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Whitecaps 2012 Roster Dance


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Yes and how does that vary from what I posted? These guys all left between at age 18 or 19, ie. late teens and most of them did not even reach 20 games played in Ghanian top division before transferring out. They were all probably scouted first well before they played in the premier division while on their teams youth sides. And even still these would be considered late bloomers or guys who fell through the cracks. Countries like Ghana have tons of European scouts in the country and they are for the most part not watching the premier leagues but the youth teams and often even village teams trying to find the diamonds in the rough who will make them a lot of money in transfer fee commissions. It may be surprising to see how poor the Ghanian league is when their national team is quite good but there are hundreds of Ghanian players transferring to Europe at a young age. The ones who do not realize their potential still mostly stick around playing for lower division clubs instead of returning to play in Ghana.

None of that would really matter though if the guy looked like a talented player. He could play in a really poor league but if he looked talented I would say why not give him a chance. However, in that video the league looks shockingly bad and he looks like a shockingly bad player.

+1, I can't believe he included some of those "highlights", he had clips of him fouling players and shanking passes/headers. I can't imagine an average play..

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So let's summarize this last little back and forth:

1) TFC and IMFC supporters are unimpressed with VWFC trialists

2) European clubs scout Ghanian youth football; once a player turns professional he is no longer scouted; once he plays 20 professional matches or turns 20, if he was scouted as a youth player, he signs with a Euro club; if not, he's rubbish.

Moving on, David Bentley and Barry Robson rumours abound:

http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2012/02/15/barry-robson-david-bentley-vancouver-bound/

Bentley's agent has confirmed mutual interest; no one is denying the Robson rumours. But Lenarduzzi does not comment on speculation, unless he has a comment on a particular speculation.

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^^ 1) If I saw a video of an Impact trialist like this my wtf would be WTF!!!! I hope you guys sign him for your sake and mine, I would simply love to see him as a starting defender against the Impact in our first game! :P

2) There may be the odd late bloomer or guy that fell through the cracks but for the most part that statement is true. You can watch the video of the league yourself. If you think that is quality football it would explain a lot of your posts in the past! :):P:)

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^^ 1) If I saw a video of an Impact trialist like this my wtf would be WTF!!!! I hope you guys sign him for your sake and mine, I would simply love to see him as a starting defender against the Impact in our first game! :P

2) There may be the odd late bloomer or guy that fell through the cracks but for the most part that statement is true. You can watch the video of the league yourself. If you think that is quality football it would explain a lot of your posts in the past! :):P:)

We could start XI Nuru Suley and still walk away winners against the Impact this year. So no worries there. I'm sure Shavar Thomas will be a major Linchpin for ya guys.

And no one said that video was a quality reel. It was the only thing I could find on the guy. He's trialing so I thought I'd put it up. It's a Trial! It's mean's nothing.

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^I think it was all from the same match, wasn't it? Probably the only time he'd been on TV.

In other words what you are saying is you've been arguing with me but didn't bother to watch much of the video. He plays several teams on the video and the stadiums are obviously different.

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HATE the Robson rumours - why would signing a 33 y/old with high standards for football to play on plastic be a good idea? Couldn't Caps at least find someone with a few extra years in the tank, rather than months? And Bentley's knees on turf? PLEASE!....

The LeToux move was brilliant, I must say, but I am still completely underwhelmed by almost all of the rest of the moves I am seeing after the shaight season last year.

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HATE the Robson rumours - why would signing a 33 y/old with high standards for football to play on plastic be a good idea? Couldn't Caps at least find someone with a few extra years in the tank, rather than months? And Bentley's knees on turf? PLEASE!....

The LeToux move was brilliant, I must say, but I am still completely underwhelmed by almost all of the rest of the moves I am seeing after the shaight season last year.

I'm holding my hopes that Rennie has the last call, and will use his what seems so far as a good judgment and shuts down these rumors.

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Regardless, Nuru most likely will be known more from this argument than his days in a Caps jersey (if they're even are any), so the argument is somewhat of a moot point.

To be honest I think there's young defenders here in Canada that are better than Nuru but it doesn't hurt to give the lad a chance, he seems like a athletic and physical player so let's see if the Caps can work with him.

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HATE the Robson rumours - why would signing a 33 y/old with high standards for football to play on plastic be a good idea? Couldn't Caps at least find someone with a few extra years in the tank, rather than months? And Bentley's knees on turf? PLEASE!....

The LeToux move was brilliant, I must say, but I am still completely underwhelmed by almost all of the rest of the moves I am seeing after the shaight season last year.

Well my friend, your worst nightmare has come true:

http://www.whitecapsfc.com/news/2012/02/whitecaps-fc-add-robson

And a DP no less.

