March 20, 2008
Since Mayor Duffy, City Council President Gladys Santiago, and United Soccer Leagues Executive Vice President & COO Tim Holt are showing up, that must mean that the deal is done.
The interesting thing will be to see what the "new era" of Rhinos soccer means to Rob Clark and Matt Ford. There are rumors of a new assistant coach, they likely have some player signings that will be announced soon, and there have to be some plans to improve the gameday atmosphere for the fans.
But, it's all going to be about the execution. A nice start would be signing Jose Angulo or Jamil Walker.
This isn't going to be easy to fix. But, at least we'll have a team in 2008. That's worth partying over!
News & Notes:
- Tonight is US-Canada with a berth in the Olympics on the line. Yanks Abroad and SI.com have some really good stuff ahead of tonight's match that will be broadcast live on the Fox Soccer Channel at 9pm.
- DC United and the Houston Dynamo both easily won at home to advance in the CONCACAF Champion's Cup. DC will face Pachuca and Houston gets the Atlante-Saprissa winner in the semis.
- SBI.net has the news about the US-Spain venue announcement and US-England at Wembley becoming official . It will be interesting to see if all of these higher profile friendlies will mean as much as people who have been calling for them said that they would.
- Scott Palguta didn't play in the Red Bulls second Carolina Challenge Cup match versus Toronto FC yesterday. But, former Rhino John Wolyniec did get the tying goal for NY.
- The Red Bulls-Barcelona match may not be the only game the Spanish giants play in the US this summer.
- Amado Guavara to Toronto still has a few hurdles to overcome.
- SI.com and The Bleacher Report both have reports up about Michael Bradley. I really hope that Everton or Blackburn can grab him this off season. Well, as long as he gets to play as opposed to say how Benny Feilhaber's move to Derby County has worked out.
- Edy Sebrango is back with the Whitecaps. I wonder what the over-under is for games played by the often injured veteran forward?
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.
