We've got so much good information in a variety of threads, I thought I'd humbly suggest the creation of a master pre-season thread to discuss all things training, friendlies, transfer rumours, anything that is the build up to the new season in just under 2 months. To start off: 1) Babayaro appears official http://www.insidesocal.com/soccer/2008/02/galaxy_chivas_usa_open_camp_us.html 2) Lalas hints at additional hard decisions in future moves (What's he talking about don't we have a ton of allocation money?) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23000840/ 3) The blog is proving it's usefulness with a good training camp report. (Damn Sesay is short! ) http://thelagalaxy.blogspot.com/2008/02/back-to-work.html 4) A riot squad member got some first impressions and photos from the first day of training http://www.soccerpubs.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=25733&st=15&p=498232&#entry498232 5) Is constant re-branding causing Riot squad legend Tommy Mack to shrink? https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=654731 6) Should Kevin Harmse be playing ice hockey? https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=13804209&postcount=13 I think that's about it...discuss! (I'm way too pumped for a season that is 2 months away)
The blog is a good idea. But here's a minor suggestion: Update the right hand sidebar, which says, "With a roster that features stars like Chris Albright, David Beckham, Joe Cannon and Landon Donovan..."
Here are some names of trialists in camp... Anyone know any of these names? http://sidelineviews.blogspot.com/2008/02/trailists.html Gabriel Aikhena, Fed Bianchi, Prince Daye, Richard Duru, Bryan Jordan, Jordan King, Chris Sharpe, Josh Wicks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Daye some info on the Liberian forward. Also, Cronin is excited to be a projected starter: Galaxy goalkeeper Steve Cronin sounded pretty happy Monday about the turn of events (Joe Cannon's trade) that has left him as the Galaxy's starting goalkeeper. "This feels like home and this is the team I want to start for - so it's awesome," he said, adding he spoke with new Coach Ruud Gullit earlier Monday. "He's taken some of the pressure off me and given me some leeway to make mistakes. Hopefully I'll keep that to a minimum." http://www.insidesocal.com/soccer/
Awesome guys. Nice work. Great idea mbar to start a pre season thread. Im feeling better and better about our chances this season. I think we've done better in the off season than the majority of teams.
Another Blog entry: http://thelagalaxy.blogspot.com/2008/02/who-are-youwhowhowhowho.html The names of all the trialists... Gabriel Aikhena - Midfielder Last Club: Gombak United (Singapore League) Fed Bianchi - Midfielder Last Club: California Victory Prince Daye - Midfielder Last Club: CD Badajoz (La Liga) Richard Duru - Midfielder Last Club: N/A Bryan Jordan - Forward Last Club: Portland Timbers Jordan King - Goalkeeper College: UC – Riverside Chris Sharpe - Goalkeeper Last Club: Viborg FF (Danish League) Josh Wicks - Goalkeeper Last Club: Portland Timbers Any Portland fans out there?
http://bp1.blogger.com/_1t_zGVkONh0/R6kkyFRqepI/AAAAAAAAANg/VqRuWZ5svSA/s1600-h/HI1B0389.JPG can anyone put names to faces? whos #32 on the far right? that guy is huuge
I Googled the foreign players on the list, and found the following: * Aikhena is a Nigerian defensive midfielder. * Daye is a Liberian international (18 caps, 4 goals), and most recently played for Al-Siliya in Qatar. He can play forward or left wing. * Duru was the hardest of the bunch to find. Nigerian, apparently played for their U-17 national team at one point, most recently (06-07) turning out for UE Seva, in the Spanish sixth tier. * Sharpe is Australian.
A person on the Portland forum had good things to say about the two timbers in camp, especially the goalie. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=13815127#post13815127
Ditto!!! Although I must say it feels great. Every day there is more and more pre-season news! And they've finally released "Authentic Jerseys" without Becks' name on them. (Although I'm having a hard time ponying up $80 just so I can have 2 stars on my jersey. ESPECIALLY now that I have to go buy a USMNT Jersey for tonights game.) Training camp is in full swing. I'm picking my new season seats on Saturday. I'm about to freakin' explode!!! Now all I need is a TV schedule for the Feb games and I'm all set! (Ok, maybe some Ritalin will help!) Is anyone else this excited?!?!?
FRIDAY'S TRAINING SESSION OPEN TO SEASON TICKET HOLDERS: Galaxy season ticket holders are welcome to attend the club's training session on Friday morning at the Track and Field Stadium. As a result of this session being held on the Track and Field Stadium This and More Pre-Season info here: http://la.galaxy.mlsnet.com/news/te...ent_id=137951&vkey=pr_lag&fext=.jsp&team=t106
Fun stuff in there. You've got to be kidding me. Ah, but the preseason is just around the corner...can't wait!!!!!