Here were some thoughts posted on the SS board by a Boro supporter:

It seems this deal is almost confirmed. Honestly, I'm absolutely gutted. Him and Nicky Bailey are by far my two favourite players for our team. Robson is just a class act. I know I'm repeating myself here, but he will single-handedly drive the team forward and make things happen. He works his arse off every game.

He'll chip in with 10+ goals a season in the MLS easily. I can't explain how gutted I am that we haven't taken up the chance of a one-year extension. Unfortunately, it probably had to do with the wages as we could probably get 2-3 players in with the reported wages he's on. But I'll have to ask the question, will these 2-3 players have the same impact Robbo has had on our team? I bloody hope so, but they have a very tough act to follow.

I really think he's got one or two years left in him whether we'd have still been in the Championship or possibly (hopefully) be plying our trade in the Premier League next season. I'd have loved to see him re-sign.

I wish him all the best and if this deal 100% goes through I'll be closely following the Whitecaps throughout the MLS season.

All the best lads!

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I love how some people think it's so easy to score 10+ goals in MLS.

Considering the poster is English, I thought that was actually a fairly modest prediction. :)

Robson has scored a goal for every 4 matches played over his career, maintaining that same average in the Championship this season.

I don't think he needs to score any goals to be a good signing. He needs to link play, be active winning the ball back, and generally provide some compusure. His age is something of a blessing in this regard, though I concede he's not of overly impressive for a DP signing when you compare him to someone like Frings.

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^If I may play silver lining to your dark cloud, and speaking of Mo Johnston, Koevermans and Frings helped TFC a lot last year at a 50% cap hit for 2011 by joining mid season. Obviously Frings is a player of massive reputation, but also 2.5 years older. Koevermans is the same age, with a similar pedigree, and didn't exactly look past it. The Caps need some leadership who can play. Pass Back Pete Vagenas just doesn't cut it.

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^If I may play silver lining to your dark cloud, and speaking of Mo Johnston, Koevermans and Frings helped TFC a lot last year at a 50% cap hit for 2011 by joining mid season. Obviously Frings is a player of massive reputation, but also 2.5 years old. Koevermans is the same age, with a similar pedigree, and didn't exactly look past it. The Caps need some leadership who can play. Pass Back Pete Vagenas just doesn't cut it.

A choice between old men and vagenas is a pickle I've never found myself in before.

Good points, man, but the skeptic in me isn't feeling this one, especially not as a DP

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Questionable move, hopefully he can bring some stable leadership and experience. If he can play 90 minutes in the middle of the pitch and play tidy football while distributing the ball effectively, then I think Caps fans will learn to like him. I don't expect flashy goals or buckets of them either, but I would hope he can put up 10+ assists and 5 goals maybe

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he is a younger 33. Not someone who was at massive clubs playing a full club season as well as european football etc and was rarely featuring in the Scottish National setup as he rarely got ahead of Naismith on the left side and Ferguson, Brown, etc in the Scottish CM.

He's a threat from setpieces and corners with an excellent left peg.

I don't know why/how Whitecaps MLS fans with no knowledge of the man or has actually seen him play can pop off with opinions... same with that Nuru Sulley gent... you can't judge him till you've seen him. There's a reason I'm at work at my desk typing this and Martin Rennie's collecting a paycheque running a football club.

give me strength...

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he is a younger 33. Not someone who was at massive clubs playing a full club season as well as european football etc and was rarely featuring in the Scottish National setup as he rarely got ahead of Naismith on the left side and Ferguson, Brown, etc in the Scottish CM.

He's a threat from setpieces and corners with an excellent left peg.

I don't know why/how Whitecaps MLS fans with no knowledge of the man or has actually seen him play can pop off with opinions... same with that Nuru Sulley gent... you can't judge him till you've seen him. There's a reason I'm at work at my desk typing this and Martin Rennie's collecting a paycheque running a football club.

give me strength...

He definitely should help on the set pieces immensely.

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he is a younger 33. Not someone who was at massive clubs playing a full club season as well as european football etc and was rarely featuring in the Scottish National setup as he rarely got ahead of Naismith on the left side and Ferguson, Brown, etc in the Scottish CM.

Looks like he played with Hastings at ICT

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In response to this signing, I asked my English friend who is a lifelong Middlesbrough supporter to weigh in. He says:

He is class! I am absolutely gutted! He has been our best player this season. I'm really suprised they are letting him go on a free. I can only think they are thinking that if we get promoted he might not have the legs for the premier league as he is 33. But I don't think we will go up so I would definitely have liked him to stay another year.

He is a bit inconsistent for the premier league (check out our FA cup game against Sunderland where he scored an amazing volley and then

gave the worst back pass in history to concede the equaliser.)

He'll be great for your mob. Don't worry about how ancient he looks. He is scottish and ginger, he never stood a chance.

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