San Jose and Foriegn Players

Because roster stability, championships, and talented american players are overrated?

Because you'd rather have Travis Mulraine back? Because Lazizi worked out so well?


Tony

 

You missed the Quakemagic interview with the Wee Man I see. Johnny Moore pretty much flat out said that he believes in the ability of the American player, on the field and off the field. He also said that unless he felt that the foreign player was clearly superior, he didnt feel that there was any reason to sign a foreigner. That doesnt mean that he didnt feel that foreigners had no part in the league or the team, but there wasnt a sense that you HAVE to sign an SI to feel a need. And on the field, certainly he was right. We gave chances to Brian Ching and Brian Mullan that they hadnt gotten in LA rather than try and find an overseas forward and a midfielder, and look how that worked out. Those were talented guys who just needed the right situation and chance.

Now for whatever reason, Bob Bradley in Metro land feels he needs to sign a ton of TI and SI players to compete. Thats fine. And I wouldnt mind seeing an SI star for the quakes, but what I dont want to see is a compulsive need to fill SI slots and augment that with every TI available.

 

Once bitten...
...twice shy...
...who needs it?

 

I was thinking exactly the same thing, the Graziani biting coming to mind.

 

Three foriegn players played a key role in last year's championship" Dwayne DeRosario, Pat Onsted and Ronnie Ecklund. Toss in Faria with the OT goal against LA. That is probably on par as far as other teams are concenred.

 

But the point now being that we aren't making the big runs at marquee SI's anymore. Yes, those foreign players did make key contributions. But they weren't acquired as signature players.

Contrast that to Peter Bridgwater's pursuit of Carlos Hermosillo and other top-shelf Mexican stars.

I think also the marketplace dictates the need to pursue major SI's. Here in this jaded market no one's impressed by a big name overseas signing. But in NY/NJ it might be a necessity of marketing and gaining footholds in the multiple ethnic communities that actually support the MetroStars.

 

Graziani was. There's also an 18-man roster limit and haven't been a whole lot of openings. If you're going to pursue a player, you have to have him take somebody else's job, and it also has to work out with the salary cap. When you have championship-level team, there's not a lot of motivation to deal with the hassles of international transfers.

Yeah, that worked out great.

 

What's the problem? The fact that the Quakes don't bring in a ton of foreigners is something that I like about them. It's nice to know that the champions have a distinctly American feel. Look at Arsenal for christ's sake, they may as well be playing in France.

Besides, who wants to be like the Metrotards. They bring in big name foreigners and suck a$$ every year. And who knows what kind of deseases these creepy foreigners bring with them. We all remember the horrible MPF outbreak last year.

 

from the point of view of a Metro diehard, and this certainly isnt an attempt to troll...i first started to get angry when people made comments about us bringing in a mix of TI's to add to our SI's...but i guess it is reasonable for other team's fans to see the moves and think twice about it...however, i guess what it comes down to is, what American players are there for us to use?...as we all know in US soccer, there are not many quality US forwards...you guys are blessed to have landon, and we were in the running for Jovan at some point but he went to LA...i can't stand Clint, but regardless, he went overseas, giving us even less forwards, at a position we were already extremely weak at...Magee and Woly (as much as i love Gooolyniec) simply should not be starting full-time for any team in this league...as a fanbase, we've seen our team built and rebuilt every possible way it seems...whether it was bringing in washed up malcontents, or signing players of certain nationalities (with no skill) just to draw crowds, etc, it's gotten to the point where we don't care where these guys are from, we just want them to play hard...MLS as a whole has done a phenomenal of keeping American players here that want to be here, and ensuring the great majority of our youth Nats will also begin their careers here...unfortunately, the distribution hasn't been even where you can say each team has received an equal number of impact American players, and thats fine, its the way things go...we got DiGi, and he was a bust, but theres nothin you can do about it...on the other hand, we were very fortunate to replace Timmy with Jonny who's American, and there's been seemingly no drop-off...we have arguably the best defender in US Soccer (when he feels like being healthy), but at the end of the day, it's not enough...i'm incredibly thankful that we were able to bring a very brilliant American coach in Bob, who knows how to build a team, and who won't compromise what he wants in going through with that...sorry for rambling, i just think the days of MLS trying to force the Metros to be the best team in the league are well past us, and i hope more fans realize that...good luck to you guys this season, and thank you for beating the Fire last year in the final =)

 

That's what a lot of people would have said regarding the Quakes before the 2003 season started. Instead of taking the SI or TI route, Yallop found Mullan and Ching (seemingly out of nowhere). A good coach can find talent if they have a sharp eye like Yallop.

So how can you be so sure there isn't more where they came from within the US instead of outside the US?

 

To be fair, Bob Bradley built his Chicago teams out of American players, and probably did more than any other coach in MLS to develop the US National team pool. I think the reason that he's brought in so many foreigners is that he's trying to rebuild the team in the image he wants, and there's only so many American players you can add a year (considering that discoveries and allocations are pretty much just useful for foreigners).

Nevertheless, it certainly doesn't seem like San Jose doesn't have holes. Could they not find any Transitional International better than Wes Hart for right back, or Ian Russell for left mid, or as an understudy/replacement for Ekelund (considering Jose Cancela was a discovery pick)?

