Player
Former Colorado Rapids striker Caleb Folan left Dick's Sporting Goods Park at the start of February. Let's just say it didn't take him long to find a new club.
English Championship side Birmingham City announced Wednesday that free agent Folan has signed until the end of the season in an effort to make sure their stay in the the second-tier lasts just one season.
The 29-year-old Folan has been training with the Blues since his return to English soil and impressed manager Chris Hughton enough to be offered a short-term deal.
During his injury-hit time with the Rapids, the Republic of Ireland international and former Hull City striker played 26 times, scoring six in the process.
The languid target forward will help Birmingham in their quest to spring straight back to the EPL, as they currently occupy fifth place and a playoff spot, just seven points from the automatic promotion places.
Folan is following closely in the footsteps of former Rapids manager Gary Smith in swapping Colorado for the English lower divisions. Smith took over the reigns at Stevenage FC in January and his enjoyed relative success with the transition from MLS to England already.
His League One side held Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur to a 0-0 draw in the FA Cup Fifth round and they sit in the playoff spots in England’s third tier.
Benny Feilhaber is a talented man capable of many things. Unfortunately using his left foot is not one of them.
Rookie Kelyn Rowe, on the other hand, uses his left foot better than many of us use our right hand. Watch the kid try to teach the veteran something new and grab a laugh along the way.
Not content with the robust stable of forwards already under their employ, the Vancouver Whitecaps announced today the signing of Maltese striker Etienne Barbara. Having registered a 20-goal season last year under Rennie while with the Carolina Railhawks, his nose for goal will be no shock to his former and current coach.
What exactly does Rennie think of his 7th (yes 7th) striker? Check out the clip above to hear what he has to say about him following today's practice in Orlando.
The Whitecaps are one of the six MLS clubs currently holed up at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando. With Sebastien Le Toux, Eric Hassli, rookie sensation Darren Mattocks and Long Tan among their ranks they posess one of the most blessed attacks in the league.
One of the talking points during today's post-practice media scrum was the 'Caps wealth of attacking options. Does new coach Martin Rennie realize what he has on his hands? Let's just say he's happy with what he's got.
CHARLESTON, S.C. – As the saying goes, you learn something everyday. Today, I learned that alligators pretty much run the show here in South Carolina, and Dwayne De Rosario makes the occasional visit to MLSsoccer.com in his spare time.
How do I know these things, you ask?
Check out the photos I snapped at Blackbaud Stadium below for proof that giant predatory reptiles basically run amok in Charleston. Or at least that's what my imagination and that second alligator depiction are telling me. These signs are literally feet from the pitch and the stands and were posted in front of the dark, swampy field where Crew, Fire and D.C. United players were doing some promotional photos for NBC. It's safe to say things are a little different here. Clearly, I am not in Kansas anymore.
As for DeRo? He – or whoever runs his award-winning personal website – caught wind of Matt "MLS Analyst" Doyle's Countdown to First Kick piece from yesterday that examined whether or not the MLS MVP could repeat his 2011 brilliance in 2012.
De Rosario tweeted the following tonight, linking to this page where you can "Weigh-in on the million dollar question: Can DeRo Do It Again?"
My performance 4 the coming #MLS reg season seems to be all the talk. What you think? VOTE: Will I do it again this YR?
— Dwayne De Rosario (@dwaynederosario) February 27, 2012
I, for one, voted "Ah... Duh... Yeah" but you may have a different opinion, so head on over and make your voice heard.
And, as always, be gator safe and remember that a fed gator is a dead gator!
This week the Insider will be coming to you from the happiest place on earth. I'm in Orlando to take in a week's worth of the Disney Pro Soccer Classic in hopes of getting a good handle on who'll be contenders and who'll be pretenders in 2012. I'm also here to spend some time around the players in a somewhat relaxed setting in hopes of seeing --and sharing-- their true personalitites.
First stop: the FC Dallas hotel, home of one of the league's worst Halo addictions.
How bad is it? So bad that the players pooled their money and bought to TV's when the hotel wouldn't let them hook their XBOX's up to their TV's. I'll let goalkeeper Chris Seitz tell you the rest.
Oh and the guy with the mohawk? His name is Andrew Jacobson.
I read an interesting Q&A on dcunited.com today where Kevin Payne says that Dwayne De Rosario is the most accomplished professional athlete in DC, and that the only guy in the greater market who comes close is Ray Lewis.
I liked that, mostly because I like solidarity, especially the kind of solidarity that leads you to make bold claims. But this raises a bigger question: Is Payne right?
In addition to Lewis — who plays in Baltimore for the Ravens, but whatever — the DC area boasts some notable athletes. The Capitals have Alex Ovechkin. The Washington Kastles of World TeamTennis have the Williams sisters. (I know, I know.) So who's the most accomplished?
First, I'm taking Ray Lewis in a landslide because I walk around in perpetual fear that he'll pop up on my blindside and destroy me. If I weren't worried about that, though, I'd probably point out that he's only won one Super Bowl and only two NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards, numbers which are clearly inferior to De Rosario's (four MLS Cup titles, two MLS Cup final MVP awards, an MLS MVP Award and a Golden Boot).
SB Nation is also throwing its support behind Payne's assessment, while Dan Steinberg of The Washington Post counters that Ovechkin has probably been one of the best two players in the world at points in his career, a feat which DeRo can't claim.
Of course, by that logic, Serena Williams blows the rest of the competition out of the water, because she may be the best player in women's tennis history, nevermind that the Kastles' season lasts about one month and that most of her accolades come from Grand Slams rather than WTT play.
But the fact I just spent 290 words on it means that Payne has hit on something interesting. (Everything I write about is interesting, didn't you know?) So I'll submit the question to you: Where does DeRo rank in the pantheon of DC-area pro sports?
In conjunction with today’s Three for Thursday article, it was hard to highlight just three new strike partnerships which could be successful in MLS this year.
Because, oh my, there are plenty of wonderful options to chose from.
So what about some of the new partnerships we failed to mention?
Thierry Henry and Kenny Cooper at New York look almost certain to line up side by side when the Red Bulls kick-off their campaign against FC Dallas on March 11. And with Luke Rodgers' chances of arriving back in New York looking slimmer by the day, the Frenchman will have to build a rapport with Cooper sharpish if Hans Backe’s men are going to challenge for a title in 2012.
Meanwhile up in Portland the arrival of Designated Player Kris Boyd means Jorge Perlaza will have a man alongside him who knows how to finish. Boyd has scored goals wherever he has gone, it’s as simple as that. Perlaza will thrive from being given a creative role, and having scored six goals in the Timbers’ first MLS season, the Colombian will hope he and Boyd can make JELD-WEN Field an even more intimidating venue to visit in the upcoming campaign.
The question is, which other strike pairings can set the scoring charts on fire in MLS this season?
Well played, @WhitecapsFC. Very well played.
It took Benny Feilhaber all of about 3 minutes last night to show that he's up for preseason. Soccer's favorite all-American, New York-born, Austrian-Brazilian did his best Lance Armstrong impersonation against LA in the opening match of the 2012 Desert Diamond Cup with an outlandish bike kick goal to put the Revs up 1-0 before most of the crowd had even taken their seats. Hell of a way to start the year.