For what it’s worth: According to Portuguese sports daily Abola, Dallas’ Matt Jordan behan a 15-day training stint with First Division club Maritimo (Madeira Island). The only story I found was in Portuguese: “Guarda-redes norte-americano è experiência no Marítimo Chegou ao Marítimo um guarda-redes norte-americano que estará à experiência, por um período de quinze dias. Trata-se de Matt Jordan, internacional sub-18 e sub-20 pelos Estados Unidos, que actuava no Dallas Burn, equipa da Liga norte-americana de futebol (MLS). Segundo «A Bola» apurou, Matt Jordan tem um grande desempenho entre os postes e uma excelente elasticidade. A este possível reforço poderá juntar-se o sueco Martin Aslund, também internacional, médio-esquerdo que actuava no AIK de Estocolmo. Entretanto o Marítimo tem em mãos propostas para Gaúcho, Paulo Sérgio e Richardson, enquanto Sabry e Fábio procuram novos clubes.”
There's a little bit of YA history at Maritimo. The Revs' Tony Frias was there a little while ago, though I think he got there on the basis of "connections" and managed only a few minutes in one late-season match. And of course Musa Shannon was there as well. I know he is Liberian but I've never been able to figure out whether he had US citizenship as well.
CT Wolves head coach Dan Gaspar has been working with the Portuguese National team in the off season. I think Gaspar has Matt Jordan on his goalkeeping academy brochure as well. Maybe he opened up a door for him.
This would make a lot of sense: Gaspar and Maritimo head coach Nelo Vingada have worked together on a number of occasions in the past. I wouldn't be surprised if Gaspar hooked up Jordon with this trial. This could be a good situation for Jordan. Maritimo is a solid mid-table team, that has managed to sneek into the UEFA Cup every now and then. I think their current keeper, Nelson, is one of the most underrated keepers in the SuperLiga, but he's getting up in age (34/35). Also, there is no work permit issues in Portugal; the only regulation is that a team can only dress 5 non-EU players for a league game. However, this shouldn't be a problem since the team is selling off 2 or 3 other non-EU players. PS - I don't think Tony Frias III ever played with the Maritimo team. He did play with their "B Team", which competes in the Portuguese Division 2B.
I wonder why more Yanks don't try their luck in Portugal? Also would be nice to see Frias get some Playing time in the A-League or with the Wolves last season.
I don't know, but I've always wondered that myself. Economically, it's not as great an option as say England or Germany. I think a big reason is because most of the agents that YA's are associated with probably don't have many contacts in Portugal. I think Preki and Brian Bliss(?) had a cup of coffee with Estrela Amadora and Desportivo Chaves, respectively, in the early 90s. Kirovski had that unlucky season with Sporting Lisbon a while back. Sporting almost signed Keller back in 1999, too, but decided to sign Schmeichel instead. Besides Musa and Frias, I know Matt Okoh spend some time in the Portuguese 2nd division. I'm still trying to figure out how he pulled that off.....
If Gaspar ends up in Portugal, maybe a few more will venture over there. I wish Matt well in his search.
"Frias is a Hudson High School graduate and attended Mt. Ida College in Newton, MA before playing with CS Maritimo of the Portuguese First Division in 2001. Frias appeared in one game for Maritimo in the season-ending game against Sporting Lisbon before signing with the Revs." http://www.nerevolution.com/team_bios/player_bios/frias_t_bio.asp "Tony Frias III, a 21-year-old Hudson native who played at Mt. Ida College for one year before beginning a series of training stints in Portugal with Benfica and Estrela Amadora, signed last year with CS Maritimo, a Portuguese first division team from the island of Madeira. Although he appeared in just one game for CS Maritimo, Frias is hoping the experience of training with the first division team will help him stick with the Revolution." http://www.barnburners.com/news/01/mls/0727b.html That said, you are probably right in that he likely spent most of his time with the B team.
