Nevtelen
Dec 12, 2008 May 31, 2012 14 2284
Just your average, everyday rabid Gonzaga basketball fan with a heapin' helpin' of Sounders-mania thrown in for good measure.
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Allocation?
So... maybe I'm still not understanding this whole allocation order thing, but the Rapids can just sign a player who has USMNT experience when we (and other teams) have to use the allocation order to get one? Am I missing an important piece of the puzzle here? Not that Hill is probably a huge difference maker, but rules are rules, right?
MLS Fantasy U23s
by Nevtelen on Mar 3, 2012 4:47 PM EST
on Sounder At Heart
I already put this on the MLS fantasy post, but it dropped off the front page pretty quickly so I wanted to repost here.
Did you realize that Juninho is only 23? Did you know that Nick LaBrocca is 27? And Gspurning is only 22? Well, okay, I think that one's just a typo on the MLS site, but if you had to trot out a youth team of MLS players, who would you pick?
Which is all to lead into the fact that besides my normal MLS fantasy team, I'm going to do a U23 team where all the players must be 23 and under per the MLS website (except Gspurning and any other clear mistakes if they're found). Obviously, a team like that has big disadvantages vs a non-U23 team, so I thought it might be fun to do a group of all U23 teams so there can be some competition. The group I've created is public - it's called 23 and Under - and anyone is invited to join as long as you choose all U23 players. It really forces you to think about your choices even more because there are fewer good options to pick from and predicting who'll be the next young player to break out can be a huge boost. The choices are a bit weak at the moment as most of the draftees haven't been added (no Mattocks, no Rowe, and a lot more), but I'll assume (hopefully) they'll be there when the team rosters are updates before First Kick.
As a final note, props to Dizzo for bringing up the idea of making a U23 team.
8 commentsLe Sounders de Montreal, uh, The Impact lose 3-0 to the Whitecaps
Wahl starts and goes 77', Neagle starts, Fucito comes on in the 72nd, and Montano starts and goes 67. Add Le Toux to that on the other side (came on in the 63rd to get an assist and nail a PK) and there are ex-Sounder fingerprints all over this one.
Santos Fires Manager
I'm not sure if this means Santos will be a harder out in the CCL because the interim coach will be eager to get some wins and will play the starters or that they'll be easier because the players won't be fully comfortable with him by the 13th. The interim head coach seems to be the guy who was in charge of the youth academy, so Santos might continue to play their young players in CCL.
Communicaciones just beat Herediano 2-0
So Herediano will either be desperate or totally uninterested when we play them in a couple weeks at home. That puts Communicaciones and Monterrey at 3 pts after 2 games, us at 6 and Herediano at 0.
Servando Carrasco's Rookie Life video
A few interesting tidbits about what it's like to be a trialist/draftee for the Sounders. Nice background to the interview.
(On some guys jogging around: Evans and Parke) "They're fine. Yesterday we trained pretty hard and we had a little but of what we called Tournament Day. So today we just wanted to back off on them a little bit in the final phase. They went through everything in practice up until the final phase when we said let's back off on them."
(On James Riley...) "James' situation is still day-to-day. He still hasn't been cleared to fully train."
(On Montero) "Fredy Montero's situation right now is also day-to-day." [Ed note: I misheard Schmid on this answer and, as such, am not able to provide more info. Attempts to determine his injury/ailment were unsuccessful. Stay tuned.]
(On Leo Gonzalez, who took a knock) "We hope it's not too serious. He stayed out afterwards and stretched and so forth. ... He'll come in for treatment, so we'll have a better idea tomorrow."
I missed this from Mayer's blog yesterday - passed right over it when I read through his interview with Sigi. Hopefully everything is fine, but the number of important players we have with injury concerns is beginning to head into ridiculous-land. Sounds like the team could go to San Jose minus Montero, both our starting fullbacks, and possibly Parke and Evans. I'm (fairly) sure not all of that will come to pass, but really? Seriously?
