If Andy Williams & Rodrigo Faria both get their green cards before 2003 kickoff, and Ramos & Balboa both retire at the end of the year (likely), it would appear that the Metros would have room for two reasonably well paid SIs on the 2002 roster. Taking into account MLS budgets, our team's needs, who is available & who may actually help put "fannies in the seats " (thank you George Steinbrenner), who would you like to see in Metro colors next year? I go with: A) Alessandro Costacurta - to help shore up the Defense (with Petke, Jolley & Akwari in the back) & 2) Steffan Effenberg (it seems to me that part our defenseive breakdown this season is the inability of any of our midfielders to hold the ball for any sort of extended period). What you my fellow Metro Fans think?
I knew that Andy Williams was close to getting his green card, but is Faria also? I hadn't heard that it was in the works...
Effenburg sign with VFL Wolfsburg, don't remember if it was more than a year contract or not but even if we did get him, which we shouldn't, he wouldn't be available to june or so
Anyone but Effenberg. I would rather go with some young Midfielders from down Latin America way. Ala a Vaca.
What don't you like about Effenberg specifically? He's good at holding the ball. Has no delusions about being Maradona. Knows he is what he is..a solid Teutonic Mid fielder. is it his personality?
Effenberg has stated many times that we would like to play for the MetroStars and MLS. If Costacurta is signed for next year thats a problem beacuse he hasn'y played any competitive football for a whole year. Andy Williams is close to getting a green card, Faria isn't. Metros management needs to tell Faria that if you want to play for us next season you must begin the green card processing. We need two quality senior internationals next year. One sweeper and a midfield who can hold the ball. Ramos and Balboa will be gone, that leaves us well under the salary cap. These moves are a must for OZ and Nick to keep their jobs. The current team is slipping and very injury prone. Howard,Petke,Jolley,Davis and Mathis are the only untouchabels in my mind!
For someone who constantly complains the Metros make too many player moves, you sure have a odd way of addressing team selection.
In case you missed it. It's called Scouting. Watching FSW tapes from 4 years ago doesn't cut it anymore.
I have an idea....other than making cursory moves after Tab retires.....possibly dropping players that don't matter (alvarez, klinger, flavor of the month), why don't we try and go into a season without replacing half the f-ing roster..... Pick up a guy or two sure.....my preference would be a young american, but if we are going the international route, say goodbye to Faria (unless Williams hurries)..... We have a lot of talent on the roster.....OZ just hasn't figured out how to use them.
Well, I'm not saying we shouldn't scout, Eric D., but anyone we scout & is worth signing would likley be a tranistional or youth international. I'm speaking specifically to Senior Internationals. If we have to go "find" SI's (i.e. they aren't "known" yet), they may not be worth having. Again, among SIs. dear Eric D,m who do you like?
I don't know. There isn't anyone "out there" that seems likely to make an impact. All I can tell you it isn't over the hill cancers like Effenberg. Why is it that every other team in this league has Young SI's that make an impact- and we have squat. Theres your answer. And what rule is there that we must fill every SI slot. I would rather spend the money elsewhere.
With Ronnie O'Brien languishing on the bench in Dallas, I wonder what we could tempt Dallas with to trade him. He is a creative midfielder and could help us out a lot.
I see your point, Eric, but I think Faria & Williams would probably count as reasonably young SIs who are doing a decent job. That said, if you could sign two knwon -quantity SIs who are realistic MLS targets, who would you go for?
No idea really. What constitutes an SI that MLS can get? How many have been signed worth a damn in the past couple of years. I would send a few scouts down to Honduras and Costa Rica and pick off some of their prime prospects. Forget Europe. I think our future lies down south.
Agree about Williams and Faria, but I don't really count them as SI's in a theoretical sense. Faria was playing ball for Bronxville CC and Andy Williams came from another MLS team and prior to that Rhode Island. What I am talking about is finding some guy on a dusty pitch in Teguchilapa. That is where I would like our future SI slots to go. No to aging Europeans, and no to aging Colombians. A few years ago I was really excited about Eastern Europe, but we as a league blew it. We had an in from the guys from Chicago and let the rest of Western Europe go after their prime youth assets.
Okay, I see what you're driving towards. I've often thought that MLS was under represented with Jamaicans & T&Ts myself. You know, guys in our own part of the world who should be easy enough to scout. Do you think "name" players make an impact or not attendance wise. MLS history on the subject is not great. Do you think it's that "names" don't draw or we just haven't gotten the right names?
From the 7 or so years of Metros soccer in this area, I can say the only players that bring name recognition are Zidane, Roberto Carlos and Figo. Since we cannot afford them anytime soon, name recognition means squat.
I see both your points. On one hand, a big name is an attendance draw. Down side: A big name (that we can afford) means a past-his-prime player. (You need string together a few great years to establish a name, and we can't afford those players in their prime) On the other hand, we CAN afford good young talent and potential. But there is no name draw for attendance. When weighing the pros and cons, I say get the good young talent. If we're looking to build up a team, if we're looking long term, if we're looking for rosters that will remain more intact from year to year, it seems the better choice. Besides, if we're lucky enough to see potential turn to excellence on the feild, it will raise the level of play. And while the casual fan may come to see a name, most soccer fans will come to see a team playing well AS a team, rather than to see one or two people put on a show.
With a 25K stadium, name recognition means jack. The atmosphere in that stadium with a good team stocked with young and veteran americans, and good international youth talent we can afford will be awesome. No one will be asking about past prime Euros when that place is rocking. Name recognition is for selling out Giants Stadium. And those days on a consistent basis will never be. And if anyone thinks they really ever happened, bar a small run from the Cosmos they did not. Ask Pele what is was like playing at Randalls Island in 1976.
Screw names, look to fill positional weaknesses. Looking at our roster for next season (assuming Balboa is gone and Ramos really retires), we have a lineup that looks like this: Howard Petke Jolley Akwari Paule Moore Ziadie Williams Davis Mathis Diallo Bench: Faria, Addo, Grafer Chrono needs to be put out to pasture. He just doesn't contribute enough to justify the salary he probably earns as a player who has been in the league since 1996. That leaves us very thin on the bench. We need at least one more defender, and a decent 4th striker. With Mathis and Paule as backups at A-Mid we are reasonably set there. We could however use a backup at d-mid. All that said, those are issues for the draft. Our biggest problem is wing midfielders. Faria can play left wing mid in a pinch, and Davis is better than Ziadie, so if we are going to be looking for a SI, it should be a right wing midfielder. Preferably young, mid to late 20's, and a player who can play both offense and defense. We will have the money to spend with the salary dump of Balboa, Ramos and Chrono, so we should spend that money on a player who will fit that position in the best possible way. As long as that happens, I don't give a damn what that player's name is. JMac
I don't think that the Metros should rule out Europe. Granted I'm not looking for another over the hill player, but there are a lot of guys over there taking up space on reserve teams that could come here and have some sort of impact. Granted they may be selfish and use it as a springboard to get in to some top level european teams, but still we shouldn't rule out trolling the youth systems of european teams as well.
On the other hand I should smack myself for using the word granted too much. Just goes to show I may not know what I'm talking about at 6:23 in the AM.