Showing posts with label Heath Pearce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heath Pearce. Show all posts

Monday, July 16, 2007

A Broad Yank - news and notes for 7/16

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.