I disagree. I thought that would happen with the Euro's but watching Iceland and Wales made it funner to watch. It allows mid tier countries to grow their program and with Asia finally starting to get its act together we could see some interesting upsets in the coming World Cups
While I do agree that watching Wales and Iceland was a great pleasure, I don't neccessarily think that you would see that translate to the WC. We're talking about other teams outside of Europe. If you look at the roster for those two teams (Iceland/Wales), they have players who play in England, Spain, France, Belgium, Italy. Places that are of high quality. The Asian teams that go to the WC struggle. Same for African teams, and they also have players of quality who play in good leagues (though many kf their dual nationals choose to play fkr thei European blood, although that is a different story.) While they can always improve, having the WC as the place to have them do so is wrong. And as always, the teams that DESERVE to go to the WC are usually in, excluding a small amount of teams (i.e. Panama 2014)
@Willsant87 sooooo... Sydney derby again tomorrow night. Finna be interesting. You guys don't have Bulut (smh) or Redmayne anymore, but you've now got Vedran and Antonis. SFC fans on r/aleague have been salty about Vedran leaving to WSW they're calling him Judas. Antonis played for SFC in the past but he's a westie so it's all good. Don't understand why SFC signed Redmayne when they also signed Chris Oldfield who's apparently one of the best NPL keepers atm.
Did you watch the game? Once again we outsang the cove in their own stadium. Bulut was let go cos the guys trouble, he was given a second chance by the club & he'd rather be out partying missing training & late to games. Vedran is a beast, he's a westie too but I don't get why FC fans are salty, he was offered to the Wanderers, but it makes sense him being at the Wanderers, he had been coached since he was 12 by Kalac who is the Wanderers goalie coach. See his reaction to the cove throwing toy snakes at him?
Nah I was at a party, but I did see the highlights. SFC fans are salty cos Vedran's been with them for years and then he moves west to their rival team. I don't blame him for moving; Vukovic is a great keeper and Vedran just didn't want to sit on the bench. I loved the way he stared down the cove whilst drinking from a bottle they threw. Bet you like my new avatar; he does not care! This pic is gold:
He only left cos he was forced out, after the game he was thanking the fans & some said he told them he still has a long way to go to earn Wanderers fans respect. This happens every time the derby is at Sydney FC's home, the corporate boxes are all their fans & they even have them just above the RBB.
With the way he's been playing for WSW thus far, those saves he made against SFC, and the way he handled the SFC fans at the Sydney derby, I think he deserves WSW's respect. Smh MVFC lost 3-0 against Nix tonight and lost our opportunity to be 2 points behind SFC. Geria and FBK got suspended so I'm not looking forward to our upcoming match against Perth. On the bright side we're 9 points ahead of City (lol at them losing to last-placed Adelaide last Thursday). Did you see the artists' impression of the Pirtek Stadium? Looks amazing; can't wait til it's finished in 2019.
Have their been any Salvadoran-Canadians playing pro, reserve, youth (that are moving up)? I remember there was one with Ghanian background too but whatever happened to him?
I believe there are players in the Canadian MLS youth teams but I forgot their names and if they are actually Canadian or American. Suglo Dominguez is the half-Ghanaian player and he has moved on from football.
Suglo Dominguez and the Salvadoran-New Zealander Ernesto Lopez if I remember correct was playing in 2nd division Argentine soccer should have tried their luck playing in Central America as a last option. The New Zealander being from OFC that has some ties with the AFC (most Australia and New Zealand) since they tend to switch between the two could have tried his luck in Asia. He seem he had potential speed, touch, skill, his offense ability stood out with the little play time he had.
Ernesto López went back to New Zealand and was playing for an amateur side I used to report on him until we upped the standards on who deserves coverage playing abroad. Probably another reason we don't give updates as often on the NASL and USL guys despite some playing for the NT they just don't want to challenge themselves despite Onfield and the like painting those moves like a big success.
Forgot all about Ernesto Lopez. The Kiwi league is a semi-pro league so I don't think it's any better than the Salvadoran league. Definitely a league not worth following. AFAIK, Juan Chang the Salvadoran-Guatemalan plays there, but it's NZ so who cares? Besides, Lopez said he would rather play for NZ than ES. Dunno if he's still playing football these days.
