Amid the controversy surrounding the Jose Moreno fiasco, an interesting piece of news came to
light on Thursday. After he was waived - rather surprisingly - by DC United on February 3rd,
second-year forward Blake Brettschneider tweeted today that he would be joining the New England
Revolution for a trial on Sunday.
Tyler Polak could fill the Revs need at left back. (Photo Credit: Andy Mead / MLSsoccer.com)
With the 2012 MLS SuperDraft now in the books, the writers at New England Soccer Today handed
out their grades for the New England Revolution's 2012 draft performance. The Revs selected UCLA
midfielder Kelyn Rowe with the third overall pick and Creighton defender Tyler Polak with the 22nd
overall pick.
With neither of Seattle Sounders FC's MLS SuperDraft picks being from Generation Adidas nor
pre-signed seniors or internationals the two players are going to have to fight to make the tight
roster. A roster than may get even tighter before they report as General Manager Adrian Hanauer
said during today's conference call there are "other deals that are possibly pending or getting
close.
Even for the most faithful Seattle Sounders supporters among us, this has been a bit of a rough
off-season. The numbers fairly illustrate why: Nine players that were part of the team during the
final game of the season are no longer here. Those players represent more than 14,000 minutes of
all-competition playing time or about 29 percent of the total minutes played by the team.
The holidays are upon us and I'm beginning to think that I won't be getting anything from my
Revs Christmas wishlist this year. While other teams are signing international players and brand
new soccer stadiums are being built, Revs fans are settling for some stocking stuffers this
year--and I guess a little coal, too.
Nearly two weeks after selecting him in Stage 2 of the Re-entry Draft, the Revolution and
former D.C. United midfielder Clyde Simms came to terms on a contract for 2012.
The addition of Simms, a 29-year-old center half who started 147 of his 182 games in D.C. from
2005-2011, gives the Revolution some veteran experience in the middle of the park.
An anemic New England Revolution offense started to turn around towards the end of the 2011
season thanks to some late additions, but new head coach Jay Heaps might not get the chance to
build upon that improvement in 2012.
Jay Heaps may have to replace Rajko Lekic and other key players from the 2011 squad.
Revolution right back Kevin Alston keeps a close eye on Galaxy midfielder Miguel Lopez (Photo:
Chris Aduama/aduama.com).
Heads down. Hands on hips. That was the unofficial pose of the Revolution defense in 2011.
After giving away goals at a philanthropic rate (58, the second-most in MLS last season) it's
not a stretch to say that the biggest task head coach Jay Heaps faces this offseason is improving
his team's porous D.
The New England Revolution are a team in transition this offseason. Long-time coach Steve Nicol
has been fired and replaced by a man familiar to Revs fans: former player Jay Heaps. The new head
man comes in at a time ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.
The New England Revolution selected two players in today's MLS Re-Entry draft, forward Nate
Jaqua from the Seattle Sounders and defensive midfielder Clyde Simms from DC United. These players,
in addition to the acquisition of defender Danleigh Borman from Toronto FC in last Monday's first
stage of the re-entry draft, total the Revs' additions to three new players thus far this
off-season.
Swedish midfielder Erik Friberg became the latest Seattle Sounder to depart this off-season,
moving to Swedish club Malmo on Monday in a transfer announced by the Sounders.
Friberg played 26 matches for Seattle, recording a goal and assist for the Sounders.
The off-season has been a busy one for the Sounders, who had already lost goalkeeper Kasey
Keller to retirement, James Riley and Tyson Wahl in the expansion draft, as well as Nate Jaqua and
Pat Noonan in the re-entry draft.
Head coach Jay Heaps potentially added two pieces to his team on Monday afternoon as the New
England Revolution selected Nate Jaqua and Clyde Simms in Stage 2 of the 2011 Major League Soccer
Re-Entry Draft. The Revs now control the MLS rights to each player and the league will extend
contract offers to both within the next seven days.
The Chicago Fire selected former New England Revolution striker Kheli Dube with the 8th Pick in
the Second Round of the MLS Re-Entry Draft. Dube would leave the New England Revolution, the only
MLS club he has ever known, if the two sides can reach a deal in the next 7 days. In four seasons
the Zimbabwean compiled 14 goals and 8 assists in 72 appearances.
