GoGo Yubari Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 2012 is over and done with. Time to start anew. On top of all the deadline day stuff that happened over the last couple days (Shea to Stoke, Dawkins to Villa, Najar to Anderlecht, Kamara to Norwich), apparently FC Dallas is about to acquire Eric Hassli from Toronto. The general reaction has pretty much been that it'll be an exciting season for people who want to see who will kill the other first between Hassli and Schellas Hyndman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khain Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 When does the season actually start? I'd love to start following it regularly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoGo Yubari Posted February 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 In exactly a month. It's a fun league to follow, I think; obviously the level of quality is much lower than top leagues but it's a league with a lot of parity and unpredictability (except for the annual certainty that Toronto FC and Chivas won't make the playoffs and New York won't win a single trophy). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HailtotheYo Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/covering-the-crew/2013/02/duka-traded.html Duka swapped for Oduro. I actually like this move quite a bit for CLB as they can really use Oduro's speed without needing him to be a consistent goal scorer. They've already got two guys for that (Higuain/Arrieta) but he does provide cover if needed. I dunno about Hassli in Dallas. I mean, BLAS PEREZ. However news is coming out that they've already released Pipico ... and Blas will be with Panama for the GC soooooo .... Honestly I like it, Hassli is good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Holy Moses Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 But if Hassli goes to Dallas, who's going to start at striker for TFC? Koef's injured until June. Surely Payne and Nelson don't think Wiedeman, Braun and Welshman (who they haven't signed yet) are capable of providing quality up front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khain Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 In exactly a month. It's a fun league to follow, I think; obviously the level of quality is much lower than top leagues but it's a league with a lot of parity and unpredictability (except for the annual certainty that Toronto FC and Chivas won't make the playoffs and New York won't win a single trophy).It should be better than the Mexican League in terms of quality so that is not a problem. I'm just looking for something to follow in June-August and the MLS sounds fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HailtotheYo Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 In exactly a month. It's a fun league to follow, I think; obviously the level of quality is much lower than top leagues but it's a league with a lot of parity and unpredictability (except for the annual certainty that Toronto FC and Chivas won't make the playoffs and New York won't win a single trophy). It should be better than the Mexican League in terms of quality so that is not a problem. I'm just looking for something to follow in June-August and the MLS sounds fun I wouldn't go that far. Liga MX has a bigger spread between the quality of the top teams and the bottom teams, but the top teams are still pretty damn good. They can pay more and have a bit deeper rosters still. We haven't completely caught up but the gap is closing pretty quickly. Saunders is on trial with RSL Kevin Mercado and Alex Parbon of LDQuito are trialing with the Fire. Apparently the rights to Robbie Rogers also went to Chicago in the Duka/Oduro trade ... and CHI is interested in trading them to LA for, something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tits McGee Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Kenny Cooper to FC Dallas for allocation money and a draft pick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HailtotheYo Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Dallas now has Hassli, Blas, and Cooper up top. They're also trying to sign Ramon Nunez (Honduran that's been at Leeds) as well. They went from holy shit thin to ... holy shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HailtotheYo Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Djimi Traoré on trial with Seattle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HailtotheYo Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Interesting ... the Crew have Matías Sánchez in camp. He's of the 2007 FIFA U-20 World winning Argentine side that featured Sergio Agüero, Ángel di María, Ever Banega and Emiliano Insúa. He's been with Estudiantes (huge club in Argentina) and is only 25 ... very curious because he's been playing regularly with them. Seems that'd be a huge pick up for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HailtotheYo Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 .... aaaaand now Carlos Ruiz appears to be angling back into the league with CHVUSA. Oy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Holy Moses Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Interesting ... the Crew have Matías Sánchez in camp. He's of the 2007 FIFA U-20 World winning Argentine side that featured Sergio Agüero, Ángel di María, Ever Banega and Emiliano Insúa. He's been with Estudiantes (huge club in Argentina) and is only 25 ... very curious because he's been playing regularly with them. Seems that'd be a huge pick up for them. I actually saw some of those 2007 U20 matches in Ottawa. Czech 2-2 North Korea and Argentina 6-0 Panama. Granted, Panama only received one point in that round, but hot damn did Argentina look fantastic. While Aguero stole the show, I remember thinking at that time that Argentina's entire squad was terrific -- especially at midfield. Grabbing almost any part of that team would be a good pickup for an MLS side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HailtotheYo Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Absolutely. I loved that tournament because the US did extremely well and played one of their best youth tournaments ever .... and the whole time I was hoping we didn't run into them unless the only way possible was in the final. They ran through that tournament. Sergio Romero was the GK, Zarate was in the mid, and Piatti was a sub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Holy Moses Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Wasn't Messi technically allowed to play in that tournament? I'm sure the reason he didn't is because Barca didn't want to lose him to such a relatively minor tournament. But just imagine the possibilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HailtotheYo Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Wasn't Messi technically allowed to play in that tournament? I'm sure the reason he didn't is because Barca didn't want to lose him to such a relatively minor tournament. But just imagine the possibilities. Yes but he'd progressed already. He'd already made his full NT breakthrough by 2005 and was used as a U23 for the Olympics in '08. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Holy Moses Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 True. That Messi kid is something special, though. Once he learns to play to his potential, he's going to score like, at least twenty goals per year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khain Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Saldy, the thing I remember the most from that tournament is Gary Medel kicking the shit out of Gabriel Mercado Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rafael Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 I'd rather not talk about this, Brazil sucked in that tournament. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoGo Yubari Posted February 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Tell me more of this tournament, guys! Elsewhere, Portland wins a fairly meaningless preseason friendly vs. Seattle. They played most of their starters (no Ricketts or Ryan Johnson) for 60 minutes, Seattle played a very small handful of regular starters due to illness + national team duty, so a metric shit-ton of trialists and fringe players. Traore was one of them; he had decent vision so I'd expect him to stick around for more preseason. Leo Lelis, a Fluminense youth player, also got some time in the second half at CB. He looked okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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