http://www.joshwolff.net/ talks about the ACL injury and the possibility of him being done in Chicago
"I accelerated and then cut to my left with my right, and as I did so my right foot got stuck in the turf. I immediately felt a pop in my knee and knew I was in trouble. I walked off to the locker room knowing it was bad, and when the doc looked at it he confirmed it was my ACL." "Another thing that is disappointing is the possibility of it being my last game with the Fire. Our team will have to make changes in the off-season and ultimately we will have to wait and see. But from all of the rumors/talk leading up to the trade deadline and now this, I am not sure of the likelihood of me being back in Chicago. That is just part of the business though, so if it happens we will deal with it then. I have had a great time in Chicago so I cant complain either way." Sheesh.
Just so you guys know, the Fire are paying the price for building up their American players. While other teams have gone with the change-the-international players on a yearly or semi-yearly basis, and make them the core of the team, the Fire have essentially tried to develop domestic players and let them excel. From Thornton to Bocanegra and Brown. From Beasley to Gutierrez. From Armas to Wolff and Razov. All have become MLS mainstays, and all have earned pay raises. Unfortunately, MLS will do what it did with DC, that is, keep the cap tight and force the Fire (like DC) to deal away the players it brought along. Don't think for a second that Bob wouldn't love to keep (or to have kept, in the case of Diego) this cast intact for years to come. We'll have to see what happens with Josh and others, but it's MLS that's dictating this...not the Fire staff.
This is a problem with the MLS no doubt but a bigger problem is paying big contracts to senior internationals who get hurt every year and are not 100 percent for the playoffs.
I hear ya, but next season, in all likelihood, the Fire will have but one significant senior international player. Peter Nowak. And they'll still have cap problems. So your point is kinda offbase.
This is what happens when you make something out off nothing (Razov and Beas in LA come to mind) as opposed to making nothing out of something (New England comes to mind). It's kind of like busting your butt to make more money, only to end up paying more in taxes because of someone else's innefficiencies. - MLS "This stuff kicks (you where it hurts)" just ask DC.
Mr. Bradley, do you have any idea just how close to the cap the Fire are, and what they need to do to get under it next year? What players make the league max?
Assuming he does know, I doubt if he'll post information that isn't public knowledge per league policy on these boards. It is common knowledge that the Fire have to make moves to get under the cap for 2003. It is common knowledge that the Fire have many of the higher-paid players in the league. After that, you're on your own.
wolff must go we need to get rid of him and get some young prospects in return while he still has value
I don't think something as hard-line as "Wolff must go" is called for...but that said, if it comes down to Ante or Josh (as it looks likely to do) I'm taking Ante in a nanosecond.
I generally try to ignore league rules so that I can hang on to the illusion that this is not a mickey mouse league, but sometimes you can't let things like this go by without voicing a little discontent. We get penalized for being good, period. Tell me how NE and NY/NJ add boatloads of new and high priced players constantly within the same framework where we have to trade draft picks for cap space to sign $24,000 a year players so that we can actually field 11 players and a couple of subs? Jeff makes a good point. Our salary cap problems have had little to do with our SI's, but have been brought on by cheap young americans becoming expensive young americans. We will never be able to truely kick the crap out of foreign clubs in meaningful competitions if we systematically dismantle any team that is successful.
Seriously, they need to "NBA" the salary cap. They've got enough wiggle room there, where they can go over the cap to re-sign their own players (via various contract structuring). The cap becomes hard and fast when it comes to a new signing. That seems like a much more reasonable approach that encourages the development of talent and long term investment.
as do I. Ante's not injury-free, and just like Josh, he doesn't always seem to be giving his all. but... he produces more and he's on the field more
....plus I think we can rely on Ante much longer than Wolff. Ante's older, but he doesn't want to play for any other MLS club and isn't likely headed to Europe anytime soon. Josh, on the other hand, probably won't see the middle much less the end of his new MLS deal. Ante's a striker we can build around with another new youngun like Dipsy or whomever. Josh, not so much I think.