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from November 15, 2008
NOVEMBER 15, 2008
FROM THE KICK THIS ARCHIVES
SOCCERSAM.COM NEWS DIRECTOR JAMES WEISE

Read the latest news from the Rhinos and all around the soccer world with the latest news postings from Soccersam.com News Director James Weise. You can read James' soccer news and opinion column right here at soccersam.com.

SoccerSam.com News Director
James Weise

James became the Kick This! News Director in March of 2005. A long time listener and caller of the show, he jumped at the chance to audition when he heard there was an opening. He brings to Kick This! the voice of the fan who has always maintained a love for the game and his team.

Growing up, James was a fan of Sheffield Wednesday because they had an American midfielder by the name of John Harkes. When MLS started up, DC United became James’ team to follow because their marquee player just happened to be John Harkes.

As a student at Clarkson University, he enjoyed watching a guy who did a crazy flip throw in, and even got to play in an indoor fraternity league against him. His name.... Mike Kirmse. James is a long time season ticket holder and Kirmse will likely always be his favorite all-time Rhino.

James is also passing on his love for the game. Both of his boys play for the town of Chili, and his daughter is anxiously awaiting her turn. Although only a year and a half, she loves playing soccer with the boys...


Welcome to Miami Mr. Henry?

MiamiFan Nation.com

I usually hate the megastar to MLS rumors, but this one is too juicy to pass up.

Goal.com is talking about how FC Barcelona may look to move Thierry Henry to their Miami based MLS team should they ge given one of the two expansion teams that MLS is looking to add in 2011.

Although, this report says that the Barca-Miami team may join MLS in 2010.

Either way, the USL needs to get on their knees and pray that MLS buys into this bid. 

It appears to be a foregone conclusion that Montreal is gone to MLS in 2010 or 2011. But, if Miami grabs the other open slot, that would save the USL from losing another thriving market as they would likely lose Portland or Vancouver if Miami doesn't get a team.

I would love to see Thierry Henry in MLS. But even more than that, I'd love to see MLS try and return to Miami.

NY Red Bulls 1 Real Salt Lake 0

MLSNet.com

SBI.net

SI.com - Ridge Mahoney

SI.com - Luis Bueno

Dave Van den Bergh gave the Red Bulls the only goal they needed on Saturday night to go into Salt Lake and escape with a 1-0 win and advance to Sunday's MLS Cup Final at the Home Depot Center against the Columbus Crew.

Real Salt Lake definitely went down fighting as they outshot NY 24 to 11 and rang one shot off of Danny Cepero's right post.

The cool part about this final is that it will pit two franchises that are each playing in their first MLS Cup Final.

So, either way, their will be history set and someone with Rochester ties will get some hardware.

News & Notes:

- Fan Nation.com has a link to a rumor that Juan Pablo Angel is contemplating a return to Argentina. That couldn't come out at a worse time for the Red Bulls, could it?

- Bob Bradley has announced his roster for Wednesday's World Cup Qualifier against Guatemala and it includes Jozy Altidore and Freddy Adu.

- US International defender Jonathan Spector has signed a three year extension with West Ham United.

- Tomasz Frankowski threw Chicago Fire head coach Denis Hamlett under the bus.....

- Steven Goff lays out the busy week in soccer that is upon us.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.  


The Crew is Through

CrewMLSNet.com

SI.com

Brian McBride put Chicago up early, but second half goals by Chad Marshall and Eddie Gaven put the Crew through to their first ever MLS Cup Final appearance.

The big match up of Blanco v Barros Schelotto definitely went Columbus' way as Schelotto assisted on both Crew goals and Blanco did not show up on the scoresheet.

Columbus will now tune in to the NY-Real Salt Lake game on Saturday night to see who they will play next weekend in LA with the MLS Cup on the line.

Programming note: Columbus Technical Director and Webster native Brian Bliss is scheduled to be a guest on Kick This! tomorrow.

News & Notes:

- Stampede member Alexandra Lilley has a piece upon Rhinos Soccer.com catching upwith Rhinos captain Scott Vallow.

- The Carolina RailHawks have a new coach in former Cleveland City Stars head coach Martin Rennie. TriSoccerFan.com is all over the news as well.

- Beckham appears to be out of the mix for next week's England-Germany friendly.

- There are reports that Blanco will be back with Chicago next year. I hate the guy, but that is good news for MLS.

