December 5, 2007
It looks like former Rhinos midfielder Jonny Steele could be on the move again. The rumor mill has the Northern Ireland native heading to the Puerto Rico Islanders as a free agent.
This would be Steele's third USL 1st Division team in the last three years.
News & Notes:
- Former Rhinos Tommy Tanner and Yuri Lavynenko were inducted into the NY State West Youth Soccer Hall of Fame for their playing careers on the youth level.
- Houston Dynamo president Oliver Luck has published a state of the team open letter on the team's website. I'd love to know who was sending negative e-mails to Luck about the team as they try and move towards having their own stadium. If it's someone other than the usual soccer haters, they need to check themselves.
- US Soccer Players.com has an interesting piece on the financial state of MLS. My jaded side says that the website is putting this out there because they feel that they were treated unfairly by MLS. I mean, if there is hard evidence that things are turning sour, then show your hand. But an article that essentially says that the market could turn bad before anyone realizes it doesn't really strike me as news.
- American Soccer Daily talks to new SJ GM John Doyle about how he is going about building the expansion version of the Earthquakes. With the hints about acquiring a veteran goalscorer, I'm starting to wonder if Carlos Ruiz could be headed back to the state of California......
- Jack Bell of the NY Times has a piece on Freddy Adu's time with Benfica. Personally, I'm pleasantly surprised with how things have gone for Adu so far.
- The USWNT will open a mini-camp on Saturday. New head coach Pia Sundhage will be taking a look at 24 players, four of which have yet to be capped by the USWNT, during this camp that will run from Saturday December 8th through Wednesday December 12th.
And yes, Hope Solo and Briana Scurry are amongst the 24 players invited to the camp.
- Kick This! programming update: Scott Palguta is out for this week as the basketball team he is coaching has a practice on Saturday. Soccer Sam will be live from Eastview Mall where he is helping out with the Camp Good Days Kazoo Sale and there may be some Rhino players there that we will talk to. Plus, news on the mystery investor front could break between now and Saturday, so we are playing things by ear this week........
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.
