Sandro Grande off to Norway.

[Guest Jeffery S.]

Who was it that made such huge efforts to crap on Grande, trying to demonstrate that he never had played with Brescia? The same person/s who also had a field day with him saying he'd like to play for Italy?

Must admit I am surprised by the salary level in Norway, better teams must have upwards of 5 million Euro budgets (Rosenborg I imagine more), which is close to the lowest level in Spain even.

[Guest Jeffery S.]

quote:Originally posted by Luis_Rancagua

Here's a picture of Grande's signing with Viking. Can we say that many of these players are following in the footsteps of Marco Reda who eventually set foot in Norway as of 4 years ago. Now look at his career, as it lift-off to better prospects in Denmark. Reda should be complimented here for setting a positive precedence for many of these Canadian players now playing in Scandinavia (Norway in particular).

Let's give credit where it is due: Kusch.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

Small write-up on Uefa.com

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UEFACup/news/Kind=1/newsId=320686.html

[Winnipeg Fury]

quote:Originally posted by Luis_Rancagua

Here's a picture of Grande's signing with Viking. Can we say that many of these players are following in the footsteps of Marco Reda who eventually set foot in Norway as of 4 years ago. Now look at his career, as it lift-off to better prospects in Denmark. Reda should be complimented here for setting a positive precedence for many of these Canadian players now playing in Scandinavia (Norway in particular).

I'm not sure Reda set a precedent, althougth he led the most recent Scandinavian invasion.

Mark Watson used tp play with Osters in Sweden, and I'm pretty sure Randy Samuel spent time in Norway (that's WAY back).

[Cheeta]

Well, Mr. Grande certainly looks pleased with himself there. And well he should I guess.

Wow. The Impact are taking a beating here but in the long run I think they're going to be way better off for it. These sort of placements (that is to say the ability to move players onto bigger and better things) go a long way in encouraging player recruitment and development. If this is the start of Montreal developing a network within northern Europe then all the better.

Hell, if as a young cub I'd been able to look around and seen my local "A-League" club launching professional football careers in Europe, REAL professional careers, I might have stuck with the round ball football, and I suck. What about the skilled lads with family support and encouragement? Maybe there is hope for a living at this funny game yet.

Oh, and regarding the NT. Player development is allways good. It's hard to find the player mix, true enough. But that would be true no matter where the lads played. Get more lads playing at a higher level and you've got that many more pieces to mix and hopefully find that magic formula.

PS. Still surprised about Ali. Expect he must be having a good year in Division 1. Good for him.

[Kurosawa1555362267]

quote:Originally posted by DJT

I don't think Montreal should get credit for either of these two. Gerba has spent most of his time with the Lynx and Grande was already the player he is now when he joined the Impact last year (remember he came from Italy).

That maybe true for Ali, his development occured with the Lynx, he was already an established goal scorer wghen he came in Mtl earlier this year. But I would'nt say that about Grande. His career was going nowhere in Italy, when he came to Montreal he was put in an environment that helped him regain confidence in his abilities. The Montreal Impact organisation should get credit for that.

[loyola]

I agree with Kurosawa on that one, the Impact should get a lot of credit for Grande move to Viking and his place on the MNT.

[Free kick]

quote:Originally posted by Cheeta

These sort of placements (that is to say the ability to move players onto bigger and better things) go a long way in encouraging player recruitment and development. If this is the start of Montreal developing a network within northern Europe then all the better.

Hell, if as a young cub I'd been able to look around and seen my local "A-League" club launching professional football careers in Europe, REAL professional careers, I might have stuck with the round ball football, and I suck. What about the skilled lads with family support and encouragement? Maybe there is hope for a living at this funny game yet.

Oh, and regarding the NT. Player development is allways good. It's hard to find the player mix, true enough. But that would be true no matter where the lads played. Get more lads playing at a higher level and you've got that many more pieces to mix and hopefully find that magic formula.

But that is exactly my beef is with these moves. Many keep alluding that Norway or Sweden is a higher level, but so far I have seen no proof of that.

Also, I thought that the USL first division was the highest level of pro soccer that we have in Canada and not the CPSL or some purely developmental circuit. The Impact are now drawing close to 13K at their games and have an stable ownership with the kind of wealth synonomous with what we see in big time NA pro sports. We don't have that in canada for soccer. Not even in Vancouver. Kerfoot ( Seagate)is just not in the same league as Saputo ( Saputo foods). The Saputos are the fourth weathiest family in Canada and one of a handfully or so billionaires in Canada. Yet they are making the same kind if moves that the Hartrells make. So if playing in Montreal is not a "REAL professional career" ( as you alluded), then what will it ever take short of bringing in the MLS? Yet, the best you can do to progress is move is move to Scandinavia?

Thirdly, I am not so sure that these moves encourage player development and recruitment at all. If these moves were to locations in places like London, Barcelona or Milan, I would entirely agree with your point. But I don't see people walking around the streets wearing jerseys from clubs in Scandinavia. I dont believe that the grassroots in Quebec soccer will be moved by the dream to play soccer in the first divisons in Norway and Sweden. Furthermore, they are moveing these players at a time when they are in in serous contention for a title and have yet to lose a game. Thats hardly a way to promote your team.

[Loud Mouth Soup]

Sandro to make a trip to North Wales soon:

UEFA Cup draw:

Viking Stavanger (Norway) v Rhyl (Wales)

[Champs]

I think this is amazing for Grande. Sandro reminds me so much like Andrea Pirlo from Ac milan. He plays very similar to him. If you noticed Grande is allways coming back to retrieve the ball from his defenders and then brings it up to start the play. Thats a huge strength for are national team. Now Frank has to find the right players around him. That being said are formation for spain should look something like this:

--------------------------Sutton------------------

---Staltieri Rb.--Mckenna Rcb.--Klukoski Lcb.--Brennan Lb.

-------------------------Grande Dm.-------------------------

---Bernier Rw.----------Hutchinson Cm.--------- Simpson Lw.--

----------------Deguzman Am.-------------------------

----------------------------------------Radzinski F.-------

http://skysports.planetfootball.com/transfernews.asp?type=article&id=295036

[kelownaguy]

whether or not the moves of our national players to places like Norway and Sweden is good or bad for Canadian Soccer as a whole ( I think the jury is still out on that one), you certainly can't fault the players for jumping at it. A substantial increase in salary and a greater chance of getting noticed by bigger and wealthier clubs is pretty tough to turn down,, let's not forget these guys have to place their club careers well ahead of their national team careers as much as we hate to see it.. That being said,, if we ever get 2 or 3 MLS teams in Canada I think we would see a lot less movement overseas in cases like Gerba and Grande.