Bit surprised there was not one of these already... Gbandi going on trial... http://www.3rddegree.net/thirdindex.cfm?page=article&show=20274 On the start site there is something saying they have a deal with both Gbandi and FCD, they just want to take a look. FCD said no deal is in place, but they are letting Gbandi go on trial.
Norwegian posters were alluding to Start's seeking of a left fullback, with Ramiro Corrales being firmly in their sights. Subsequently, Corrales seemed to have chosen another Norwegian club, Brann ... but has been taking his time before signing.
Is Gbandi a US citizen? I know he wasn't when he started in MLS - only a Green Card - but he could be by now. I'm not saying he isn't, I just stopped paying attention once he got cap-tied to Liberia.
What, you think people should Start Gbandi-ing around some puns or something? That would be bad form.
There are no well known Norwegian G/bands to make puns with. Now, if he went to Sweden .... And the Start puns "Gbandi gdone with MLS, seeks a fresh Start" are pretty bad
Thanks for the info. We'll never know for sure, but I bet that based on his play in 05 that Gbandi would have been in the US camp this winter had he not been cap-tied to Liberia. I don't blame him for taking the Liberia call-ups. At the time, a US call-up seemed unlikely. But he's gotten better every year and last year was one of the top 1-2 left backs in the league. Also, had he not gotten hurt his Sr. year in college, I think he'd be much further along in his development. For that, I blame his college coach for talking him out of going pro after winning the Hermann and NCAA title as a Jr. and convinving him he'd be better off if he came back for his Sr. year. If he played as a rookie the way he had his Jr. year, he would have been in the national team pool as soon as he became a US citizen and would have contended for a spot on the WC team last year. People forget just how dominant he was his first three years of college soccer.
Huh? Say what? No disrespect as we are all entitled to our opinions but I'm surprised you feel Gbandi was anywhere near one of the top 1 or 2 left backs in MLS. Here is a list off the top of my head of left backs or just backs capable of playing on the left that I would select before Gbandi assuming they were healthy, Jose Burciaga Jr Jonathon Bornstein Todd Dunivant Dasan Robinson Gonzalo Segares Wade Barrett Chris Leitch Tim Ward Rich Kotschau Duncan Oughton Avery John Kevin Goldthwaithe Greg Vanney Hunter Freeman
No disrespect, but you think John DiRaimando is a legit MLS prospect so I'm gonna take your player evaluations rather lightly.
Lovefests aside, some news from Norway on CB. Here's one: http://fotball.aftenposten.no/eliteserien/article72521.ece Another from the same paper: http://fotball.aftenposten.no/eliteserien/article72515.ece Those two are from Monday. An older piece: http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/sorlandet/1.1630559
Wrong. DiRaimondo may or may not be a legit MLS prospect. For the record you will find documented proof from my past posts that I did not rate John DiRaimondo as a legitimate MLS prospect. I have always maintained that Johnny D was a marginal MLS prospect. That being said I do feel that JD is a better player than quite a few of the actual 2007 MLS draft selections. Of course we all know that some of the MLS draft decision makers aren't real sharp in terms of evaluating talent...
1-2 best? He pretty much blew the FC Dallas opening round series for them with a moronic red card, demonstrating his awful tendancy to leave his feet too soon in challenges. Extremely average left back at best. Theres no doubt I would take 6 or 7 of the names from soccertom's list over Gbandi in a heartbeat.
He's a decent MLS player. Better than average left back, but certainly not international quality. I don't think even if he wasn't cap tied that he'd be in the mix.
forget about the diraimondo mls prospects thing. Just for taking greg vanney over gbandi your evaluations should be taken lightly. As much as gbandi is prone to a mental breakdown in 1 out of 2 or 3 games, i believe most fcd fans would still take him over vanney any day. I mean did you actually see vanney fill in for gbandi at left back this year? it was horrendous.
I still rate Gbandi from his college days when he was an absolute monster in the College Semifinal, and the College Cup. A man among boys. I know he blew out his knee and probably was never the same, but I still believe that guy's got game somewhere, some serious game. Good luck to him.
I guess it is better for Gbandi to go to IK Start than to FKN Sub. Scandinavia might not be the ultimate destination, but at least it is a start.
Video interview here (takes a good while to load): http://www.ikstart.no/dt_articlefullwidth.aspx?m=238&amid=384813
Chris Gbandi is trying his luck in Norway again, and is now on trial with FK Haugesund in the Adecco liga (2nd tier). Alert readers will recognise this as the team Cam Weaver is with. Gbandi started a training match against Lillestrøm and scored the tying goal - the final result was 2-2. http://www.fkh.no/Default.aspx?doc=WWW1.PUB&docref=&docid=FIL/102001