Today on Brazils traditional 3 hour Sunday Moring Sports show on TV Globo (kind of like the old ABC Wide World of Sports Show) they had a segment on Rodrigo Faria, a player that is still virtually unknown in Brazil but that occasionally appears as a curiosity on Brazilian Sports show. "A Brazilian playing soccer in the USA??!!" is the theme behind the segment. They go on to show his goals through the years and highlight the SJ Golden goal from last year. They also interview Faria about possibly returning and Faria basicly says that he is happy in the US even though far from family and friends and that probably plans to stick around here another 2 or 3 years. The segment also mentions that a Brazilian team America Mineiro was interested but eventually Faria decided to stay in MLS. Sadly, the goal that they highlight, the golden goal will forever "grace" the TV with images of NFL lines on the field, something that even caught me off guard (at first glace I thought it was an indoor game). So one the few times MLS get worldmedia attention the disgrace of NFL lines taints its reputation. Luckly though and surprisingly the segment made no mention of the lines, but Im sure the millions of Brazilians watching were wondering what the heck that was. Faria wore a San Jose sweatshirt throughout the interview.
I'm not sure SoccerScout knows that Faria was AWOL from the Quakes' preseason this year, and has been cut from the squad, and no one else has made a play for him in MLS.
As of Saturday, he has not been cut, but he is AWOL. At the Club Quake meeting, (Quakes president & GM) Alexi Lalas mentioned that the only time he has heard from Faria was a single 3am phone message, but that it would be up to (head coach) Dom Kinnear to decide whether or not to cut Faria.
OK, now I'm confused. According to the Quakes website, Faria was "dropped from the roster" in early March. Faria Not To Return The Earthquakes announced that forward Rodrigo Faria will not be with the team for the 2004 season, as he has been dropped from the roster and the Quakes have pared their roster down to the MLS mandated 18-player limit. Faria was acquired in a trade from the Chicago Fire in August of 2003, and went on to register one assist in four regular season games for San Jose. Faria’s lone goal in an Earthquakes uniform was an important one, as he scored the Golden Goal to give San Jose the 5-4 comeback series win over Los Angeles in the 2003 Western Conference Semifinals.
I'm confused too. Is it possible that Lalas doesn't know, forgot, or is himself confused? I know he said he was going to leave the player stuff to Dom, but if he really doesn't know for sure, that's taking the hands-off approach pretty far. If that were to mean he's concentrating completely on marketing / attendance and the stadium issue, that's OK by me.
Actually, Faria wasn't in the waiver draft, so I'd say that Lalas is right. Faria was never "cut". He's on "leave of absence without pay" perhaps? My guess....if he ever shows up, we would be FORCED to cut him or drop another player from the roster. Is it possible that we would bring him back if someone suffers a season ending injury? Sort of like having insurance. Not sure how happy his teammates would be to see him back, though.
News flash: there are many other sports played in the United States at a high level besides soccer. So many that different sports have to share stadia and venues on occasion.
There are never NFL lines at Spartan Stadium, because the NFL doesn't play there. The college football team of San Jose State University does, however, so sometimes there are NCAA college football lines on the field. They do a good job of erasing the lines for the Earthquakes, but it is still visible on TV. In person, however, it's almost impossible to spot the lines. --Bill.