Jump to content

Canucks in Germany thread 2012-13


jpg75

Recommended Posts

Can't remember if there was a thread last year, but anyhow figured i'd get it started...also, i have ulterior motives regarding tracking Canucks in Germany. Need to confirm if the following are still there or not:

Maycoll Canizalez - Fortuna Koln (German Regionalliga West) (4)

Massih Wassey - SV Waldhof Mannheim (German Regionalliga Süd) (4)

Vito Poletto - FC Memmingen (German Regionalliga Bayern) (4)

Alex Elliott - Sportfreunde Siegen (German Oberliga Nordrhein Westfalen) (5)

Mike D'Agostino - Sportfreunde Siegen (German Oberliga Nordrhein Westfalen) (5)

Ryan Gyaki - Rostocker FC (German Verbandsliga Mecklenburg Vorpommern) (6)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can't remember if there was a thread last year, but anyhow figured i'd get it started...also, i have ulterior motives regarding tracking Canucks in Germany. Need to confirm if the following are still there or not:

Maycoll Canizalez - Fortuna Koln (German Regionalliga West) (4)

Massih Wassey - SV Waldhof Mannheim (German Regionalliga Süd) (4)

Vito Poletto - FC Memmingen (German Regionalliga Bayern) (4)

Alex Elliott - Sportfreunde Siegen (German Oberliga Nordrhein Westfalen) (5)

Mike D'Agostino - Sportfreunde Siegen (German Oberliga Nordrhein Westfalen) (5)

Ryan Gyaki - Rostocker FC (German Verbandsliga Mecklenburg Vorpommern) (6)

Thanks for reviving the thread jpg75. I am too busy these days to do it justice.

Massih is indeed with SV Waldhoff Mannheim, Regionalliga SuedWest. He has a goal and an assist in 3 games this season. Contract thru next spring.

Maycoll Canizales has moved down a level to an Oberliga team SV Rossbach/Verscheid Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar.

Vito Poletto is on the books with Memmingen, 3rd in from the left front row:

2012_regionalliga-kader_klein.jpg

No sign of d'Agostino, Elliott. Gyaki on the books for a different club, Sievershäger SV, same division I think (Verbandsliga).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll never understand what happened to D'Agostino... he was playing regularly in League 1 (a league we've called players from in past years) as a 20-21 year, Blackpool extended his option for another year after he returned from loan and then released him before Christmas of that year. I remember the Cheltenham fans loved him... why didn't they just sign him when Blackpool released him? Off field problems?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The latest on Friend: http://www.hr-online.de/website/rubriken/sport/index.jsp?rubrik=38120&key=standard_document_41431325

No concrete offers, but is still allowed to train with the first team, I think.

According to the article the situation is this: Earlier the sports director of the team suggested that Friend would probably have to train on his own or with the reserve team. (In Germany teams are obligated to provide players under contract the full use of their facilities to train whether they want to keep them or not. Forcing players to train with the reserves or alone is one of the methods teams use to try to motivate players to find a new team.) However, now the coach is saying that Friend is training so well and with such a good attitude that he doesn't deserve to be sent to the sidelines to train so he will let him continue to train with the first team. Nevertheless, he does not think Friend can help the first team though he would never exclude the possibility. And there are no current offers for Friend (but there were some previous offers for him that are not mentioned in the article).

I think I have read enough German articles on Friend that I am finally starting to understand the situation. As we know Friend can score at a high level in the right situation but is a one-dimensional style striker who needs a team built around him. When he transferred to Hertha he was given a very generous contract and was promised by the coach that the offence would be built around him but this was only partly true. They had two offensive wingers who were supposed to pass/cross to the middle to Friend but those two players were the limit to which the team was built around using Friend. Both got injured at the same time very early in first season Friend was there and their replacements were pretty good players but they liked to keep possession and move towards the middle as opposed to running down the sides and passing inwards which did not suit Friend and he was ineffective playing with them. It did, however, suit a young striker named Lasogga who played very well replacing Friend and basically Friend was SOL even when the injured players returned because by that time the offence had completely changed.

Then Friend was loaned to Frankfurt who badly needed a striker amid some similar promises of an offence directed around him. Friend was really the second choice of Frankfurt after a player named Idrissou but that seemed like it was not going to work out so they agreed to take Friend on loan with the provision it would be permanent if they promoted. However, at the last minute the Idrissou deal did become possible so they ended up with both of them. They both started in the first game with Friend as lone striker and Idrissou on the wing and both scored but the coach liked Idrissou better. So the next game he started Idrissou as the lone striker and he scored two goals and Friend hardly played for the rest of the year.

Fast forward to this year and Occean is Frankfurt's big signing at striker for this year and they plan to use him and Idrissou together. However, during training camp Idrissou receives an offer from Kaiserslautern (probably big money) and pulls a McKenna and asks to be transferred from the 1st Bundesliga to the 2nd (probably he had a buyout written in his contract). At this point Frankfurt is really thin at striker with only unproven in 1st Bundesliga Occean, another striker Hoffer who put up decent totals for Frankfurt in the 2nd Bundesliga but who was mediocre in his one previous year in the Bundesliga and Friend. Later they signed another striker Dorge Kouemaha who was pretty poor with Kaiserslautern last year in the 1st BL and who has scored decently in Belgium and the 2nd BL but whose last good season was 3 years ago.

So in my understanding the situation is this. Friend is making too much money to be kept around as a backup striker. There have been several teams interested in him but only on loan or possibly sharing his salary since it has been a few years since he has put up good numbers and it is too risky to take on his hefty contract. It might seem logical for Frankfurt to accept a deal like this but they are really thin with only 4 strikers on the books, none of whom are proven 1st BL scorers, indeed none of who have scored as many 1st BL goals as Friend has. Had Idrissou not unexpectedly left probably they might have accepted one of these offers but now they are not sure it is worth it to loan him or pay part of his salary when they are so thin at striker. Basically if someone offered them an outright transfer they would take it in a heartbeat to get rid of his salary but don't find it convenient to let him go in their current situation for anything less than that. He is training well at the moment so they are keeping him as insurance in case they get injuries or someone else is not performing. Ironically they are playing Occean (who played well last game but missed two golden opportunities to score the first of which was harder to miss than to score) as a lone striker with wingers who would suit Friend very well. And of course Friend is making to much money to request a release which is shades of the Gerba situation.

While this situation is bad for Friend I don't think it hurts us from a CMNT perspective. If we played Bernier on the right and Simpson were not injured we actually might have a lineup in which Friend could be effective. But unfortunately we do not have much depth on either side for wingers who can service the middle and without that Friend is not effective. Plus even if Bernier and Simpson were available I don't think we have a coach who would understand how to play Friend and his wingers in a manner which would lead to success. So a bad situation for Friend but he is someone who in the current MNT players and coaching scheme does not fit in properly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...