At the time he joined the league he wasn't a citizen - at the time I figure he could have been branded a mercenary, especially as he was a Yugoslav wanting to play for the UMNT. ANy number of these guys could have an equal or greater career and it is only hindsight that changes Preki's status. I wasn't trying to make any grand point -- if the US based men were available I am sure we would sign them, if they can't compete with the guys we bring in then I am not sure how that is anybody issues but theirs. I have written much about not liking the amount of foreigners coming in but it is mostly because I am not sure how you compare talent you see in a place like India to what we have here -- but then if the guy comes over and plays great, I want him if he improves over what we have. It certainly does not hurt the league to have more competition for spots, and with all the expansions and the dumping of the researve league, the squad size reductions we still are not producing stars and things feel thin. If we did not bring in the foreign leagion I am not sure where we would be heading into thsi season. Buying out of USL? The draft pool was weak ... and out best players are leaving for Europe. We cant be a feeder league and do no feeding at the same time.
Preki was not considered a mercenary at all, not by the time MLS came around. He played an entire career in MISL before he played another one in MLS. Actually, his stint with the Toffees was more "mercenary" than anything else he did.
Didn't say he was, just said he could have been. Realistically though if the US is to start producing more talent it needs that researve league back. If our best coaches are in MLS they need to be able to hold onto players and develop them. The foreign players are a consequence of not producing enough players ..... not the cause.
DEMPO release Chhetri for MLS stint according to the club sources, Chhetri has been released to join Kanas City Wizards in the Major Soccer League(MLS) and it is unlikly that he will have any role to play for the reminder of the season. The 15th season of MLS kicks off on March 25th. Kanas city are expected to open their campaign against DC united on April 3. "Chhetri has been granted release to join the MLS team. We had a pre-agreement with Chhetri which gave him the right to quit the club even midway into the season. Its quite a huge setback for the club but there is very little we can do," a top club official said on saturday
It looks like you pulled this from an article, could you post the link so the rest of us can see it please? Edit: Never mind, I found an article mentioning the same thing: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100314/jsp/sports/story_12215185.jsp
The "starting lineup" in the scrimmage - 7 out of the 10 field players were Americans if you count Espinoza, which we should. Personally, I think American players will rise to the level of the competition and we shouldn't try to protect them.
Preki became a US citizen midway during the summer of the 1996 season. I was at the ceremony, and the organ donor witness line on the back of my DL was one of the first things he signed as a US citizen. He had been married to an American for several years, and had one, if not both of his children already. If memory serves, he could have remained in England, but elected to come back partially to wrap up his citizenship matters. I'm not saying that I don't agree with your broader point (I do), or that I'm particularly chauvinistic (I'm not), but Preki, who was most certainly a known (and feared) commodity to Kansas City soccer fans (Beech, YilmazOrhan, Robert H, and others can confirm) before playing a game for the Wiz, just doesn't fall into the same category as the guys under discussion.
I partially agree with your statements but we have had a mostly American team the last few seasons and where has it gotten us? If anything, all this foreign talent could push our domestic talent to the next level. Being able to practice with solid, international players every day for the season or seasons could do a lot to develop young domestic talent such as Harrington.
Exactly. We were American to a fault last year. Our top 13 most frequently used players last year were Hartman, Lopez, Jewsbury, Wolff, Besler, Arnaud, Conrad, Hirsig, Hohlbein, Harrington, Watson, Gomez, and Leathers. Only two non-Americans in the whole bunch, and one is gone now. Espinoza only started 6 games all season. If anything, this is a course correction, not something to get all up in arms about. Just because we've got lots of internationals in camp doesn't mean they are all automatic starters. I still expect to see Wolff, Arnaud, Conrad, and possibly Besler, Harrington, and Jewsbury in the starting eleven on Opening Day.
So we are signing a guy who last played for a team in the English 5th division. Unimpressed may be an understatement.
Probably more unimpressed, this guy has just fallen way down the table. I'm still not completely convinced of Chhetri but at least Chhetri has played consistently everywhere he's been, Roscastle has played 174 games for 14 clubs over his 9 year pro career, an average of 12 games per club. Just think we should be able to pull in better players than some guy in the 5th division of England. And for what it's worth wikipedia has him listed as being signed by us. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Rocastle
Don't be knocking the Conference - standards down there are much higher than you might think. There are a lot of players at that level that wind up in the Championship and Premier League in a fairly shot time. The level is fine and a good conference team would probably give any team in MLS a run for its money. What is unimpressive is Rocastle's record, wholly and completely. If he plays UMKC tomorrow night we might more of an idea of how he looks.
I would be tickled if we signed Chherti- I can't agree more with you on Rocastle and for the record that Wiki was changed on March 5th by the guy who does all the updates for Forest Green Rovers F.C.. Rocastle's former club so maybe he had some inside information or was just speculating.
I probably don't give the conference enough credit, but the fact that it's the 5th division just has bad connotations when he's coming from there to the first division in another country. You are right about Rocastle's track record though, he's free fallen down the English ladder since being at Chelsea.
I wouldn't underestimate anybody anywhere in the pyramid. My introduction to English football when TWC and Directv first starting carrying Fox Sports World was non league club Stevenage forcing Newcastle into a replay in the FA cup. Good stuff.
Gotta day dream don't you .... Kings for part of an afternoon [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En2R8T7pxFU"]YouTube- Havant & Waterlooville FA Cup Story[/ame]
http://fgrforum.publicitymatters.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&p=36505 Take this forum posting for what you will, but it seems to point to the March 5th point that morry mentioned. Or this for a more official source: http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co...der-makes/article-1890792-detail/article.html Looks like it's been official for a little whilte.
Having watched Rocastle play for my local team (Sheffield Wednesday), he's a physical, hard-working centre midfielder who likes to get stuck in. Whether he's good enough for the MLS is a different story, but he wasn't that bad for Wednesday. You can't really criticise him just because he played in the fifth/sixth levels of English football, because there may have been some unknown factor to how he ended up playing there (wage demands, family reasons etc).