Oh yes, absolutely. For me though, a bit before my time as a Quakes fan. But he was really good, like ERo. Those would be my 2 best ever Quakes defenders.
Conrad played right back for us other wise I would have included him, but Conrad was the heart of a Quake through n through. I love JimmyC. I would personally like to see Hedges come here and elevate the game of Rodrigues and or Nathan, bringing a calming presence in the back could be an Agoos type acquisition. Him, Long or any of the CBs available would do that. Personally I'd rather see Rodrigues and Hedges/Long for us.
You wish! What I read is that he was born in Rochester, but moved in early childhood and spent his school years in Indiana (including high school and some college). If anything probably a Colts fan...
my bad, I thought he had some spot starts in the middle. I forgot Frank traded him to KC in 2003…he played CB there and with the Nats in the 2006 WC. I’d much rather have Long but I agree Hedges would be a significant upgrade to our back line. He’s a classic organizing CB…a steady presence, but not as good as Long in open field 1 v 1 defending…I think Hedges is a bit vulnerable in those situations, but his anticipation and awareness generally keeps him out of those unfavorable situations. Depends what kind of relationship he had with Luchi…if it was favorable, we have a legit shot to bring him in.
I agree, I'd rather pick Long over Hedges but I'd be happy with either one of those guys. Hedges has an issue with faster forwards but his height, positioning and organization is something we need. Rodrigues speed off Hedges would be good. Long is much faster than Hedges and his ball handling is also better. Especially if we will play a press soccer like Luchi's Dallas team did. I'm curiously optimistic. Conrad did get some spot starts at CB but mostly played RB for Yallop. Lost his spot to Ibsen in 01, then got it back by playoff time. Also started at Right Back in 02, then traded to KC so we could get Waibel. He excelled at CB though with KC/Nats.
Hedges is yet another rightie, which means if we signed him we’d have 4 righties and one leftie at CB. And we have a pressing need at LB depth as well (and please no Beason as LB) not to mention no leftie wide mids that I can think of offhand. Maybe we can tilt the PPP pitch a bit to the right.
Beason is the one I called out. I didn’t include Walls because I don’t think he has a realistic chance of getting minutes of any significance this year. Nathan, Rodrigues, Hedges (if signed), Agren all righties. Didn’t matter so much when we were not a “play out of the back” team. But we’ve been “play out of the back” for a while now and I don’t expect that to change. I think it’s part of the club “methodology” at this point.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Luchi plays Walls more minutes than Beason this year. I’m not saying he’s better but I suspect that there will be an emphasis on development of the Quakes’ academy players. Luchi came for that reason. Watch for Emi Ochoa to play in Open Cup games.
I've heard Ochoa wants to leave for Mexico at some point soon. I'm not putting Amy stock into Ochoas long term plans here. I would prefer Walls to Agren and Beason for sure.
Not sure but this might be the last year on his contract. I haven’t heard about an extension or option pickup. I bet they want to give him a bigger shot than Jacob Akanyinge had to prove his talent. Also, in addition to being big and left footed, he was born in England so that makes him much more valuable to sell on than a guy like Beason.
Wouldn't be a bad idea to see if he's better than Beason. I think we know what Beason is by now - he's serviceable but will always be a bit slow and technically just OK, and his distribution is a bit sketchy - he's good for at least one really bad giveaway a game, like clockwork. Still, if we acquire Hedges we have the problem that our top 3 CB's are all righties. Not that big of a problem but not great either for a team that wants to play out of the back.
We were focused on centerbacks. Jimmy played some centerback, but I remember him mostly playing rightback.
This would be a great season to see who will stay and who will leave because Beason, Agren, and Walls deserve minutes this year. Agren did alright when he played in his MLS debut, Beason is a decent CB, and Walls has yet to get his chance, but he is the best defender easily in the MLS Next Pro team, so I believe he deserves some chances. I remember Beason needed a season to acclimate to MLS, so I have faith Agren will be the same. Hell, maybe we will not even need Rodrigues on permanent if even one of these 3 turns into a solid CB by midseason. As much as I like Nathan's chaotic playstyle, I do not think it fits us it is just too aggressive and unnecessary. Like to play with Nathan, we will need two other CBs and 2 CDMs to make sure we are covered. I remember a comment a fan said, but they said it is almost like we need to have one of those backpacks with a leash attached to it that you put on the children so they do not run off too far. I know everyone is looking at Aaron Long, and we are rumored to be interested in Matt Hedges (which would be awesome) but has anyone also checked out Alexander Callens? He is a potential free agent, and he plays with trauco on the national team, where he plays as a LCB. wouldn't mind us checking him out as well.
I am more bullish on Ågren than Beason. I think he's better than Beason already. He's quicker and better with the ball at his feet.
Callens is solid, he's not as good as Long or Hedges but he's better than Rodrigues, Nathan, Beason, Agren and Walls. Yep same reason I kept Waibel and Roner out of the discussion.
I wonder if it's possible to determine the number of players who have been Clash and/or MLS Quakes players? Over almost 30 years, it's probably staggering. There's a list with about 220 on Wiki but I don't think it's definitive and is certainly not current. Just early morning ponderings...
The Wikilist isnt current it hasn't been updated in many years. I have a full database I made on my computer I'll share it later today. It's got literally everyone in a comprehensive spread from draft picks, trailists etc.
I’ve been curious - in 25 years with the Quakes - how many guys I saw. It’s sort of amazing, when you think about it.
I've seen them all myself so you've probably seen even more. But I suffered through every game the first 19 years of existence including very bad scrimmages and pre season game. Some very very very bad stuff. 2005 Wondolowsmi and reserves were pretty hard to watch too. Wondo reallllly sucked in 2005. You hear them yelling at him a lot to stay on his feet, pass and cover.