WVHooligan - Soccer Blog

Happy Monday here to ya, hope everyone had a solid weekend away from the desk and in front of the telly (or whatever you ended up doing). I’ve got a couple things to throw out there at ya this morning; mostly stuff I wasn’t going to be able to spend a great time in detail on but I did want to make note of it all.

I will start out in Colorado:

It appears that the Rapids, who failed to signed Brazilian A-Leaguer Reinaldo will now shift their focus on Scottish striker Tam McManus.

Currently the 27-year-old striker is on trail with the Rocky Mountain club and should soon sign with the team.

From his current club Dumfirmline’s Web Site:

“Tom’s been on trial with Colorado Rapids since Monday and he’ll sign subject to agreeing personal terms”.

Now judging by the looks of this guy he isn’t a project at any means since he is 27-years-old here. I think it is safe to say that the Rapids are hoping he will be a special player who can connect well with the midfield that the Rapids already have in the likes of Terry Cooke and Christian Gomez.

It is no secret that the Rapids’ one weakness right now is at the striker position. Is McManus the right signing though here? I don’t honestly know, but from judging by his stat line he may not be. Since he began his pro career back in 1997 he has only netted 35 goals for seven clubs (three of those clubs he was on loan with from Hibernian.

I suppose Fernando Clavijo is hoping this guy is a diamond in the rough here.

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As I reported in last week’s Chivas USA preview, keeper Brad Guzan will be out for a fair amount of weeks. That season opener in Dallas looks highly doubtful for Guzan as I see him out for several weeks here with the bum knee.

Chivas is thin after Guzan at the keeper position as we all know. Look for Sam Reynolds to start in his place.

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To throw a WV plug out there. DC United has signed another kid from my old school WVU. They signed both Pat Carroll (brother of Jeff and Brian Carroll) and former Fulham youth team member Dan Stratford.

I can tell you from seeing these guys play during my time at WVU that they are both ready for the professional level. Last year we saw Devon McTavish earn a starting role in the United defense. Stratford will be a nice addition to that heavily populated midfield of DC’s.

Pat Carroll will add some depth to their development roster. Solid addition.

Cheers mates.

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Real Salt Lake booked Saturday August 9th as their second time to host namesake Real Madrid in Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Before I get emails or comments on this, the Sandy Stadium won’t be finished until October. So please, spare me the time for comments on why they aren’t playing this game in the new park. It just won’t be ready by then, that’s all.

Though recent reports of the Sandy Stadium say it is coming along very nicely. I may try to post some recent photos of it for you on here later on.

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MLS Rumors updated their “mission” over the weekend.

I’ve been getting several emails lately asking my opinion on this site. Honestly, I take everything from there with a grain of salt. They are a rumor site, first and foremost. I do have issues with a couple of things on their site though but I won’t go into great detail on that here since it isn’t the proper place to do so. Though I will admit I did cringe a bit when I saw the words “taken off the record” published in an article once on there. As someone who went through journalism school and who still writes on a daily basis (and works at a newspaper), that is something you just don’t do, why they published something with that kind of text, I will not know (though I did see their reasons for it).

I will say this, if they got a simple site make-over they’d could be one of the best MLS sites out on the web. Even with all their wacky rumors, rumor rankings, and now photos of players out drinking (believe me I could care less about that one).

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Chicago and New York are still fighting over Lidor Marmol. However Marmol recently got hurt and will be on the shelf for 4-to-6 weeks. I wonder if that cools the jets over the tug-of-war for this guy. Chicago did express actual interest in the player but I think most of it was during Juan Carlos Osorio’s time in Chicago. Anything recent may just be to get at New York.

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As mentioned in the previous post, I should have a Colorado preview sometime for you all today. Hopefully by this evening. It just all depends on my work situation today, if things aren’t too busy on the day job sort of thing. At worst it will be up by the morning.

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