Oh no! No Mario? Say it's not so...

You're a conspiracy theorist. Barca is too busying worrying about their struggles in La Liga to be concerned about Mario. I think its just laziness & lack of regard for MLS by Barca. That's all.

 

word has it from bradenton that mario is heading home. he pulled his right quad and is out at least a week. secondly, he doesn't fit what bradley is looking for. he doesn't defend at all and bradley doesn't like that. i hear daniel granero is leaving as well. i knew they wouldn't make it.

 

Do you have sources you can point to for your information? I find it hard to believe that Bradley would cast off mario and garnero after all the trouble of pursuing them and bringing them into camp. Especially since both played well in at least one friendly, and he's publicly stated that he could sign both players.

If this true, then they had better have something up their sleeves, otherwise it's going to be another disappointing season.

 

Hold on a moment. If Bradley sees something he doesn't like, I don't think he should be rushed into making a decision. Some of the better players for his first Chicago team didn't come until the day before the season started (was it Kosecki???)

The point is I don't want another Pedro Alvarez, Comas, or Valencia on the team. I think I can trust Bradley in that respect.

 

Ives is down with the team in Bradenton and hasn't mentioned any of this.

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php...lRUV5eTYzNDczNjEmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2

 

I can understand the Mario situation. If he doesn't get the Barca release, then MLS will probably not sign him. As for his defending, well Bradley might be able to change that, dunno.

But I'm surprised to hear that Garnero hasn't impressed. Everything I've read was that he had impressed, and provided the creativity and possession in central midfield that the Metros need.

I guess that leaves winning the "weighted lottery" for Digi as their left winger. Bradley will likely continue to look for midfielders. With teams such as Dallas, DC and Columbus having so many, it's kinda wierd that Bradley hasn't settled on any yet.

-Tron

 

Garnero hadn't played in a while, so I'm sure there was a lot of rust. But you can take a smart player with all the right instincts, and if he's too old to play-- if he tires too easily and can't keep up with the pace-- you don't want him on your team. Especially as a ninety minute player, which he has to be.

Yeah, it's a bad scene. We'll see who he can scare up-- we've got a bit of money since it looks like Mario and Garnero won't be with the team. I wonder if Bradley is regretting not having angled for Stewart.

 

Ditto. One of the things lesser coaches can't do is let go of personnel positions in which they've made investments. It's a good chance that someone else, even in the face of mounting evidence that these two players weren't what he thought they were, would sign them anyway in the hope his initial impression was right and because it would be too difficult to start a new search. Then we'd find out halfway through the season that they didn't fit in after all and the rest of the games would be a waste.

I'm not saying any of the speculation (e.g. Mario not fitting in) is true, just that IF Bradley feels they're the wrong choice then there's no better time than now to "cut bait".

=NLK=

 

Agreed on the Garnero sentiment, look at Stoichkov, still has all the skill in the world, but isn't the impact player he could be because of age and conditioning due to injuries. Wouldn't be a prudent move on the part of the Metro to bring in someone like Garnero if fitness is an issue.

As for Stewart, I am not convinced that he would have helped our midfield issue or the need for some stability in the center of the pitch. Stewart really is more of an up top player.

 

Nothing stated has been clear on the guys future with Metros. Maybe he is just being given the chance to go home to straighten his affairs and prepare to get here for the start of the season. He may join the team on their trip to Argentina.

 

I would rather sign a quality SI than the first one comes along. If Garnero can't cut it, fine. Cut him.

I wouldn't be surprised if Metro were auditioning a few more SIs once they get to Argentina.

They may also try to make trade with a team like Dallas. I am hoping against the odds for Vaca.

Neither DiGiamarino or Saylers will be in the supplemental draft. They will be available through one of those MLS Special Weighted Lotteries.
So, don't look for anything spectacular today.

The guy who stands to benefit most if Metro doesn't sign any of the SIs currently training with them is P-40 Jacob Leblanc who has apparently impressed in camp. He's an interesting player. Good offensively at UVA playing in MF behind Eskandarian, occasionally fails defensively due to mental lapses. Maybe Bradley can maximize his talents. We'll see. He (Bradley) has a history of getting the most out of his players.

 

Well, things could be a lot worse (and no, I"m not trying to be cute or sarcastic here).

1. Assume that the comments/rumors about Rosas are right--that he doesn't defend and Bradley doesn't want him (and so far, those are really only rumors, the only thing we know for sure is Sak's comment that the team could go in a different direction b/c Rosas doesn't have the release yet--which does imply though not say that the team is less than enthusastic about him). Here's how it could have been worse: if things had played out how they were supposed to, he'd have been released and signed before ever practicing a second with y'all. Which means you'd have a player you'd have made cap commitments to, key team role to that the head coach would then be saying "gee, I think we've made a mistake...". As it is, the team got a free trial of a European player for free (ie: didn't have to use an allocation or discovery to get him, no supplemental or waiver draft selection, no cap commitments). The ideal thing from Bradley's perspective would be for him to have worked out. But if that isn't the case, it could have been far, far worse than the current situation.

