There have been some real donkeys paraded before MLS fans over the years. Players that come to mind; Lothar Matheus - Premier primadona. Great in Bavaria and Deutschland. A bad apple in the Big Apple. Beppe Galderisi - Fat, overweight, and a whining attitude. Mamadou Diallo - His nickname should have been flopsy. There is no way a guy that large could be brought down so easily. Eduardo Hurtado -You knew when he didn't want to play. He was the big lank just standing in the middle of the field. What players make it into your MLS Hall of Shame?
Richard Gough. Looked like he was going to take this gig seriously, but then turned out that he wasn't. Feud with Newman didn't help matters, either. Its hard to leave out Ian Bishop.
The Matthäus situation may have been an overall embarassment, given the sacrifices to the team to get him here, then the "medical rest" on St. Tropez, and how few games he actually played (16) but he was still a talented player on the field, for the most part. Galderisi wasn't all that bad in '96, while with Tampa. He got 7 goals and 8 assists in 21 games, which given that Roy Lassiter was the main scorer, isn't horrid. He tailed off in '97 as the quality of the league started to shake out a bit. As far as Diallo, that's just silly. He scored 26 goals in 2000, and 47 goals overall in 3 seasons. You may not like him, but he was a force to reckon with (and there are a lot of other forwards who are just as guily of being on the diving team). Hurtado also was "quality" at the start of his time in MLS. 21 goals in 1996 is hardly shameful. Again, though, as the quality of the league improved, his shortcomings became more apparent. You want real Hall of Shame members, you throw out names like Branco, or Marcelo Vega - now THESE guys had NO redeming qualities.
I would think just about any member of the clash between 1995 and 2000 should be heavily favored to be in the hall of shame.
Khodadad (sp?) Azizi and Jerry Tamashiro spring to mind immediately, as does the allocation the Rapids signed last year but had to cut before the saeson started because he was too fat. Darren Sawatsky was a Real embarassment too with his silly hair and constant chicken-with-head-cut-off running.
With the exception of the red card he got for kicking another player, I thought he had played pretty good in this league, it was too bad they let him go after the positive drug test. He would've made a good #10 for the Metros. But I can understand why he would be a candidate for the Hall of Shame Others to be mentioned: Charlie Stillitano, Kenneth Horowitz, Thomas Rongen (even though he won a championship)
I remember his quote from his press conference "I am your Rodman." As someone above mentioned, us SJ fans have been thru a stable full of donkeys:Vega, Azzizi, Daniel Guzman, Tim Martin, Tom Liner, Harut Karapetyan. The worst was some really bad eastern European midfielder, but I forget his name.
"Real Madrid's" Jose Luis Morales; the Crew's "Polish National Team defender" Miroslaw Rzepa. But I think Azzizi was about the worst. Seriously.
Jim St. Andre, Ruben Dario Hernandez, Damian Silvera and Juan Berthy Suarez from 1996. Three of them were the orginal allocations.
Sawatsky? The Aimless Hustler? He was a favorite of my youngest son. Especially when the crowd would yell, "Release the beast, Sawatsky!"
I think to be included in the Hall of Shame you must have to have come to MLS with some hype. There have been plenty of mediocre players who saw some playing time, but who came with fanfare and still never showed up. Azzzizzzi Marcelo Vega Zenga the Coach Sasa couric
Guys on my Hall of Shame: Luis "El Flapador" Hernandez - LA let Mathis and Franchino go for this guy Branco - this goon got 3 red cards in like 6 games? Eduardo "El Stanque" Hurtado - one good season, many bad ones Ruben Dario Hernandez - this guy couldn't score in a whorehouse! Azizi - Even though he looked like Jackie Chan he couldn't kick like him Bora - talk about effing clueless Alain Sutter - every interview he talked about wanting to ride his motorcycle on Rt. 66. I have a vision with some dude wearing leaderhosen (sp), riding a scooter and wearing a big gorky helmet
My vote, besides Robert Gaucho and those already named, would be a certain 'Melrose Place' star that used to play for the Galaxy.
Oooh, bad memories I forgot Marcelo Vega, you can count him among the Clash donkeys, even though I think they were already Earthquakes at that point and even though he only lasted two weeks of preseason before he was waived!
Daniel Amokachi Elizabeth Shue's brother Andy. He was crap, but so was the entire league at that point, and we needed the PR. Embarassing now, true then.
I'm surprised no one's mentioned Mario Gori. And speaking of ex-MLSer's in the A-League, my personal vote for Worst Fire Player ever, John Ball, was truly, remarkably bad.