Joseph Ngwenya

To paraphrase the recently-retired Hubie Brown (ever hear him during a NBA draft telecast?) :

"Joe Ngwenya has trem-MENDOUS UP-side!"

 

Actually, I think one of the biggest reasons the Galaxy faded down the stretch was Herzog's disappearance. When Steve sent him to the bench, the offense started sucking it up.

I'd heard that Andy wants to pursue coaching. Not sure if he wants to do so with Bremen, where he played the most, or somewhere else, perhaps a second-division side. Maybe he'll take Joseph with him.

I think Ngwenya has great upside. He's got the thing that most of us, well at least me, are enamored with: speed. He is super fast and you sure as hell can't teach that. I think all he really needs is playing time, but if Sampson keeps the same system, I don't know when he's going to get it. With the 4-2-2-1-1 thing he's got going on, Ngwenya doesn't really fit into either of 1-1 slots. And Sampson also seems to like Alan Gordon. We'll see. I guess if Ngwenya ends up in Germany, more power to him. Hey, that'll just open up a TI slot, no?

 

Damn son what did he do, slip you a mickey, bang your wife and run over your dog as he left? Sure he wasn't in the greatest shape and didn't play great defense but there is no denying that we were a more dangerous team when he was on the field. If Sampson didn't bench him we probably would have had a chance to win a couple more games and maybe been at home against KC that last match.

I really hope we get to see more of Ngwenya next season and he develops into the solid player we all think he can be. I liked what I saw of him last season, rough edges and all, a helluva lot more than what I saw from Gordon.

 

I'd just add that Ngwenya needs to put on 10-15 pounds, especially if he wants to play in Germany.

He seemed to get pushed off the ball easily. He also seemed a little timid, intimidated at the beginning of the season.

I think he'll be a solid player next year with more confidence.

 

That could be true even if Andy WASN'T atrocious.

 

No, I wouldn't think Herzog would be considered as a coaching candidate in Bremen. Bremen won the Bundesliga and is in the Champions League, and teams like that won't hire a guy with zero coaching experience. But I could see him maybe being an assistant there or maybe coaching reserves or something of that nature.

 

He's not in the top twenty debacles among imports in league history. Drop names like Lothar Matthaeus, Alex Comas, and Damian Silvera in the Metros forum, Khodadad Azizi, Marcelo Vega and Travis Mulraine in the San Jose threads, or Daniel Amokachi and Gilles Grimandi in the Rapids board, and find out.

Herzog's not even in the top five debacles among imports in LA Galaxy history.

Hernandez
Hong Myung-Bozo
Campos
Hermosillo
Wellington Sanchez
Jaime Caicedo Estupinan or Estupido or whatever

 

Are you kidding me? Useless.....? I guess if you're Sampson and routinely bench your best players because they dont fit into your "system". If Herzog seemed not to fit in with the Galaxy it was only because he possessed something called skill and class which few of the other players this year seemed to have any of. His one downside was his fitness. He was a little on the aged side. He played in the Bundesliga as recently as 3 years ago I believe. Not at all a very different player, just a younger one. I would love to see him manage in MLS. But after the experience he had here this year I doubt he will be coming back for a while anyway.

 

I found this blurb on Ngwenya online. With my broken Deutsch, I was able to figure out what it says. The most interesting line is the last one:

The Austrian said about his friend: "Next year, Joseph will be the best player in the league."

Der Hamburger SV testet derzeit den 23-Jährigen Joseph Ngwenya. Der Stürmer spielte bisher in der Major League Soccer (MLS) in den USA. Ngwenya wurde in Simbabwe geboren und spielte gemeinsam mit Andreas Herzog bei Los Angeles Galaxy. Der Österreicher sagt über seinen Freund: "Nächstes Jahr wird Joseph der beste Spieler der Liga.

http://www.sportal.de/nncs/tnt_fussball/2004/12/01/83143.html

 

They play in the Austrian regionalliga. Its the equivalent of a division 3 team.

http://members.kabsi.at/skn/index.html ...........for those of you who speak german.

I guess Andi, if this rumor is true, is going to start out low and pay his dues while working his way up.

 

Any specific areas he was lacking in?

 

Probably what some of us have criticized him for: lack of scoring touch.

 

Huh? That's not true. My friend's family are friends of his and have spoke to him everyday...they have heard no such thing. I think you are confused, as Joe was NEVER ON TRIAL! He's simply training with HSV!

 

It's too bad for Joseph, but I can't say I didnt expect this as an end result. Good for Los Angeles though as we will have him back next year.

As far as whether or not he was "on trial" I agree with our friend from Hamburg here. Even if he was simply training, if the team was at all interested by what they saw they would have immediately opened negatiations with the league and Joseph as the January transfer Window is rapidly approaching.

 

Yes, you're missing something... this isn't a trial, he's just training with the team. Obviously, everyone's hopeful something'll click, but it's really just a chance for him to get his feet wet across the pond. Reading more into it is silly.

Ngwenya is the most exciting young Galaxy play to watch, easily the most creative. He needs to play consistently for an entire season to really see how solid his talent is. I suspect he'll develop into a Bundesliga caliber guy, but let's not put the cart before the horse.

As far as Sampson keeping Joe on the bench... it reflects on Sampson, not Joe N. Sampson has a history of stupid deployment.

---Mark

 

Yes, the big 3 papers were confused. Journalist, particularly sports journalists, are looking for an interesting story. No one wants to read that a kid from the US is training with the team. They want to hear that some potentially fascinating African prospect is on trial. Then when he leaves, they want to hear that the home team was too good for him. It's a boilerplate.

Remember also, that the LA Dodgers didn't protect Roberto Clemente in from the draft. Sports teams make all sorts of stupid talent mistakes. "He wasn't good enough" is a less than incisive observation, even if he had been on trial and dumped.

---Mark