We hardly knew you... http://thelagalaxy.blogspot.com/2008/02/news-and-nuggets.html The Galaxy's roster has seen its first cutdown of the year already as trialists Fed Bianchi, Prince Daye, Richard Duru and Jordan King were each let go. That leaves the Galaxy with 32 players still in camp I'm not going to make the open training tomorrow. Hopefully some of you that do go would be so kind as to share your observations here...
An article on Cronin: http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20080207&content_id=138154&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp A total aside...but I can't stand the way Lalas asks and answers his own questions. "If one looks at the situation, (Cronin) looks to be the anointed one," said Galaxy general manager Alexi Lalas. "Certainly we have a lot of confidence in him. Is he going to make mistakes because he's a younger goalkeeper and doesn't have a tremendous amount of experience? Of course, but we're willing to take that risk and put our faith in him." Just bugs me.
Yeah, that was fast. A minor note from 3rd degree DC still hold his rights. He passed on a dev roster contract to take a job in the USL. I'm not sure how we could offer him a better deal.
Alexi has indicated that we still need to cut players to get under the cap. Who to cut? I would be surprised if we bring in any new players from outside (pleasantly surprised, but surprised nonetheless). So cutting someone means moving a player from the dev roster to the senior roster to fill the hole. Here’s the pool of players split up by position and roster standing (with names truncated to fit). I’ve put all the trialists on the dev roster even though I doubt some would take dev contracts. Some players can play multiple positions so I just had to decide where to put them. Code: Starters(11) Subs (7) Dev (10) Ruiz Buddle Sesay Donovn Gordon Jordan Klein Gray Tudela Beckham Vagenas Kirk Harmse Martino Allen Babdlph Hatzke DeGeer Aikhena Frankln Roden Valentn Xavier Jazic McDonld Harbrts Gavin Babdlph Cronin Alamo Wicks Sharpe The players you would want to cut either can be replaced with cheaper players or are at positions where we have a number of players. The candidates: Klein: A big salary but we don’t really have anyone else to play right mid. Well,…I guess there is another guy. It all comes down to the formation that Ruud wants to play. What we don’t have is the luxury to keep Klein if he’s not a starter. Buddle: Again, a big salary, but we have to have a decent third forward. He’s performed well on a per-minute basis so we really should keep him. Martino: He’ll probably make $55k next year. Since the minimum is $34, we hardly gain anything by cutting him and adding a cheaper player. In fact, Martino is the kind of player we need: cheap, experienced, versatile depth. Jazic: He’s injured now, so we can’t cut him. The best we can do is give him away to Toronto for a conditional pick. I see him backing up two positions: left back and center back. If we play a 4-4-2, we’re actually pretty thin at left back since one of Babs and Randolph will need to play in the midfield. Our depth at center back depends on how the draftees turn out. Getting rid of Jazic is a risk. Vagenas, Gray, Harmse, Tudela: I think we all knew it was going to come to this. I put the players in order of salary. I believe that Vagenas makes as much as Gray and Harmse combined. Even if you liked Pete (and he has his virtues) it’s hard to make a case to keep him. The one field-player trialist we have left (who is probably getting cut as I write this) is a defensive midfielder. Maybe he figures into this too.
Alexi being his usual annoying self again in the British media... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article3330684.ece “I’m actually excited about it, but maybe not for the same reasons that others are,” he said. “I look at it as a great way for our fans and the soccer public here in general to get an opportunity to see first hand the level of EPL [English Premier League]teams, and I think we are going to measure up to, and in some cases surpass, that level. It’s a great way for us to come out looking a whole lot better than the perception of us. “English teams have been coming here for years, although not for competitive games, so yes, it’s great that the games could help to decide championships or who goes down. But I caution you folks, because there are a handful of ‘super clubs’ in the EPL, but when you get into the mid and lower tier, those brands — as strong as they may be domestically in the UK — have much less value here. Just because it is EPL does not mean it is going to sell. “They can come over and play these games and people can come and check it out, but I think they are going to leave the stadium more often than not thinking: ‘I can get much better value and more excitement by going to see my Galaxy play.’ We do not have a monopoly on crap soccer — it’s played all over the world.” You know he blamed the circus last year for our poor performance but he goes out of the way this year to antagonize the british press and possibly spur on yet another circus atmosphere. How is he helping the team? Wouldn't it be better if he just deny interview requests with Europe?
He's helping just by talking. Publicity. I happen to think he is right. Do you really think people are going to flock to see Derby vs. Wigan? Reading vs Middlesborough? Hell no they aren't. Just like he said, outside of the big clubs it won't be such a big deal. that has got to be one of the best things I have ever heard from him. Priceless man!
The proposal has been to come up with some sort of seeding system, so you don't get really bad matchups like that. But I can tell you from another message board I'm on, where most of the posters are English, that people think Lalas is a bozo. They only remember his playing days because of hair, and they hear his hyperbolic statements about our team and think he's a joke. He doesn't do anything for our credibility (I don't know if much would to a lot of people in Europe, but it could be better).