Crew Land Veeder
As he's a RB, it would have been nice to see him with the Sounders and it looks like we had a pretty decent shot at landing him (almost 25%), but it was not to be. No clue how good he'll be, and it looks like Levesque might be a decent sub at RB, but having a young, (presumeably) talented player at that position for the future would have been nice.
Over the years, MLS has expanded wisely. Its only demerit has been the Miami Fusion, which failed four seasons after joining the league. An independent study of ideal MLS cities, based on economics, conducted by the University of San Francisco in 2004 found that the 10 MLS franchises in existence at the time were all within the 25 most desirable soccer towns in the U.S. The study also indicated that Miami and Tampa had been very poor choices for franchises, justifying their contraction.
Since the study came out, MLS has added teams to three more cities that landed in top 20 cities (Philadelphia, Houston and Seattle) and two in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver).
It should be noted that one 2011 expansion city, Portland, was ranked 24th, below the contracted Miami and Tampa. "I don't think Portland is going to turn out like Seattle," the study's author Daniel Rascher told ESPN.com. "Seattle is a larger market with a high income and more purchasing power."
The last bit is the money quote. I guess you could call this "Seattle > Portland confirmed by outside observer." Not earth-shaking, but it just feels kinda nice to have what we already know confirmed by an outsider. Daniel Rascher is clearly an intelligent individual.
over 1 year ago
Nevtelen
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Seattle defender Baudet exploring other options
I guess no Baudet for us. Sounds like Adrian was pretty clear about that up front when the transaction was made. Also makes it sound like the team is pretty confident Cruz will work out.
Assuming we don't sign him, under the new CBA what are our options? We can hold onto his rights in MLS for one season, until the next reentry draft, right? But if he goes abroad or to US D2 or wherever, do we still hold his MLS rights for a year or forever or what? You'd have to think that we probably couldn't get much in a trade since any team would now know he's not really in our plans.
Warshaw showed well in first day
Dizzo got me intrigued with Bobby Warshaw. I'm not sure if it's good he's had a strong combine so far - making a better case for him to be a solid signing - or bad - since another team might take him before we could get him in the 2nd round.
College Cup
by Nevtelen on Dec 10, 2010 9:00 PM EST
on Sounder At Heart
Just a thought for the meetup on Sunday - the college cup is apparently on ESPN 2 Sun @ 1 - could we have that on TV for the meetup? I'm watching UNC and Louiville at the moment and it's fairly entertaining. I'd be interested to see the cup, especially if some of these players will be in MLS next season.
Any guesses as to who it'll be? I guess Akron is the fav to beat Michigan later tonight, but I don't know much about The Ville or UNC this season.
#12?
by Nevtelen on Nov 23, 2010 3:10 PM EST
on Sounder At Heart
Who gets that 12th spot once we have a player taken? Obviously it's partially situational, but which players would you all add to the list (I guess this also depends on who you think goes first)?
If, by some miracle, Ianni doesn't go first, I'd think he'd have to be #12 in almost any situation. If he does go, I'd say Nkufo will get the nod. For me, those are the only 2 players I'd add to the list. The midfield is well-enough represented that losing Sturgis is a blow we could take. Nyassi has done some good things, but is replaceable.
Who would the rest of you protect?
What Vancouver wants in the Expansion Draft
by Nevtelen on Oct 19, 2010 12:04 PM EDT
on Sounder At Heart
Lenarduzzi said the Whitecaps will clearly try to sign more attacking players during the off-season, as the team defended well this year but was always challenged when it came to scoring goals.
He said the Caps have many young players with tremendous scoring potential -- such as Kyle Porter, Cornelius Stewart and Ridge Mobulu -but it would be unfair to depend on them to take the team to the next level in 2011.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Next+season+begins+Whitecaps/3692247/story.html#ixzz12oxfLhq0
To me, that says probably any attacking player we leave unprotected, be it Jaqua, Fucito, or Nkufo, is probably gone to Vancouver. We might be able to take a chance with defenders, as they seem to be fairly confident in their defense. The Caps are expected to announce their first signings soon and Portland announces today.
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