Has Marco made any indication that he's ready to hang up the boots? He's talked to Payne about his future with the organization (and/or MLS) evidently, but made no mention about his retirement. At this point in the season, Marco is 100% United, and has said so. When asked the question, Ray could have just said "We need to wait and see what happens in the off season." I would think Stoichkov is readier to retire than Etch, and that's where we might get an allocation. Ray is just planting the seeds to move Marco on, one way or the other. Marco is the only one who can say whether he'll retire, and it seems an inappropriate time to answer that question with specifics. Thx, Jay!
good stuff. For my .02 cents on the Marco stuff, this paragraph was interesting: To me that says he normally WOULD want to start MArco in this home match but the speed of the Quakes may force him to chnage his mind and go against his recent tactics (marco home, 4-4-2 away) Its cool though because Ray isnt bashing any player.. he is just using his head. (yeah he can do that...) another bit that was interesting was Ray's thoughts on the crowd. He mentioned how great we/fans have all been lately but I honestly wonder how much of that has been from the OPPOSING fans. As mush as i hate to say it, without the ES fans there would the energy have been that good? I think this is something for those who bash the latino fans coming to the game need to think about. Sure its not as family friendly, but its just different. Nacho tossing aside, there are some good things about it. This "energy" that ray and players were feeding off of helps our team... I woudl think of signing a lot more hispanic players if it really would get us similar sized crowds...
Once they quit screaming like little girls every time Cien touches the ball, then they can stop being called "Sallies" in my book.
Since Ray does not know about college players and he trusts Trask with that, what in the hell does Dave Kaspar do?? Did we just name him to look like a European team with a Technical Director or does he serve a purpose??
The one sentence that really caught my eye in the article is the following. For the first time in several years, it looks as if the team has become more important than the individual players. That is a tough thing for a coach to overcome. Congrats to Hudson as it looks like he has really started molding them into a team. Winning helps of course. -The Far Side
There's the same accountability for Trask as there is for any assistant coach. If he screws up enough, he's fired and replaced with another whipping boy. And it seems a little petty to be flogging the passing of Ralph since every team in the league passed on him at least once too. Just my $.02, though. As for Kasper, I think he does some scouting, mainly ACC and East Coast, I'd imagine. But, I think his main job is to make the contract numbers work in terms of getting the players signed with the league. I very seriously doubt either Hudson or Trask does much in either area. Overall, I think of it as a 3-headed monster with Ray having the most say, but Kasper having the final job of making the deal. Then Trask and Kasper both do some scouting too. Sounds good to me.
Possibly so, but what he said was Of course, it wouldn't be the first time Ray has said "green" and meant "2537."
I don't think I've ever seen anyone bash Latino fans on this board. I have seen plenty of people bash El Salvadoran fans (yours truly included). El Salvadorans are only a small subset of Latinos.
Point taken, but quite a few of "those" alleged Salvadorians we gripe about are mixed with numbers of Hondurans, Guatemalans, Mexicans, and even a few guys from Belize (i just happened to talk with). I don't think many of us can tell the difference between a Honduran flag and a Guatemalen one. Of course it is a bit strange that these two groups (ES and Hond.) would mingle so much over here (considering they fought a war over a soccer match) but they apparently do from what i have seen at games. --Anyway, my point is much of the the great atmosphere that pumped the players up (and what Ray was really talking about) sadly came from us being really outnumbered by fans that can be very loud on the rare occasions they are not getting their backsides kicked
You have to admit, when ES scored that goal, the eruption from the crowd made the entire stadium feel electric. I felt the energy and passion from it. It truly was incredable. I think that is what Ray was refering to.
No, I think it's more likely that you're being deliberately dense. What Ray said was that, in his opinion, the two best players of Salvadoran nationality happen to be on DC United. I don't know why you feel compelled to criticize Ray's diction, but the sentence is perfectly clear english. Only a person irredeemably prejudiced against reading and comprehending plain english could find fault in that sentence.
Nonsense! The Honduran one has five stars in the center; the Guatemalan one has a badge (a bird, a scroll, and crossed muskets and swords) with a laurel wreath; the Salvadoran one has a triangle, banners, and a laurel wreath. Nicaragua's has a triangle and "Republica de Nicaragua/America Central" around it. (The triangle on ES's and Nicaragua's are very similar, both containing a liberty cap, a rainbow, and mountains.) Of course, they all have the same blue-white-blue horizontal stripes, to commemorate their common origin in the United States of Central America, which lasted from 1823 (they actually declared their independence from Spain in 1821, but Mexico tried to annex them in 1822) to about 1840. Broon Ale Vexilloligist and Historian