Marc Burch (left) was the first player selected in stage two of the Re-Entry Draft. (Getty
Images)
The second stage of the 2011 MLS Re-Entry Draft came and went with a flurry of picks from the
defending MLS Cup champions, LA Galaxy.
LA needed depth for the possibly 50ish games that they will play next year with the Champions
League knock-out stage in the spring, followed by the 2012/13 group stage in the fall.
Seattle Sounders FC clearly wanted one player in today's Re-Entry Draft Stage Two when they made
a last minute trade with the Vancouver Whitecaps for the number one pick. Moments later they
selected MLS veteran and former D.C. United player Marc Burch. Burch's 2011 salary is reported to
be 97.5k, but is subject to renegotiation per the RED rules.
Photo by Jose L. Argueta/ISIphotos.com
Although the majority of teams passed on the opportunity to add players in the second stage of
the MLS Re-Entry Draft, a few used Monday's exercise to stockpile depth ahead of the 2012
preseason.
Three teams took multiple players, spearheaded by the defending champion Los Angeles Galaxy, who
made four selections: defenders Andrew Boyens and Chris Leitch, veteran forward Pat Noonan and
veteran goalkeeper Jon Conway.
The Sounders have lost more players this season than any previous MLS off-season. That's without
the official losses of Pat Noonan and Nate Jaqua who could still be drafted in Stage Two of the
Re-Entry Draft on Monday. But there have been three retirements, the odd departure of Miguel
Montano with basically no compensation, the expansion draft loss of James Riley and the trade of
Tyson Wahl for allocation money have Seattle with plenty of openings.
Outside of Fredy Montero getting another long run of 75% or more of available minutes the
Seattle Sounders FC have no clear favorite as to which of their remaining three forwards will get
the most playing time. The declined options of Nate Jaqua and Pat Noonan do open minutes for the
remaining three most used forward.
The list for the Re-Entry Draft is out. Any interesting targets for United?
Ante Jazic: To old (36 before 2012 season starts) and too expensive ($115k
salary), but plays a position of need. This would be an extreme reach, even at a reduced salary in
Stage 2.
Bobby Boswell: Way too expensive ($210k salary) and we're probably set with
McDonald and Jakovic in the middle of defense, but .
Philadelphia Union declined contract options for midfielder Stefani Miglioranzi and goalkeeper
Chase Harrison, leaving each out of contract and available for election in Major League Soccer's
Re-Entry Draft.
Miglioranzi, 34, is one of two remaining Union originals selected in the Expansion Draft in
November 2009, along with Sebastien Le Toux.
As the Seattle Sounders retool for a run at multiple Cups in 2012 they declined options on
Forwards Nate Jaqua and Pat Noonan, as well as Centerback Taylor Graham. They also declined the
option on the retiring Terry Boss. Each player is between 30 and 31 years old and occupied senior
roster slots.
The losses of James Riley and Tyson Wahl have Seattle Sounders FC adding allocation money only
at this point. It is also rather apparent that their biggest low-budget success of 2011, Mauro
Rosales, will be extended at a significantly higher figure, which should be announced very soon.
There will also be a new keeper, likely with a budget number that is fairly large considering that
the current leading candidate is Michael Gspurning, another situation we expect to be resolved
shortly.
Seattle stands to lose an important player in the expansion draft. (Getty Images)
I don't think many folks expected to see this list so soon. With the Seattle Sounders exiting
the playoffs last night after there 3-2 (on aggregate) loss to Real Salt Lake, the list had to be
made. Boy, Montreal has to make the most of this too as the Sounders stand to lose one quality
player.
The biggest lineup news is that Mauro Rosales will not travel for the match at Real Salt Lake.
That basically assures that the Seattle Sounders will have Lamar Neagle on the left and Alvaro
Fernandez on the right. That move will of course shift the substitution plan a bit. Something that
is already adjusted because of the higher elevation in Sandy, Utah.
It's almost that time again, folks. Another team is going to enter the hallowed land of MLS and
in doing so they're going to take some of our stuff. And don't kid yourselves. Unless the Seattle
Sounders and the incoming Montreal Impact work out some sort of deal, we're going to lose a player.
Seattle's a tremendously successful and deep franchise and the list of players that have played
significant minutes in big games this season is much more than 11 deep, which is all we get to
protect.
It will be a bitter-sweet moment at Quest field this Saturday. Over 60,000 people will be packed
into Quest field to watch a legend take the field for the last time at home against the struggling
San Jose Earthquakes. A shutout by Kasey Keller will secure the Sounders the number 2 spot in the
playoffs.
