Quo Vadis Heaps?

Brazil just finished.

 

No matter where specifically he is I'm just glad its not one of those bargain hunting trips to obscure areas in Africa like usual.

 

I'd say he is most likely in the bowels of the Argentinian second divison. Are they done though?

 

He's going down to South America to find 20 players strong and true. Then he'll show this list to Kraft's B&B honchos, who have experience with the protocol for handling such lists.......Back to the Future

 

What Central American player acquired directly from Central America (thus not including Saborio, the last Ruiz incarnation, etc.) has made a decent impact on MLS in...like...forever?

I guess Marvin Chavez is OK. That's about it.

Argentine 2nd Division brought Coria, who didn't work out, and of course Franco Niell, who flopped at DC, even though he is now a bench player in the Mexican League.

Colombia is, and continues to be, the big provider of affordable Latin American talent for MLS. There's really no ignoring that, and now several of their clubs seem to be in economic distress, so Heaps should be one of the vultures circling, if he's been informed at all.

 

Informed? what are you trying to say? He is the head coach! It's not like he was the color commentator and has no experience in the coaching world!

Anyway, that makes sense. economic distress SCREAMS MLS interest. Especially the revs bargain hunting squad. I highly doubt it is an important highly competitive league.

Do countries like Columbia, Honduras, and Guatemala have leagues that pay high salaries? I find it hard to believe that they could pay at the same level that leagues like mexico would. If they can't, wouldn't those smaller nations be an absolute magnet for MLS scouts?

 

Didn't we lose Figueroa to Wigan? It seams now a days the best Central American players are going to Europe.

I think most people would be pretty happy if they came back with a player or two of Chavez's caliber.

I believe Espinola(sp?) and Morales where basically D2 players, so i don't think that that is a dry well just yet.

 

If I remember right Morales was playing with Salamanca in the spanish 2nd division, which is a bit more prestigious than the argentine 2nd division.

 

Your right. I just checked his MLS bio, I was thinking he as a couple of stints in the Argentine second division before Spain, but not according to his bio.

 

I would take Marco Pappa (Guatemalan) and Segares (Costa Rican) in a heartbeat over what we've currently got. The Central American well is not dry.

 

big difference between these guys being Segares was drafted out of VCU and Pappa was scouted playing pro in Gutemala

 

We'll see--I'm very skeptical at this point. I think Philly is bringing in this forward Josue Martinez from Saprissa.

Dallas is rumored to be interested in owl-killing Panamanian defender Luis Moreno, now with Tauro and formerly in Colombia, who was easily Tauro's best player in the CCL.

The whole Salvadoran experiment (3 players and the Mexican coach of their nat. team) of 2010 was a big flop. Chivas USA is looking at some guy from Isidro Metapan--I wish them luck.

It seems like these days the very talented Central Americans go straight to Europe, the ones left behind at the premier C.A. clubs (Saprissa, Metapan, Olimpia, Tauro, Communicaciones, etc.) probably aren't bargains compared to those on mid-table Colombian sides and don't play in leagues with overall quality, but rather on de facto All Star teams.

 

The thing about young central and South American players is that there's new ones every year.

 

Don't discount the draft for South American players, either.

Especially with the new Youth DP rule, I think we may see more guys like Plata and Cardoso in the combine again.

 

Just wondering. Jay or Blooter habla español?

 

Burns can barely form sentences in English. Better question, could Nicol?

 

Honduras and Mexico are also wrapping things up shortly.

I personally think the Mexican/Central/South American well is a much better option than MLS Draft.

Hopefully Heaps embraces the culture, isn't intimidated and isn't afraid to go after some quality players.

 

That sounds about right. Saprissa and the others you mentioned are truly juggernauts in their country so it makes sense they'd aggregate the best talent. I think if we could better manage guys from CM like Castro, Badilla, and others that maybe Jay Heaps could appreciate and therefore get more out of his Central Americans' talent than Nicol ever could. I don't know for a fact but I have a sense Heaps speaks Spanish and could see him trying to wheel and deal for quality in Central & S.America.

 

I don't know if Heaps speaks Spanish, but it's not beyond comprehension. Even if he can't, I'm sure he'd have a translator with him ont he trip. I can do a pretty good mimic of a guy with a horrible Brit accent trying to speak French, but I can't even think of what Nicol would sound like if the spoke Spanish!

 

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but the MLS rumor mill says two more Costa Rican players have been offered MLS contracts: Esteban Granados, a mid, and a defender, James Scott. Both of Orion FC. Since they don't have a club linked with them, and all other transfer rumors mention clubs AND players (except revs rumors) I like to think we might possibly be after these guys. We do need defense and Mids.

Just taking a complete shot in the dark.

 

They might be players available in the draft.

 

Granados is 26 and James Scott is 25--too old for combine/draft, I would imagine.

 

While it could still be us going after them, according to this article they were training with Columbus and Sporting Kc, respectively.
http://yashinquesada.navegalo.com/i...n-la-mls&catid=35:primera-division&Itemid=123