As it currently stands, if Rosas isn't the right guy, you start over. Not ideal, but do-able.

2. It's obviously not ideal to be putting together a team weeks before the season. But it's been done before (see: the Fusion in 2001). And I don't want to minimize the value of cohesion and the team coming together, but there are a lot of outside mids out there (and there will be more as the Euro season progresses and teams cut loose players they can't afford or are aging).

3. That said, the success of this team is going to be driven primarily by Howard, Pope, Moreno and Mathis. I'm not arguing that soccer is a 4 man sport or about individual stars. But in MLS, teams can make a couple of choices. They can spend their cap on a couple of max salaries (like Chicago and DCU did last year, you guys are doing this year). If you have 4-5 players all making $200K or better, than you can't afford much besides that. Or, you can dump some of the max or near max salary players and afford more depth and more middle-range players. Yes, signing a good A-mid will be important. Yes, having good outside mids matters. But ultimately, the die was cast for this season when Bradley decided to acquire Pope and Moreno, keep Howard and Mathis. In doing that, you're now committed to looking for smaller pieces to fill in the puzzle and hitching the team's hopes to the performance of those big salaries. That's not a criticism or attack, only a statement that when you take that approach, you retain stars who can potentially shape games, but than you've got a battle to find affordable contributors (and that includes starters) for the rest of the season.

 

If all this does come to pass, it's just disheartening. Bradley's been to both Spain and Argentina to scout these guys, so I'd like to believe he would have seen these deficiencies in their games before now.

I still have faith that Bradley did his homework and that these guys will be with the team and will be strong contributors, and that these rumors are just that, rumors.

 

Can Bradley find contributors for a small salary for the Metros this season?

I say YES!!

God, I love pre-season.

 

granero and mario are leaving bradenton on sunday when the team traveles to ft. lauderdale.

i hear that torres is leaving also.

sheppard left to go back to south africa last week.
gabe valencia left bradenton 2 days ago.

mathis out 4 weeks.
lisi out 3 weeks.
grafer back from injury.

 

Thank you, dog. two questions:

1) Will any of the trialists be rejoining them? Leaving isn't so bad if you come back, you knwo.

2) If Mario et al go, who are they looking at? Surely they're not going to say, " No problem..we've got Moore & LeBlanc..let's start the season."

 

Metro could be downplaying Mario's value to get Barca to sign the paper and stop holding out for pesos. George W would be happy to give Spain a few billion if they'd ask.

In case Mario falls through, there was an article a few weeks ago about Pele wanting to join MLS.

 

Its actually pesetas... but now they use Euros....

I will chalk up the GW comment as a glib remark.

Hahaha... Pele! Thats great... HAHAHa. What a stunner!

Paul

 

Anyone know the writers email?

Its ALAVES, not Alvares...

Boy, I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today...

My apologies for the cranky tone.

Paul

 

All of this gibes with other sources. Two days ago, DCU sent home all of their non-roster foreign invitees (a Georgian youth international named Divadze and a french D-mid named Toselli) plus 2 A-league players and then didn't sign John Harkes. When asked, Hudson said words to the effect of...we've got a Spaniard coming in, a real bargain, he's signing with us instead of another team, a real steal.

It sounds like Rosas would fit that definition. What's funny is that the article by Haydon (who's English and knows the sport pretty well) would talk about Rosas as a D-mid. Maybe DCU is envisioning him as a holding mid? That doesn't sound like the descriptions coming out of your camp but never having seen him play, who knows?

Also, it was always strange that Barcelona wouldn't sign off and release Rosas (since they weren't asking for any transfer funds and weren't interested in him as a player). Now, given Stoichkov's connection to Barcelona, I think we know the explanation to why Barcelona wasn't signing off and releasing Rosas.

 

Actually I think the comparison to Richie Williams was a mis-edit by his Editor. I believe he meant to say "the club acquired former United midfielder Richie Williams, a player similar in stature to Rosas." The editor probably thought that by stature Haydon meant style and wanted to avoid confusion. But, Haydon actually meant size, so the editor mangled it by changing the original words.

Frankly, I would rather see Mario on the Metros. They desperately need a player of that type, and they found him. I'm not too cool with stealing players. The only way I'd be cool with United getting him is if Metros had no chance and then Hristo stepped in to save the deal for the league and was told that Barca would only release him to Hristo's club. But that's pretty far fetched. I hope Mario ends up signing with Metros.

-Tron