There's a thread in the Fire forum, but for the rest of us, here's the ESPN article. Did anyone see this coming? http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=290107&cc=5901
Wow, and good for him. He's certainly earned the payday. And, for that matter, I admire him for trying to conquer new horizons. He's won MLS Cup, come in second twice, won three Open Cups and a Supporters' Shield. Indivdually, he's been the league's GK of the year, on the Best XI, played in numerous all-star games and earned a handful of caps. Aside from the CONCACAF Champions' League, he's won all he can win here. Why not try abroad, especially with the chance to "play in Europe" with Benfica still in the UEFA Cup. Now for the big and key question: Who is Benfica's goalkeeper (s) and what are Zach's chances of beating him/them out?
Despite the connection with the goalkeeping coach, this is a huge surprise. No transfer fee, which makes our guys that much more attractive. I always wondered why no one was seriously interested in him previously. Wonder how much he'll be making.
Sorry to see him go... But it's probably time for MLS to start bringing in the new generation of keepers. From watching FSW last year, it's obvious that there's some pretty decent ones in the A League. There was a tall American kid at Montreal who looked especially good, can't remember his name. But now that the world's figured out how good our GK's are, and with expansion coming up, there's going to be some job openings.
I'll miss the way he sets up a wall. He was always so calm about it, and the close-ups of him leaning against the side goal post and waving men left or right seemed funny to me somehow.
For some reason I see the Players Union salary announcements as a reason for many of our players to seek transfers abroad. I feel like they are trying to either stick it to the league or are just realizing that they should take their own self interest into account. Whereas before there might of have been a feeling of staying in the league for the good of the MLS , whereas now it's time to get what's coming to you. Of course it could be that the europeans are in financial trouble and the americans are cheap, or that they finally have come around to seeing us as an equal. Anyway I wonder what the Benfica fans will say when they see thornton. He's definitely not your typical looking goal keeper. I remember when Norberto Longo would bust his chops for being a bit on the heavy side. I think he mentioned how he should do some excercise and stop eating so much, classic Longo. But I digress...
Good luck Zach Even more so with the current exchange rates. But most of the moves have been on out-of-contract players, who are free, and I doubt anyone would be moving unless they were free, no matter how good they actually are. Americans are bargains right now. Hopefully our bargains will show them that there might be some Americans out there worth a bit of money, though! I say good luck to Zach and the rest, who can finally make some good money. It'll be tough to replace him...
And not just A-League, but there was solid crop in this year's draft. Good luck Zach! And bring on his replacement! (P.S.: denvermugwamp, we gotta stop this being in agreement crap. it's getting scary.
Interesting. Benfica lists three GKs (guarda-redes) at their site. Moreira, a 22 year old Portuguese, has apparently been getting the starts. Bossio, a 31 yo Argie, was the GK on the bench in their last game. They also list another 20 yo Portuguese. Good luck to Zach. It'll be a change going someplace with a critical press that pays very close attention. I was in Lisbon a few years ago and actually got to see Kirovski play as a sub for Sporting against Uniao Leiria. I thought he did fine helping Sporting just maintain possession in a game they had well in hand, but I recall that the reviews in the next day's papers were pretty harsh.
Chicago picked up a good GK in Matt Pickens in the 2nd Round of this draft. I think he played for Fire Reserves PDL team. However, the fact they didn't pick Cronin, the best GK in the draft, when they had the chance proves this transfer blindsided them. Picking Buete over Cronin doesn't look that good now. If the Fire want to look at A-League keepers, perhaps they will take another look at Greg Sutton(6'6) from Montreal who last year won the A-League GKOY award and the Fire had previously draft. Exact opposite of Thorton, tall and skinny. The few games I saw on FSW with Montreal I was impressed. I was really hoping the Crew might take a look. As for MLS GKs, I really can't see Dallas trading Countess, even with Garlic there. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if Countess beats Garlic out for #1 spot this offseason. Either way the fact Dallas can put a high talent roster exempt GK on their roster means they can add another field player instead of a backup full roster GK. However, if Chicago wants Vallow(probably not) he'd be available. SJ has four GKs in Onstad, Conway, Saunders, and Cronin. I could see DC trading Warren or Rimando for a forward like Jaqua. Perhaps NE would like to get Reis off it's books as well.
Not trying to poke fun at Thornton or anything...I respect his abilities and know he is a good GK....However, I must ask: Has he lost weight this offseason? I ask because one always figures that when a Euro team hires someone from abroad (especially Benfica, which is no small team) they look at physical fitness as an important part of the evaluation...From what i saw all season, Thornton looked several pounds overweight, so it really does surprise me a team like Benfica just hired him
Well congrats to Zach, hope he does well over there. And good luck to the Fire in finding a replacment for him.
Downright terrifying. But I'm sure that if we look hard enough, we can find something to disagree about.
Re: Re: Sorry to see him go... Greg Sutton Number: 1 Position: Goalkeeper Height: 6'6 Weight: 210 lbs DOB: 4/19/1977 Citizenship: CAN Residence: Enfield, NH (USA) Last club: Montreal Impact I wasn't really thinking of him for the USMNT (there's enough of a logjam there right now), but maybe as a replacement for someone in MLS. I remember the announcer on FSW referring to him as from the US and it appears he lives in New Hampshire but has Canadian citizenship. Maybe that's from marriage or something? He looked awfully good however and could probably step in sooner than some of the draftees.
No Sutton. Please! Wasn't he the one who played in KC-Fire game back in 2000. I know there was a keeper that let 4 goals past him like he was givining away a corner. I think it was him, might be wrong though.
Yeap, it was Greg allrigth from MLS.com Scoring Summary: KC --Molnar (unassisted) 14 KC --Klein (Preki) 28 KC --Henderson (Preki, Zavagnin) 42 CHI--Razov (Gutierrez) 45 KC --Preki (unassisted) 63 CHI--Gutierrez (unassisted) 68 CHI--Kovalenko (Kubik, Whitfield) 90 CHICAGO FIRE--Greg Sutton, C.J. Brown, Lubos Kubik, Tom Soehn (DaMarcus Beasley 83), Sam George (Evan Whitfield 71), Hristo Stoitchkov, Diego Gutierrez, Jesse Marsch, Ante Razov, Dema Kovalenko, Junior Agogo (Josh Wolff 57) TOTAL SHOTS: 16 (Razov 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 10 (Razov 4); FOULS: 30 (Kovalenko 5); OFFSIDE: 1; CORNER KICKS: 8; SAVES: Sutton 4; CAUTIONS: Razov 31, Agogo 50, Kovalenko 93+; EJECTIONS: Stoitchkov 66; POSSESSION PERCENTAGE: 50% KANSAS CITY WIZARDS--Tony Meola, Peter Vermes, Brandon Prideaux, Nick Garcia, Chris Klein, Chris Henderson, Preki (John Wilson 83), Matt McKeon, Kerry Zavagnin (Alex Bunbury 46), Miklos Molnar (Brian Johnson 80), Mo Johnston TOTAL SHOTS: 16 (Klein 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 9 (McKeon 2, Preki 2, Molnar 2); FOULS: 15 (Henderson 4); OFFSIDE: 1; CORNER KICKS: 6; SAVES: Meola 7; CAUTIONS: Molnar 33, Johnston 46+, McKeon 53; EJECTIONS: none; POSSESSION PERCENTAGE: 50%