- There is an AP article up at SI.com after Landon Donovan spoke to the media regarding his trial with Bayern Munich.

- Man, I can't believe that Maradona is backtracking........

- SI.com's Jonah Freedman is nominating Brian McBride for SI Sportsman of the Year. I like McBride, but I think that Hope Solo is the better soccer pick.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.  


Montreal is wheeling and dealing

MIMontreal Impact.com - Sebrango and DeRoux signings

Montreal Impact.com - Pizzolitto and Pesoli re-sign

Devo's Direct Kicks

Montreal has a tighter timeframe with CONCACAF Champions League matches in February, but their off season is in full gear with the re-signing of Nevio Pizzolitto and Stefano Pesoli on defense, the paching of Edy Sebrango and Stephen DeRoux and with talks that they will also add Fabrice Noel.

It will be interesting to see if this causes any other clubs, especially Puerto Rico, to move faster on some moves that they would normally be more patient with?

Rival leagues and teams leaving the USL

Another off season means it's time for more rumors about teams potentially leaving the USL 1st Division.

For the past year or so, there have been all sorts of rumors of an MLS2 league that people are predicting should MLS grow to the point that FIFA would mandate a promotion-relegation system.

Then there were the rumorsabout an indoor-outdoor league with formation of the Xtreme Soccer Xperience.

Personally, I think the MLS2 theory has more legs. But, I also think that will take a few more years to develop as MLS has to figure out how to make an MLS1-MLS2 set up work for all the owner-operators that have sunk tons of money into MLS already.

More on Landon Donovan and his Bayern Munich trial

FC Bayern.t-com.de

Orlando Sentinel

Goal.com - Waldo's take

LA Times.com

No Short Corners.com

There isn't any real news, just more people with their takes on the situation including Eric Wynalda who basically says that Germany may not be the best landing spot for Donovan.

Personally, I think Spain, Portugal, or France would be a better fit....

News & Notes:

- The Portland Timbers are adding a PDL team in 2009, so I don't see them bailing on the USL 1st Division right now.

- The LA Galaxy have signed their first player from their youth development program in Tristan Bowen.

- USA Today has a cool piece on Frankie Hejduk and Columbus Crew fans ahead of tonight's Eastern Conference Final between the Crew and the Chicago Fire. The Chicago Tribune looks at the Blanco v Barros Schelotto.

- TIAS.com has an interview with new Goal.com US editor Andrea Canales.

- Diego Maradona is thinking about quitting already! Awesome..............

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.  


Colorado makes the Smith deal official

RapidsColorado Rapids.com

Denver Post.com

SBI.net

FC Rocky : Soccer Blog

It what has been a poorly kept secret, the Colorado Rapids announced yesterday that Gary Smith will have the interim removed from his title and he has become their head coach.

The Rapids made another sizable announcement yesterday in that they have re-signed team captain Pablo Mastroeni.

And while the quote sheet from yesterday's press conference doesn't mention Steve Guppy at all, the Denver Post article said that contract talks with Guppy are underway.

My guess is that the Guppy signing will be announced within the next few days now that the Smith deal is official.

And while Rhinos fans are likely sad abotu the prospects of Danny Earls moving to Colorado, it will be interesting to see if the Rhinos-Guppy relationship leads to any players such as Daniel Antunez find their way to Rochester in the future.

A couple of news pieces on the Landon Donovan front

First there is the SI.com piece by Soccer America writer Mike Woitalla which breaks down the Donovan trial at Bayern Munich, why Jurgen Klinsmann is interested (Lukas Podolski is not happy with his role as the third striker), and how MLS's valuation of Donovan could kill any transfer deal.

It will be very interesting to see how MLS and LA handle any Donovan to Bayern transfer talks as MLS has a history of turning down transfer offers, much to the player's chagrin, if the money is below what MLS feels is right. 

I don't see Donovan moving to Bayern, but you never can tell.

The other piece of Landon Donovan news comes in the form of reports that Landon will be named the Honda US Player of the Year.

Ives Galarcep did not take the news well and suggests that Donovan shouldn't even have been in the top 3 of the voting results.

News & Notes:

-George Dohrmann has a piece at SI.com about why his pick for SI Sportsman of the Year is Hope Solo.Given how different 2007 and 2008 turned out for Solo, I think it would be a really cool choice. But, I don't think there is any chance that it happens.

