a bunch of goals, just never got any PT.

 

Landon had problems with all three of his German trips.

 

My God that translator was garbage

 

Playing against the reserves doesn't prove a thing. He never cracked the starting lineup in Germany for the real team.

In other words, he didn't exactly do so well in Germany.

 

1. My point about Hudson and players was that he pretty much made his own team. GoDC and I have different perspective on that issue. My point with Rimando and Alavanja was that clearly those were Hudson choices--they came from Miami. The Mapp--Kovalenko deal (and then signing Stoichkov), again, those are clearly Hudson moves. So while I credit Hudson for scouting Gomez and Emilio, Hudson also felt he had better players that were more important to the team than those two. That included another player in Argentina he had rated over Gomez.

2. I do feel the Emilo-Koln and Moreno-Boro stints are analagous. Marco Etcheverry disappointed with his stint in Spain. Young South Americans sometimes bomb in Europe and yet turn out to be credible players. We don't need the young Ronaldo here, someone with the finishing instincts of Carlos Ruiz will do very nicely. Earlier I made the comparision to Giovanni Elber. Elber never saw time with Brazil but he sure got the job done for Bayern Munich. I could be very happy with a poor-man's Elber and so far, it sounds like Emilio "might" be that kind of player: not big on style points but fast, efficient, tough, proven finisher who stays on the field (rather than the trainer's table).

3. I think MLS is above Honduras as a league. But Emilio plays on one of the better teams that performs internationally. Furthermore, the Honduran league is an extremely chippy league. Where some foreign forwards (like Sergio Galvan Rey) have had trouble adjusting is the physical nature of play--I think that will be less of an issue for Emilio. What is really telling to me is that he's been on our radar for about 5 years now so this isn't someone who just got hot or had a really impressive goal or Kasper saw have an impressive game. He's got a body of work that has kept us following him.

4. I'm not put off that a Brazilian affecionado would be less than impressed. I'm sure that Emilio fails the "style" test of playing beautiful football. But as someone else said, we want a finisher with some speed who can handle physical play and mesh with our other talent. Until Emilio gets it done on the field, we won't know for sure. But so far, the signs are promising.