 

due time, your comment about mullan and ching is certainly valid to me...but in that sense, you could say the same about woly and magee...those guys, who Bob specifically sought out, played out of their skin nearly the entire season for us...for you guys, those guys have definitely exceeded whatever expectations were probably placed on them initially, but they're also still not the players you guys are placing the brunt of the responsibility on...in all fairness, you still have Donovan, in addition to two foreigners last year at forward (faria and derose), with derose returning...we have guys like nugent, regan, leitch, stammler (currently injured), arena, parke, mikey bradley and magee that could develop without being thrown into the fire, while still relying much more heavily on players such as Walker, Pope, Gaven, Lisi, and Rico who are American...most importantly, i still think MLS as a whole has done a good job of identifying domestic talent that should be in this league, and as someone mentioned, Bob has certainly done his part...it also benefits coaches to bring in cheaper options if feasible, but let's face it, Yallop wasnt betting his season on mullan and ching going into last year, and i dont think anyone can blame Bob for not wanting to take that kind of risk with Woly and Magee...this is definitely a great offseason argument, so dont take offense to what im saying or anything like that...i just really think some people are still bitter from the old days when MLS did try to favor Metro and haven't totally let go of that...we're still trying for our first trip to an MLS final, and i really think we're going about it as fairly as the other 9 teams..

 

Huh?? I guess obviously you mean an international of some caliber....because we do have players of caliber who want to play here and are playing here.

 

Right now, the Earthquakes have excellent senior internationals - as good or better than anyone's in the league. Ronnie Eklund is awesome, Dwayne DeRosario is a great forward, and Pat Onstad is one of the best 'keepers in the league. There is absolutely nothing to complain about.

Are you concerned because Eklund is Danish and DeRosario and Onstad are Canadian, and Denmark and Canada are not traditional soccer powers?

To that I say it doesn't matter one single iota. All three are fantastic players. Nothing else matters.

And getting a "marquee" SI is not all it's cracked up to be. Just look at Lothar Matthaeus and Luis Hernandez.

Personally, I'm tickled pink about SJ's SIs, as well as the domestic players. SJ is an excellent team and is the closest thing to a dynasty in MLS right now. We SJ fans are extremely spoiled.

Now, if Eklund, DeRosario or Onstad leave or retire, I would certainly want SJ to get on the new SI hunt. But until then, SJ is the envy of the league with it's SI's and should stand pat.

Also, from a marketing standpoint, the main thing that matters is on-field success. Getting an SI from a particular country to attract a particular demographic has proven to be folly in this league. Remember when SJ got the Iranian star (his name right now escapes me, sorry)? Well, that attracted all of 20 or so extra Iranian fans per game. Whoopeee!

 

When Frank Yallop first took over the 'Quakes, he looked for players that played a quick style, relying on one and two-touch play instead of flash and one-on-one moves. When Ecklund started working with the team in that 2001 preseason, I remember how Yallop said that his style suited the team on the field, and that his leadership and personality fit well in the locker room. And these are the types of players that do well with the Quakes, and make the Quakes do well as a team. Even Landon looks to pass before he looks to dribble (to a fault if you ask me).

As the team has repaid players like Mulrooney, Corrales, DeRo, etc with better contracts, they have not had the cap space to spend on flashy foreigners. And the strategy has worked on the field. It is now up to Lalas and the fans to make it work in the bank account.

 

Just a point of clarification, Pat is a Green Card holder therefore he is not considered a foreign player. De Ro is presently working on his green card and when he gets it that will free up another SI spot. Rodrigo not coming back also opens up a spot. At that point Ronnie will be the only SI.

The Earthquakes are in better shape than any team in the MLS as far as SI spots are concerned. Dom will have more options both this season and even more importantly next season to use these spots and I am sure he will use them wisely. The reason most team are reluctant to use a draft pick on a TI (who will become a SI) is that most teams don’t
have SI spots open and that means they have to cut the SI player they have. All credit to Chicago on Damani he was a great acquisition but he was a good gamble based on the large number of very good American players they have.

We have spots open both now and in the future. I believe that the 3 SI players should be in your top 5 player’s talent point of view and even more importantly from a statistics or results point of view, if not you have selected the wrong guys.

 

You beat me to it. Good to hear Pwamme is looking for a green card as I think that will give him a much longer shelf life in the MLS.

And back to the original question. Do you want good quality players with a little less reputation who can fit in with the team and with the salary cap? Or do you want marquee names who come in with huge egos and atttitude such as in Lothar Mattheus, that French twit with Colorado, Luis Hernandez, Jorge Campos. I could go on and on but I won't.

Good luck tomorrow. Still your number 1 fan in Calgary.

 

And that's why we have such a jaded view of TI's & SI's. We haven't really had an impact marquee player to fit that category since Missael Espinosa. And the pursuit of his replacement got comical.

 

The money has to be an issue, when reading that report on the salaries of the players, it looks like the Earthquakes, spread the loot instead of giving it all to one guy.I think it was either the last year of the Clash or the first year as the EarthQuakes, we started all Californians except Cerritos.

 

That's why I stopped using those ridiculous biographies in the player intros and just went with hometowns...to play up the point that this is (by percentage) a very American team.

 

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Good example, though, along with Hernandez and Mattheus. Unmitigated disasters.

 

What exactly is Jamil Walker?