College To Pros is reporting that Cam Weaver has moved to FK Haugesand of the Norwegian 2nd division. It's too bad. Weaver was a player that the MLS missed and ended up leading scoring in USL-1 (America's 2nd division) as a rookie. I was looking forward to seeing what Major League Soccer (MLS) club he would end up with for the 2007 season. It looks like we'll have to wait to see if he'll make the move to the MLS (if he ever does).
If you haven't already seen it, take some time to check out The DCenter's series on the history of the MLS draft. They have some great numbers on how often different rounds made it in the league. And hopefully soon they'll be making that data public. One thing they haven't looked at is how many players from the MLS college combine make it into the league. I will be taking a look at those numbers here and more closely over at College To Pros. As a teaser, here is a listing of players invited to the 2006 MLS combine. The ones in bold were actually drafted by the MLS, either in the Superdraft or the Supplemental draft. Keep in mind this only relects if they were drafted, not if they made the roster let alone were still in the league by the end of the season. As you can, most of the players at the combine do get drafted. Future posts will show how few of them make it at all, even for a year. 2006 Addid MLS Player Combine University of Akron M Yohann Mauger F Ross McKenzie Birmingham-Southern College F Karim Dietz Bradley University GK Chris Dunsheath California State University, Northridge M Dan Paladini University of California (Cal-Berkeley) F Calen Carr GK Eric Kronberg D Tyson Wahl University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) D Jordan Harvey Clemson University D Justin Moore University of Connecticut D Willis Forko M Mpho Moloi Creighton University M Matt Wieland University of Dayton F Omar Jarun Drake University D Cory Farabi Duke University M Blake Camp M Danny Kramer Eastern Illinois University F Jimmy Klatter George Mason University D Anthony Noriega Georgetown University D Jeff Curtin Indiana University F Mike Ambersley *M Brian Plotkin University of Kentucky GK Andy Gruenbaum University of Maryland D Kenny Bertz *F Jason Garey D Chris Lancos University of New Mexico *F Jeff Rowland M Lance Watson North Carolina State University *F Aaron King D John Queeley The Ohio State University GK Ray Burse D Kyle Veris Old Dominion University F Brian Cvilikas D Trevor McEachron Oral Roberts University M Jorge Flor F David Leung Oregon State University F Ryan Johnson Penn State University M Brian Devlin M David Walters Princeton University M Darren Spicer Santa Clara University F Kelechi Igwe Southern Methodist University M David Chun F Duke Hashimoto St. John's University M Jeff Carroll *F Matt Groenwald St. Louis University D Danny Wynn University of South Carolina M Josh Alcala Temple University F Tony Donatelli University of Tulsa F Kyle Brown D Daniel Wasson Virginia Commonwealth University D Stephen Shirley F Dominic Oduro Wake Forest University *M Justin Moose University of Washington M Mike Chabala
I'm curious about the unusual things. One of them I found was a one-off award the MLS awarded in 2005. At the 2005 player combine, they gave the Tom Fitzgerald award. Tom Fitzgerald was a US soccer who among other things won the US Open Cup with the Columbus Crew and won a national title with UCLA (college). The award was for the most outstanding player at the combine. Luke Kreamalmeyer won it in 2005. But that seems to be the only time the award was given out with no note of it made for the 2006 combine.
The DCCenters has a nice find on players in the MLS. As you may know, the league holds a draft each year for young players coming in to the league. In looking at the numbers, they found that 1/3 of the players drafted in the first 4 rounds never play a game for their club. I wonder how many of those that do, are around in the league after a year. Or how many of them are still in the league playing 3 years later.
Arseblog has a good summary of yesterday's game at Ashburton Grove against Pompey. What caught my eye was this :
I’ve said before that fans will never jeer a team, even if they’ve lost, if they know they’re giving it 100% all of the time. What does frustrate fans is when it’s obvious not everyone is doing that and to exacerbate that you look at the way we played when we did step it up and you know it was a game we should have won. If we had gone at Portsmouth with the same drive and pace that we did from the 56th minute onwards we’d have murdered them.I can't disagree with that. Fans, even ones of a club as successful as Arsenal, know things won't always go their team's way. But they do expect their team to give it their all. Had it not been for some suspect marking on set pieces and some better decisions at the other end, Arsenal would've walked out with all 3 points. Especially against a Pompey team that is, to be quick frank, at best a mid-table team. If anything I expect Pompey to come out of the busy season in the lower half of the table. But if teams keep letting them be in the game, they could continue to punch above their weight. This time of year doesn't get busy for teams in England just because of the number of games they play but also because the winter transfer window is about to open. Teams are busy scouting players and figuring out how they need to shake up their squad to better and what they can afford. These are a few potential moves some blogs are reporting. QPR Report : Israeli striker Omer Golan set to join Loftus Road. Newcastle United is looking to sign QPR teenager Ray Jones. Caughtoffside : Portsmouth FC will pay £12m for Manuel Fernandes...... if he plays 3 games in a row for Pompey. The shame is there are people running clubs that think such deals are good. Soccer By Ives : New York Red Bull are in talks with Paulo Wanchope. As Ives reminds us, the MLS was very close to signing him years ago. What I'd like to know if he'll be making league max or NYRB is ready to use their designated player (DP) slot on him and pay more. Yanks Abroad : Hammarby is looking to bring in goalkeeper Tally Hall. They've also talked with Charlie Davies who recently was at Ajax. College To Pros : Charlie Davies is set to sign with Sweeden's Hammarby. Toronto FC MLS : Sunderland's Robbie Elliot may be making a move across the pond to the MLS with Los Angeles and Toronto both interested in him. Football365 : Sevilla are interested in signing Jens Lehman from Arsenal. Juventus is still in the hunt for West Ham's underperforming Javier Mascherano. Villa is hunting for a new striker with Tottenham's Robbie Keane and PNE's David Nugent being linked with the midlands club. Manchester United Blog : It's not a transfer but it has the same affect with Chinese Teenager Dong Fangzhou set to obtain a British work permit. ManU signed the kid a few years ago for £3.5m and have loaned him out to their Belgian sister club Royal Antwerp to gain experience and wait for him to meet the conditions needed for a work permit.