According to this blurb from the Hartford Courant (09.03.02), Gaspar is ‘back’ with Portugal. It looks as though this was a one-off deal (3 friendlies), and it does not appear that he formally signed a contract to train Portugal’s keepers. Connecticut Wolves head coach Dan Gaspar will be back on familiar ground when he rejoins the Portuguese national team in England for a friendly match Saturday. ``It's a thrill,'' Gaspar said when he learned that national team coach Agostinho Oliveira wanted him to work with Ricardo Pereira and Vitor Baia before the game at Villa Park, Birmingham. ``When I got the news, I stood in the center of the field [in New Britain's Willow Brook Park] and did a 360, imagining what it will be like in England Saturday.'' Gaspar, who also will work with the Portuguese goalkeepers before two October games, served as goalkeeper coach in 1993-94 World Cup qualifying. Portugal qualifies automatically as host for the 2004 European Championship. ``This is a great opportunity to get back at the international level,'' Gaspar said, ``because it comes during what is really vacation time with the Wolves. We had a great season with the club and are looking ahead to the future already. I have always enjoyed working with Vitor Baia, so when I learned that he and Portugal wanted me back for these three games I obviously jumped at the chance.'' Gaspar will also renew his acquaintance with Carlos Queiroz, who was Portugal's coach in 1993-94 and first brought the Hartford native on board. Queiroz is assistant coach at Manchester United with a special responsibility for working with youth development. Although specialist goalkeeping coaches are well-established in the United States, Gaspar said, Europe's programs for these coaches still are not uniformly developed, even at the biggest clubs. ``In order to produce world-class goalkeepers, clubs and countries need to have a program in place,'' Gaspar said. ``One of our goals back in 1993-94 was to establish a development program. When Carlos and I left the national team to go to Sporting Lisbon the project did not continue.''
Maritimo I hope Matt enjoys Funchal. I spent six months on Madeira once upon a time and loved it. At the time, Maritimo was one of an amazing three Madeiran sides in the Portuguese first division. It was an exciting season - obviously lots of derby mathces, plus three visits each from Benfica, Sporting, and Porto (none of the other clubs carried much weight then - 1989-90). Maritimo is the only of the three to continue success. Had some good moments in the UEFA Cup even a few years back (though for them, an appearance constituted a good moment). If Jordan needs company, I would go back any time - though the large numbers of British tourists means that plenty of English is spoken on the island. Also saw some of Maritimo's mens and womens basketball. Another story altogether (shudder)!
On the Burn boards they're saying Matt impressed during his trial and is discussing contract terms with Maritimo.
This article (in Portuguese) from ‘Record’ confirms the fact that a) Jordan impressed b) the club is meeting with him to negotiate terms of a deal. http://www.record.pt/noticia.asp?id=187771&idCanal=20
That sounds promising, especially in light of the current keepers at 33 and 35 years old. While that's not ancient for a GK, it's time to think about the future.
Heard another Portuguese club may be interested in Zach Thorton. Having seen Vitor Baia in action, maybe American keepers would do well in Portugal. I can't wait to visit the place.
Baia is actually playing very well for FC Porto. The club is dominating the league, and he has been the starting keeper for most of the games. While he was certainly very suspect in the World Cup (especially the US-Portugal game), he is not likely to replaced anytime soon.
Baia was no where near his top form at the World Cup, but the fact that he played showed the lack of depth in goal that the Portuguese league must be having.
That is if you believe that Baia deserved to be the first-choice keeper, an opinion very much in the minority throughout Portugal. Most people would have opted for Ricardo, the Boavista keeper who played most of the qualifying games as Portugal’s first choice. It is just one of the many strange choices made by former trainer Antonio Oliveira in what was a very embarrassing trip to Korea for the Portuguese.
You say that Baia is playing very well for the best club in the Portuguese league. So why then would Olivera's choice have been controversial? Was Ricardo playing better than Baia in the Spring prior to the World Cup? By the way, Baia was awful in goal against the US.
Mario, I said Baia is (meaning now, this season) playing well. However, at the time of the World Cup, he had only been back playing for about 3 months after having missed a considerable amount of time due to an injury. Meanwhile, Ricardo was the first choice keeper throughout qualifying, and he had done nothing to deserve being benched. Therefore, the choice was controversial. As you saw against the US, Baia was not at all sharp mentally and physically. And, yes, Baia did play an awful game against the US.
According to rumors, Matt was offered a deal with Maritimo as well as another offer from another Euro team. Hopefully we'll hear from his camp this week?
Awesome--hope he gets on with someone. MLS keepers are so plentiful, they can't make much money. This could end up putting Jordan on the path for the 3rd keeper spot in 2006.
Jordan considering offer http://www.planetfootball.com/article.asp?id=128197&cpid=218&title=Jordan+considering+offer