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NEW Mother of all Canucks Abroad (and domestic)


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3 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

FCB Escola is not FC Barcelona, it is a pay as you go school that does not even play federated soccer, they play between themselves and do tournaments to get more games. Any decent kid can get in, as long as he is competent. It is a bad idea but parents get sucked into the name.

I know this because my kid used to play with a proper club that is also a Barça supporter group, UBCatalonia, and they had a deal to pick up Escola kids after they finished there, which if I recall right was u-13 (maybe u-14). Yes, my boy was that level, he played with former FCBEscola kids, which is lower-mid competitive football in Barcelona. 

Roman Tulis academy in North Van deliberately falsifies this distinction, as they are doing now with a kid named Asvin Chauhan, they are conning people about what they are able to really produce by doing this. They conned people with that player named Gianni Patino in 2008, much reported here, as they collected donations to send him to Barcelona to the FCBEscola, as I saw it a scam.

The facilities are not even that great, they have this poor artificial field in the shadow of Camp Nou, Catalonia plays the other Barça supporter group clubs in tournaments there.

One of the few recent players who was FCEscola, then Catalonia, then was brought back to proper Barça academy and turned pro, was Jordi Gómez, who was at Wigan and now Sunderland. But hey, the club my kid  is at now sent a player to proper FC Barcelona academy who played for Barça B and is now at Munich 1860, though on loan to Elche this year, Ilie Sánchez. This is not top level football by any means, in spite of exceptions, so better to be at a proper Bundesliga 3 club  or League 2 than there.

Thanks for the update. I mentioned him only because I was asked to add him to the list and wanted to do more research on him.

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7 hours ago, shermanator said:

If Ledgerwood were to play at DM it could make sense for him to move to FC Edmonton. There has been a little chatter about a national team player coming to play in Edmonton, but no idea who it is.

Ledgerwood is free hey? Don't the Whitecaps need another Right back?

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So what do we make of his pro career in Germany it looks like he was more or less a journey man in 2nd. and 3rd. level soccer in Germany and from the looks of it saw most of his playing over the years over there in the 3rd. level from the looks of it. He gave it a very good try so can't knock him for really giving it a go. Once again we see players willing to play in leagues over there that in reality might not be any better than NASL or even USL, however, just being in Europe and being in a real soccer environment and playing closer to the many scouts over there is probably better than staying over on this side of the pond, the chances of being spotted are much greater I would believe, so you get players like Ledgerwood willing to play in these lower leagues over there and let's not forget the chance that your team that is playing in a lower league might one day get promoted to the highest level.

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I think if half of these prospects the MLS clubs have in the pipeline can have a career as good as ledgerwoods the CMNT will be lucky. A good soldier that always answered the call for canada (alot more caps than you would think) and 2-3rd division in germany is nothing to scoff at.  Right now I am wondering if guys like JGL, Tissot, Clarke, Hamilton, Chapman etc will develop enough to make NASL starters, or maybe 3rd divsion germany some day.  As opposed to being out of the game at 25.  We could use about 20 more guys playing at Ledgerwoods level to get a little depth into the talent pool.  

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3 hours ago, shermanator said:

I think they do. But I also don't think it makes sense for Ledgerwood to move to a club where he won't be the starter. 

Not sure he wouldn't at least be competitive for the starting RB job.  They only have Smith at the moment who is clearly younger and has more promise, but he also demonstrated some serious inexperience/liability, or so I thought anyway.  It would be very similar to the Harvey/Adekugbe competition for LB.  Safer older player vs. younger gifted player.  I could see Ledgerwood taking the starting job at first as a means to give Smith a goal/focus.  Don't forget it was Beitashour's position to lose until he started to battle injuries.  Nik also has versatility going for him -- could fill a few spots if needed.

I get what you mean about it not making sense from Ledgerwood's point of view.  I just don't think it would be a slam dunk that Smith starts.

