Quakes resign Levesque http://www.soccer365.com/US_NEWS/Breaking_News/page_131_58656.shtml And also cut Maliza.
Ummm.....I'm a little slow on the uptake. By "re-signed", does that mean that Levesque will be back next year for certain? Can he play another year as a developmental player, or will he be one of the "18"? Why are we cutting Maliza now? Does it save money? Did Yallop find him to be "underwhelming" in practice?
Levesque is now a rostered player, and the multi-year contract at the bottom of the official sites release seems to imply that he will be back next year. Not sure why Maliza was waived, I guess the club just decided he wouldnt be a part of the plan next year.
This is too bad about Maliza. He was a nice guy and seemed to be a very hard worker. Reports that I heard on his playing ability were quite positive also.
Did we scrimmage Vancouver a few weeks ago? I remember FY/DK used it to get gametime for some fringe players and some coming off injury. Maliza started either in the backline or defensive mid spot. From the way the report read, it seemed like the Quakes were weak wherever Maliza was. He definitely didn't play the second half. He might not have made it to the half before being substituted. I think fringe players like Levesque went the full 90.
Maybe that's the way it was, and the weakness was the reason he was dropped. I'm shrugging my shoulders.
Let's not jump to conclusions about a player we never got see play in this league. Plenty of good players with great potential get placed on waivers. Perhaps he just wasn't what the team wanted or needed at this point.
Another possibility is that Maliza is busy finishing his degree. IIRC, he didn't join the team until after spring quarter, and it's certainly interesting that he was waived on the first day of fall quarter.
Hmm...see that's interesting. Can he go back to the Stanford team now though? Didn't he sign with the Quakes? I'm not sure if that means he can't go back to play at Stanford.
He can't play at Stanford because he was paid by the Quakes. But he can still go back there and finish his degree.
IIRC, Maliza was a senior last fall while at Stanford, and hence used up his NCAA eligibility anyway. It's possible that he was a Junior that came out early, but I don't know why he would have done so. I do believe Stanford men's team could be using him right now. They sure have gotten off to a slow start as they currently have only one or two wins a third of the way into the season.
Maliza didn't take up a roster spot, so this is not the case. Levesque takes the roster spot opened up by declaring Ching out for the season.
This has to be tough for the two affected players. Maliza and Levesque were teammates for four years at Stanford. And I would presume, friends. Welcome to professional sports.
The thing to remember is that professional sports is just a business. And we don't see all the business that goes on behind the scenes. Just because a player was waived doesn't mean the team is saying, "you sucked we're cutting you." Maybe that IS what happened here. But we don't know that. Maybe Maliza WANTED to go back to school. Maybe Franky was straight forward with him and told him he didn't fit into the plan so Maliza was placed on waiver to see if another team would pick him up so he could possibly play. Besides, isn't it true that if he's not picked up, the Quakes can decide to keep him? Just because he was waived doesn't mean it was on bad terms. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. But most likely we'll never know that.
IIRC, I was told Maliza was a little nicked up when we signed him...and he was signed with the club in a pretty desperate roster state. I don't think he was anything more than roster insurance anyway...and maybe the timing of his release was pre-arranged so that he could return to Stanford for the fall quarter.
Even though it's a relatively insignificant story, wouldn't it be nice if there was a beat reporter who could answer all the questions raised by these transactions? Maybe the guys at cybersoccernews.com will flesh out the story a bit.
sjqf, you're absolutely right, which is one of the reasons my response was couched in a lot of maybes. We have no way of knowing anything about what went on behind the scenes (if there was anything) unless someone from QuakeMagic or cybersoccer news, as FlashMan says, will check it out.