Fredy Montero joins Nate Jaqua (10), Kasey Keller (09) and Pat Noonan (07, with Revolution) as
current Seattle Sounders who earned the Player of the Tournament award from TheCup.US and North
American Soccer Reporters. Montero helped the Sounders to their historical third straight US Open
Cups by hitting game winners in the quarters, the semis and the Final.
Since not many were able to go to the Seattle Sounders Reserves win over the San Jose
Earthquakes I thought to expand a bit on the live blog and collate some comments made there and
other thoughts I had on the lesser seen players. Now, since Sigi Schmid uses a lot of player
rotation there were two subsets of players - the seen and unseen.
The MLS Reserve League is petering to a close. Tonight's match against the San Jose Earthquakes
doesn't mean anything in any standings (Seattle has already won the MLS Western Reserve Division),
but it does give Sigi Schmid an opportunity to see a few of his players on the deep bench. The
Seattle Sounders have 6 available outfield players who have played in 4 or fewer MLS matches.
Sigi Schmid's side lacked its best three technical and creative force in the game Saturday night.
Forced to use the natural central midfielders (Brad Evans and Erik Friberg) at the same time and
deploying Pat Noonan as a withdrawn man the Seattle Sounders did not threaten the Philadelphia
Union goal as they typically do.
There's been a lot of talk about how much weaker the Eastern Conference is than the Western
Conference. Saturday night's game was a bitter reminder that all it takes is one or two breaks to
go a team's way and they can win. That's kind of what soccer is at it's core. In this case an
attempted shielding of the ball was disrupted with an quick foot inserted and became an assist as
Freddy Adu scored.
The Philadelphia Union's good-to-bad defensive fluctuations have forced them to become an
Eastern Conference contender after an early season when they seemed to dominated the weaker side of
the bracket. With Faryd Mondragon maybe making a return the Seattle Sounders will get to discover
if it was his lack of experience or one of the most baffling trades in MLS this season that is the
fault for their weaknesses defensively.
Hey there Union fans. I normally do these at Sounder at Heart and offered to throw it up
there for your use. You can hover over or click on many of the data points and learn even more. The
lineups are the best guess of the SaH crew and Scott. Sorry about the time and station being for
Seattle fans, but you should know when/where to watch.
Sigi Schmid is going to have to find offense from different spots with Fredy Montero out due to
his last Yellow. Mauro Rosales and Alvaro Fernandez both have injury issues that could see them
with spot time, but it would be surprising if either start. Unlike the last injury wave (Herediano
here) there are more healthy options in the midfield.
Dave Clark of Sounder at Heart, SB Nation's Seattle Sounders blog,
and I exchanged three questions a piece ahead of tomorrow night's Union-Sounders match. Read my
responses to Dave's questions by heading to S@H.
tBG: How have the Sounders coped with being in multiple tournaments
this season?
What: Philadelphia Union at Seattle Sounders
Where: CenturyLink Field, Seattle, WA, USA
When: 10:00pm ET
TV: CSN
Radio: Call me and I'll do it over the phone
Tuesday did not go well for the Union.
One of the fun things about the Seattle Sounders and this winning the US Open Cup for three
straight years is that it is almost certain that a Sounder will also be the 4th straight Player of
the Tournament. The award is handed out by TheCup.US through voting by the North American Soccer
Reports (a kind of guild or association of some the soccer writers in the US and Canada).
Soccer is a game of goals. Not necessarily pretty goals, not amazing feats of beating strong
defense, just goals. Saturday night as the Seattle Sounders beat the New England Revolution 2:1 the
goals made were all off of defensive errors. Diego Fagundez was unmarked on a corner leaving him
with just Kasey Keller to beat.
After each match the contributors to New England Soccer Today will rate the performances of
the New England Revolution players who made an appearance on a 1 to 10 scale (1 horrendous, 5
average, 10 perfection). This week Sean Donahue and Brian O'Connell contributed ratings for the
New England Revolution's 2-1 loss to Seattle on Saturday.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. Teenage phenom Diego Fagundez scored in his first MLS start, but Fredy
Montero's brace officially eliminated the Revs from postseason contention as the Sounders secured a
2-1 win at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night.
Fagundez, who got the nod up top with Milton Caraglio, put the Revs (5-14-12, 27 pts.