Never mind found out he's playing futsal with New Zealand. Doubt he can switch and he already has a good career going.
Added info he plays for WaiBOP United not exactly sure if this is the 1st divsion of New Zealand futsal or soccer but on the wikipedia page it's 1st in the pyramid for the League.
Every source I found on Lopez is outdated (as late as 2015), so I doubt he's still playing futsal but who knows? Gian Tapia, who has been mentioned here often, plays in Australia's second division which is semi-pro. Eduardo Castaneda represented Australia U-16 last year and won the U-16 AFF Youth Championship (a tournament with South East Asian national teams). We used to post about Mauro Rivas a few years back, but he has since moved on from football.
This 2017 season, Castaneda has joined NPL Tasmania club South Hobart FC. Like Tapia from Victoria, he plays in the top semi-pro state league and is one level below the A-League. Castaneda is only 16, but all the best to him. Olympia Warriors rebuild faces early test as NPL Tasmania season kicks off
The Canadian Premier League has received unanimous support to join Canada Soccer. #CANPL— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) May 6, 2017
@Willsant87 @bkr_inc Congratulations to Sydney FC, they earned it. Now I hope they can keep Ninkovic, Bobo, Holosko, Buijs, and Brosque because all have been outstanding. Ibini won't be staying, unfortunately. I was pretty impressed with Brillante aka the Aussie who scored against Azulita in the 2013 U-20 WC; glad he returned to Australia. Never did I think that 4 years later he'd be my avi on BigSoccer haha! This season confirmed Berisha as the GOAT A-League player IMO. I loved both Rojas and Troisi. We (Victory) need to find replacements for both Georgievski and FBK since both are leaving. I wouldn't be upset if Baro leaves tbh. I think Deng's loan at PSV is ending soon and he'll come home. I was extremely disappointed with City. I thought they had an unstoppable $9m squad with Kamau, Cahill, Fornaroli, Colazo, Caceres, Brattan and Brandan but they went from exciting to watch to utter mediocrity. I hope they can use their oil money to buy a star coach. Colazo and Sorensen are both leaving while Cahill will fall under the cap, so that frees up 2 visa spots, one marquee and one guest marquee. Speaking of disappointments, Guardiola (Adelaide) and Bulut (WSW) were both complete flops. WSW and Adelaide were both a pain to watch. This season confirmed 10 teams is just too little. I hated playing the same teams in such short time. It especially sucked the hype out of the derbies. FFA really need to keep their promise of expanding in 2018 or I won't be a happy Jan!
Not just expansion but we also need a second division for promotion & relegation, teams don't feel the pressure of fear that they might go down...would make the 'dead rubber' games far more interesting too. Looks like a A-League player might be playing against us in the Gold Cup, Bonevacia who has been with Wellington the last few seasons & now with the Wanderers for next season has made the 40 players roster for Curacao.
Last I checked, over a hundred NPL clubs from around the country organised a meeting in Melbourne about creating a second division. Haven't heard anything since. Yeah nah I don't think we're ready for pro-rel; especially with the lack of support and quality in the NPL. I like how there have been a number of expansion bids who wish to join A-League (my favourites being SE Melbourne, Geelong, Tasmania and Wollongong). Really hope FFA keep their promise to expand the league to 12 in 2018.
SelectaTalent has discovered a new player from Costa Rica. 23 years old and a defensive midfielder: Christian Martinez volante de marca de padre Salvadoreño juega en el Saprissa de Costa Rica. Ha jugado en selecciones menores de CR. pic.twitter.com/weqa8uY3WO— SelectaTalent (Hugo Alvarado) (@SelectaTalent) July 22, 2017 https://www.transfermarkt.com/christian-martinez/profil/spieler/374720
Is this real life? Not only does Australia avoid playing USA and Panama in the next round, but we play Honduras and USA gets eliminated!!!! AMAZING!
I don’t see Australia getting past Honduras, still relying on Cahill to score & they have no idea what they’re up against when they get to Honduras.