Several, actually. There's quite a bit of news about Americans overseas, or potential migrations thereof.
- Beasley is pleased with himself after just his first match with Rangers, a friendly against German side Gutersloh. His confidence is encouraging, especially when you consider the fact that Beasley could be facing Champions League football later in the coming season.
- Heath Pearce has joined newly promoted Hansa Rostock in the German Bundesliga. Apparently Pearce had other options as well, notably from Watford FC in the English Championship where fellow Yank Jay DeMerit plies his trade. (That would have been cool.) But as it stands, the competiton to become America's premier left fullback just got exciting. In the past Pearce has been outspoken about his aim to become America's top-choice lefty and his subsequent disappointment that Bornstein seemed to be the favorite. Let's see how Bornstein steps up to the challenge.
- American Soccer Daily wants us all foaming at the mouth: apparently Celtic and Siena are the frontrunners to sign young upstart Danny Szetela. Other notables include Everton, 'Boro, and Reading of the EPL and Valencia of La Liga. Simply because I would love to have an American in La Liga (and because no one should be outdone by Canada), I'm rooting for Valencia to win his signature, but from a practical perspective, Siena is probably the place to go. If he moves to Italy he's got a good chance at Serie A minutes (better than Ferrari, anyway), access to some great training facilities, and a great atmosphere to play in. And Celtic? Beasley plays for Rangers, of course; the Glasgow derby would become infinitely more interesting. Spain, though... And for Valencia... What a dream that would be.
- Remember that kid I was telling you about last week? The one you've never heard about, who just might be on his way England? Well, it's not happening: Greg Dalby has been denied a move to Preston North End by the UK Home Office. I say that's bollocks. The UK's stringent work permit laws screw a lot of people, but they seem to like screwing Yanks in particular. (Interesting debate abrew in the comments below!)
- Conor William Chinn won't be headed abroad, either. Apparently HFC Haarlem were in the market for tried and true playing ability and not young talent, although they seemed to think that Chinn had plenty of the latter. NCAA has assured the 19 year-old another three years of college ball, so there's no rush. I'll remember this one.
- And finally: there are rumors circulating about that ex-Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello could be headed Stateside. He's been approached by an unnamed MLS team. (Ives is guessing NYRB because in his estimation, Red Bull are becoming less and less enamored of the team's potential for revenue.) My take? It's an interesting proposition, but I question how dedicated Capello would be once he got here. His interest in the job seems to be driven by curiosity, not conviction. "It would be a new experience that would intrigue me not for the money but to see if anyone could make American soccer take off," says Capello. I guess he's insinuating that Beckham can't do it alone. He's probably right.
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2 comments:
Regarding Dalby and work permits, I have two points for your consideration:
(1) The English national team would be best served by implementing even more stringent work permit requirements as their own talent is being pushed out of spots on top level clubs. They've still got some top-level talent, but the depth isn't what it used to be.
(2) How do you feel about MLS's foreign player limits? Related to the first, would you rather see an influx of talented foreign players that marginalize the American player and leave our national team stagnant. Horses for courses, club or country, there probably aren't any "right" answers.
1) I realize this is the case. I've heard it often enough to realize that fostering homegrown talent is the average Englishman's chief complaint about the EPL. And I suppose that in all fairness, for every American rejected from the Home Office, there's another dozen footballers rejected alongside him. But really-- Ben Olsen, Clint Dempsey, Eddie Johnson, Josh Wolff -- I could rattle off a whole list of MLS players who had the good fortune of attracting interest from a British club only for the UK Home Office to scrap it due to international caps, the majority of which (with USSF, anyways) go to players already based in Europe. It's rather difficult for a top-notch player in the MLS to become a top-notch player anywhere else and I don't like that.
(2) This is true, but we're in a totally different situation than our English counterparts. The way things are now, there's no influx of talented players, foreign or otherwise. The EPL has to fend foreigners off while the MLS has to find ways to draw them here. That, and we have no (effective) protective measures encouraging our young talent to stay home. I dunno; I can't really compare the two systems well.
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