Sounders to add Costa Rican Middie

sounderfan · Jun 18, 2004

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/othersports/178512_sound18.asp

The Sounders expect to add Costa Rican midfielder Jonathan Bolanos to compliment a fervent front line.

"He has the skills to have an enormous impact," Hanauer said. "It will just be a matter of how well he can fit into our style of play and fit in with our guys."

Fitting in is no concern to Schmetzer.

"This is a great group of guys. We have a tight-knit team and they're all pretty open to bringing in new guys. They are a very spirited team in that sense," Schmetzer said.

An aggressive, left-footed player, Bolanos is expected to create scoring opportunities for forwards Roger Levesque, Kyle Smith and, particularly, Welton, who leads the team with five goals. The Sounders would also welcome Bolanos' powerful deep shot, which was highlighted in a video sent to the team by his agent, Jan Schiefloe, who used to represent Welton. The video showed Bolanos firing goals from 30 yards out in his games with Costa Rica first division team Club Deportivo Cartagines.

Bolanos, 26, played with the Chicago Fire in 2003 and for the Costa Rica national team in the 2000 Olympics, and has top-flight experience in Costa Rica and Mexico.
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More on JB:

http://www.proplayermanagement.com/html/bolanos.html

http://www.soccer365.com/US_NEWS/Breaking_News/page_131_56638.shtml

Dave Marino-Nachison · Jun 18, 2004

I was intrigued by what little I saw of Bolanos on TV last year for the Fire. He seemed like a dynamic, creative attacking player. Should be a good pickup for the Sounders.

alf · Jun 18, 2004

cool.

Greddy · Jun 18, 2004

Good for you guys. I was a big fan of his at the Fire last year. I think he'll do VERY well for the sounders. Good pick up.

prk166 · Jun 18, 2004

A big fan? But he only played 2 games for the Fire.

Greddy · Jun 18, 2004

prk166 said:

A big fan? But he only played 2 games for the Fire.

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I was a fan of his skill, which I saw much of in those two games. I was hoping that we'd keep him because i thought once he got over his fitness problem's, he'd be a big asset to the team. We had a great team last year. I didn't expect him to break into the starting 11, and risk hurting the chemistry that we had. Bolanos is a very good player. He'll be a GREAT player in the A-League.

HalaMadrid · Jun 18, 2004

He was with the team for awhile. he saw a lot of action in scrimmages and was very well regarded by the coaching staff, but we just never got a good chance to use him a lot.