I'm a little nervous about all the 'keepers left unprotected. I'm not so that Countess to RSL is a slam dunk anymore. In my opinion, if Chivas DOES take Walker, who's to say that RSL won't take Garlick? He's arguably the best 'keeper in the draft. If both of those guys are taken, the fire are pretty much screwed.
ring's out of contract, worst case we don't re-sign him. Plus, with all the keepers unprotected, someone (dallas, ny, kc) will either need a starter or b/u. I think we'll be able to peddle them off somewhere.
But after [result]Converting the PK for Jamaica[/result]. He did just a little more than squat. Personally I like the guy. He has amazing footwork, and his distribution is top notch...when he's playing well. As we all know, however, he is either hot or cold, there is almost no inbetween. If another (semi-proven) attacking midfielder can be procured, then by all means let Andy go, but until there is someone to replace him (Capano is close, but could use more playing time, as that is the only way he's going to get better) he might be best kept around, especially with him now (rumored) holding a green card.
I've read a lot of discussion on here about a lot of concerns. But everything I'd heard was that Kasey Keller was a virtual lock to be an allocation/discovery player/some sort of something to end up in Salt Lake. Keller's benched at Spurs, wants to come back, and Salt Lake is closest to his home. If that's the case, why would RSL want to draft Ring/Countess, except perhaps as trade bait? If the Fire don't want to pay them first-team money to be a backup, why would RSL? As for Chivas, I think it's fairly obvious they'd go for Walker if anyone because he's fluent in Spanish and at one point was a national team contender. Again, I don't see them taking Ring or Countess. So am I reading this wrong? Is a lot of smoke being blown up my ass?
Keller is on a 1 month loan to Southampton that began last week. There is a chance that could lead him to a situation (either their or elsewhere in England) that would make him want to stay. My sense is that if he were playing in the Prem he would want to stay a little longer.
I don't agree. Just because they're knocked out of qualifying doesn't mean other national teams won't play friendlies to try to build for the next time. I would say it probably frees Andy Williams because they'll want to focus on developing the younger generation. Still, I would think that Ralph would be a regular call-up for such games. And I would assume those games would fall on the designated international dates just as the qualies do. Perhaps we could expect that at critical times (play-offs) we would find the Jamaican nat'l team more willing to let players stay with their clubs, but having Ralph full-time is expecting too much.
I'm not sure if teams have to release player for friendlies and neither do players have to leave their club teams for just a friendly. OK above is not correct see art 36 in link below http://www.fifa.com/en/regulations/regulationlegal/0,1577,2,00.html If it is a friendly outside of scheduled fifa dates then a team does not have to release a player. For friendlies on fifa dates the team only has to release players 48 hours before game.
Keller being a "virtual lock" is not the same thing as Countess or Ring being "actually locked". A lot could happen for Kasey before the Spring, and if a team missed out on a good starting GK for free because they were waiting around for him, well, let's just say that they'd look pretty stupid.
isn't perez of puerto rican decent. it would suck playing like ********** as a puerto rican player with mexican fans.
I don't disagree. But if I'm RSL's GM, and Keller's interested in coming, I'm not going to sign a guy like Ring who's expecting top dollar after the season he had to sit on the bench. Not in a tight salary cap like MLS. I'm holding out for Keller and if he doesn't pan out, I'm trading for or signing someone else's discarded backup, of which there are plenty in MLS available...guys like Jon Conway, Matt Jordan, Scott Vallow, etc. I think Ring based on his previous season and Countess based on his own personal level of expectations based on his P-40 income would price them out of a starting role if there was a better than average chance that a guy like Keller would be brought in. But then, I'm not RSL's GM, so it's not really my problem
Doesn't that make Ring a nice pick? Seems like you could draft him, but wait to sign him to a new contract until after you figure out if Keller is coming. With no free agency, he's your hostage. You may waste an expansion draft pick, but I don't think that's a huge loss since there will be another wave of players available as salary cap casualties.
I think it would be a huge mistake for any team to get a high priced GK. If Keller comes, he's going to want top dollar. It just doesn't make sence to pay a guy that much when the position he plays is so plentiful. Keller is a mistake in my opinion. Who ever picks ring can offer him a low ball contract and tell him, if he doesn't like it, that the A-League is waiting for him. That's why I think that he's a good pick for RSL.