- Apparently the upper brass at Toronto FC are on board with trying to get a DP signed this off season. Although, it appears that their #1 target is now out of the question as 25 yo Canadian International and Barnsley striker Iain Hume suffered a broken skull and internal bleeding thanks to a elbow by Sheffield United skipper Chris Morgan on Sunday.

- While Colorado and DC have gotten their coaching decisions for 2009 over with already, Seattle is still in the process of determining who will be their head coach in 2009 in their first season in MLS. I can't see Columbus letting Sigi Schmid go after his Coach of the Year season. Personally, I'd go after Paul Mariner given all that he's done in New England.

- The Austin Aztex opened their offices and unveiled their logo yesterday. I really like the logo and my one pet peeve with American soccer logos of always having to have a soccer ball on them is minimized in the Aztex logo. And I guess we can expect their primary jersey to be red and white stripes ala Chivas.

- The Minnesota Thunder have lost midfielder Steven DeRoux as he has bought out his contract with the Thunder and inked a new deal with Montreal. Apparently being able to play in the CONCACAF Champions League in February with the Impact weighed heavily into his decision.

- TriSoccerFan.com is reporting that the RailHawks will announce their new coach tomorrow. Bob Lilley is no longer listed as the head coach of the Detroit Ignition. I wonder if he could be returning to the outdoor game?

- Could Obama winning the election really help the US land the 2018 or 2022 World Cup? 

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them. 


Guppy talks too soon

ShhDevo's Direct Kicks

November 8th Kick This!

Denver Post

Rapids Class VI blog

Apparently the Colorado Rapids forgot to tell Steve Guppy not to spill the beans about his leaving the Rhinos to take a job with the Rapids.

With the Rhinos releasing the news that Steve was leaving Rochester to join Gary Smith in Colorado, the Rapids front office has been in damage control mode as they have yet to offiically announce that they have indeed given Smith the head coaching job on a full time basis after he ended the 2008 season as the interim head coach.

The big news coming out of Saturday's show was that Steve was honest about how he will be looking to bring Danny Earls to Colorado. Selfishly, I hope that Ross Smith, Scott Palguta, and Luke Kreamalmayer slip through MLS's fingers and are back in a Rhinos uniform in 2009.

News & Notes:

- Steven Goff talks about how Landon Donovan is in the middle of a 10 day training stint with Bayern Munich. Bayern head man Jurgen Klinsmann obviously knows Landon Donovan well given how much time he's spent in Southern California over the past few years.

- Sigi Schmid as Coach of the Year and Darren Huckerby as Newcomer of the Year were two no-brainders amongst the MLS Awards.

- The MLS Conference Finals are this weekend with Columbus hosting Chicago and Real Salt Lake hosting NY.

- Michael Lewis and Steve Davis both have articles up about NY's stunning 3-0 win in Houston on Saturday. I know I couldn't believe that scoreline when I saw it.

- Greg Lalas has his take on the MLS Final 4 at SI.com

- Former Rhino John Wolyniec is the latest victim of SBI.net's You Write the Caption series.

- I don't know what is crazier, someone thinking that pro soccer will prosper in Miami or someone thinking that USMNT head coach Bob Bradley needs defending.

- SI.com has an old rumor and a weird rumor on European players looking at MLS. I can't see an MLS team paying DP money for a defender, so I would wonder if Silvestre would play for non-DP money....

- Uncle Phil and Clark Hunt might be purchasing Newcastle United. Hopefully they work together better than the American owners of Liverpool!

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.   

 




JAMES WEISE'S NEWS ARCHIVE

RochesterSportsFan.com

 

SoccerSam.com is owned exclusively by FANTAUZZO FAMILY BRANDS INC. Webster NY 14580

 

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Devo's Direct Kicks - democratandchronicle.com

SoccerSam.com News Director James Weise

The Rochester Lancers name and logo is owned exclusively by Fantauzzo Family Brands Inc. Lancers T shirts are available exclusively at TOP NOTCH MONOGRAMMING located at 50 State St. in the Village of Pittsford
The Rochester Lancers name and logo is owned exclusively by Fantauzzo Family Brands Inc. Lancers T shirts are available exclusively at TOP NOTCH MONOGRAMMING located at 50 State St. in the Village of Pittsford

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