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30 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

I think if half of these prospects the MLS clubs have in the pipeline can have a career as good as ledgerwoods the CMNT will be lucky. A good soldier that always answered the call for canada (alot more caps than you would think) and 2-3rd division in germany is nothing to scoff at.  Right now I am wondering if guys like JGL, Tissot, Clarke, Hamilton, Chapman etc will develop enough to make NASL starters, or maybe 3rd divsion germany some day.  As opposed to being out of the game at 25.  We could use about 20 more guys playing at Ledgerwoods level to get a little depth into the talent pool.  

I'm not excited about the guys you listed, at all. I'm excited about Bustos, Froese, Larin, Laryea, Adegkube, Ballou Tabla, etc.

I agree people crap on Ledgerwood too much. But having a new crop of guys who are at his skill level isn't going to get us to the World Cup, or the hex.

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6 minutes ago, Soccerpro said:

I agree people crap on Ledgerwood too much. But having a new crop of guys who are at his skill level isn't going to get us to the World Cup, or the hex.

Does seem ungrateful somehow, given what he has given to the program, but I agree.  The more I think about Ledgerwood to the Whitecaps, the more I think Ledgerwood and Beitashour are pretty comparable players in many ways (career arcs aside).  Beitashour was good enough to ride the bench on a World Cup team, but did not play and didn't even play much in qualifying if I remember correctly.  I think soldiers like Ledgerwood have an important role to play in getting us to the Hex and maybe even back to the World Cup, but we definitely don't get there with soldiers alone.

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Soccerpro: I hear what you are saying about the HEX and the WC.  We need the special players, but most of the prospects (not the really good ones you mentioned) could do alot worse than having Ledgerwoods career.  The more guys that dont dissapear at 18-24 and actually become working pros at a decent level brings up soccer and CMNT slowly but surely.  Larins, Deros and Bunburys, DeVos and Forrests dont come along every day.  But if we had 5-10 guys in each of the english championship, SPL, 2Bundaslega, etc  and a dozen starters in MLS, that would give us a nice pool of guys to pick from and young guys would see you can be CDN and stick it out, Make a living with football.  

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7 hours ago, shorty said:

Does seem ungrateful somehow, given what he has given to the program, but I agree.  The more I think about Ledgerwood to the Whitecaps, the more I think Ledgerwood and Beitashour are pretty comparable players in many ways (career arcs aside).  Beitashour was good enough to ride the bench on a World Cup team, but did not play and didn't even play much in qualifying if I remember correctly.  I think soldiers like Ledgerwood have an important role to play in getting us to the Hex and maybe even back to the World Cup, but we definitely don't get there with soldiers alone.

I think you're pretty spot on here - in my opinion, they are similar in terms of talent, physicality and even experience level. Plus, they are close in age and are even similar in the way they play the game. I just think Beitashour has an edge in that he is a little more gifted, although he doesn't have the versatility that Ledgerwood does. 

Ledgerwood has rarely been a favourite choice, despite his dedication, but winning close to 50 caps with a nation like Canada is an accomplishment. He's an experienced international and Energie Cottbus, FSV Frankfurt, MSV Duisburg and 1860 Munich are not tiny, rinky-dink clubs either. Hell, even Hammabry are a big club as far as Swedish clubs go (although they got relegated).

His resume is that of an MLS player who gets heavy minutes, if not an out-and-out starter. I think collectively we just don't value him because of the time he's spent in a 3rd tier. A very good 3rd tier by the way.

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In a world of long shots based on progress and national call ups for Australia,  Thomas Heward-Belle of Central Coast Mariners.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Heward-Belle

Date of Birth: 
March 11, 1997
Height: 
192cm
Weight: 
80 kg
Previous Club: 
Blacktown City FC - NSWPL
Current Club: 
Western Sydney Wanderers – National Youth League

Preferred Position: Goalkeeper

Passport: Australian, Canadian and Dutch

Achievements: Australian U19 Squad (Oct 2014)

Commercial Sponsor: Nike

Should you be interested in sponsoring Thomas Heward-Belle or utilising his services for media, sponsorship and/or promotional opportunities then please call FFI Corporate Partnerships Manager, Beau Curtis -

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