Antonio Chivas Martinez signed with Cordoba CF http://www.eldiadecordoba.com/edicion/deportes/deportes372487.htm Is he the first Burn player to sign in Europe?
good question. Alain Sutter came from Europe - does that count? Matt Jordan went to O. B. in Denmark. can't think of anyone else at the moment.
Congratulations to Chivas! I hope he does well. I don't know much about Spanish leagues though. Which divison is Cordoba in?
Cordoba is currently mid-table in Division 2 A. SPAIN 1 - La Liga Div 1 2 - Division 2A 3 - Division 2B
My spanish is good enough to understand that he's not joining the team until next season (04-05), but it's not good enough to understand the reason he's not joining them this season. Anyone? alansl
I think it is something to do with Cordoba's situation. It (the article) does say that he will be training with the club starting now. It also says he will be taking up a 'foreigner' slot on the team and that he is coming to the team as a free transfer since his MLS contract has expired.
Well congrats to Chivas. I know he has wanted to try his luck in this kind of move for some time. Best of luck to him.
I'm really psyched about the signing. I hope he does well. They'll be sending him to play with another team, possibly in Switzerland, or another team in Spain. An interesting note was that they identified Chivas as a Mexican player. However, the article mentioned that he was "developed" by the Burn. Not too shabby, eh?
Yet another player MLS allows to leave on a free. Sheesh, they just don't seem to get how international soccer works sometimes. That said, I'm happy for Chivas. I always liked him. He's not the best two-way player and he's inconsistent, but when he's on, he's a very exciting and very dangerous attacking player and a lot of fun to watch. I think Spain will be good for him. He'll have to work his ass off on D but that will only enhance him as an overall player. Kind of surprised he didn't end up in Mexico but I think the Spanish second division is a good place for him. If he shows well, I wonder if it will catch the attention of either the Mexican or US Federations in terms of trying to cap him.
Allow me to be one of the few people that's not terribly broken up about Chivas' move to Spain. And the only reason I AM broken up about it is because it means that our 2nd round pick (#11 overall) is going to LA. People still think that Chivas is going to blossom into this great player one day or that he can blossom into a great player. And while I acknowledge the existence of "late bloomers," I'm 99.9% sure that it's not going to happen with Chivas. What you're seeing now is all you're ever going to see. -- No commitment to playing defense. And while Sandon Mibut thinks that Chivas will fall in love with the idea of playing defense when he's with some second-division Spanish team, I don't see it happening. The reason why he had such a hard time getting off the bench here is because of that. If he can't play defense to get more playing time in an environment where he could get lots of exposure for the coaches of his two home countries, why do we think that he's going to do it when he's languishing in obscurity in the Spanish second division. -- Poor decision-making. If I had a nickel for every time Chivas shot when he should've passed to an open teammate or passed the ball to a tightly-marked teammate when he should've shot or dribbled into three defenders while teammates were waving their arms, trying to get his attention, I would've had enough money to buy the Burn and build ElJefe's Dallas Burn Funhouse in downtown Dallas. And it never got better. Maybe you can lay this at Mike Jeffries' feet. -- Bad professional attitude. Probably the most glaring sign of this was when he showed up to 2003 training camp overweight and woefully out of shape. What the hell is that? I know some of the Chivas apologists here were trying to deny this, but it was obvious on the field. He was gassed after about 15 minutes and when he tried his best move (passing the ball forward, then blowing by the defender), it never worked last year because he was carrying so much additional weight. How can you call yourself a professional and let yourself go like that. I'm sure that if I were so inclined, I could come up with a few more reasons that I'm sorrier to see the #11 pick go than I am to see Chivas go. But those reasons are much the same as the reasons why Chivas was collecting splinters in his ass in LA and why Sigi Schmid wasn't exactly falling all over himself to keep Chivas at the HDC this offseason.
Hey El Jefe, Lets get the Burn to make a quick trade for the last pick in the second round. Then we can give elay that pick, since it is "a 2nd round pick", just like they screwed us by giving us their lower first rounder when we thought we were getting their natural pick.
Well this Chivas apologist knows that he had off season knee surgery before that season. Sorry if you fell for Jeffries scapegoating. He was a great guy and I wish him well. Maybe in Spain they will figure out what to do with him, Dir had an idea that needed work but Jeffries was sort of clueless about him. I remember best his rookie year when he would enter late in a game and torch tired defenders. Freddy Adu may get the Chivas instant offense sub role this year.
I think that was the reason he got traded, that and something about not being offered a contract(I believe it was a socceramerica article). Once he got traded he said in the spanish radio(LA) that the Burn coach would critize him in the texas newspapers about his "shape" , he thought it was funy how the team then aquired an extremely overweight player who made 10 times his salary after the trade. Im as surprised as most of you that he signed in Europe. I was 100% sure that he would take the offer Atlas(Mex club, whos almost in Libertadores Cup) made to him since he always said that his dream was to play in Mexico.
In the two preseason fitness tests, one at start of two a days, and one at end of preseason... Chivas was beaten both times by his coach Mike Jeffries.
and in case you missed this top ten... http://www.3rddegree.net/top_ten/index.htm As early as 2002, when the team and Chivas were playing very well, a homesick Chivas expressed to Swift and Jeffries his desire to return home via a trade to Los Angeles.
The problem with Chivas' lack of fitness coming into 2003 wasn't the lack of fitness in and of itself, it was that it completely nullified his greatest strength as a player -- his speed and quickness. This was pretty much shown by his utter ineffectiveness throughout the 2003 season, both in Dallas and in LA. If Chivas was the same kind of player as Big Toni, a center forward that can be an immovable object while muscling defenders off the ball, then yeah, Chivas might've had a beef with Big Toni's money and his lack of fitness. But the fact of the matter was that Big Toni, despite his lack of fitness, was a far more effective player in 2003 than Chivas was in 2003 and clearly made the team a better one at the front. I'm not obsessed with player fitness in and of itself. If you can be an effective player while carrying a few extra pounds, then fine. But Chivas, more than anyone else, should've what his main strength as a player is, and he should've known that being out of shape would nullify that strength and make him an ineffective player.
Does knee surgery make your weight balloon up? No. Other players in this game have had knee surgery in the past, and while they weren't in game shape immediately when they came back, they also didn't go Marlon Brando on us. Jeffries' scapegoating? I don't need the coach to scapegoat a player when that player is absolutely useless on the field and can't beat anyone on the dribble. And BTW, if that fortysomething coach is beating that player (whose main calling card has always been his speed and quickness) in a foot race, then yeah, I'd say that he has the right to dogpile that player.
Thats pretty sad to hear, funny too. Im specially surprised that he felt home sick in Texas and now moves to Spain. The money must be pretty good in the Spanish 2nd division.
Well that coach should have had some b@lls and traded him or released him as soon as he requested it as 3rd... claims. I cant imagine a coach that keeps a player who no longer wants to play for him.
If this had happened we would have been without an entire team by July 2, 2003 - the darkest day in Burn history.