NEW Mother of all Canucks Abroad (and domestic)

[Lord Bob]

16 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

The fans are kiling the front office for signing him, they have no idea who he is and do not think he can help at all. One joked that Hume's only condition for signing was that he would not have share a locker with Descartes.

I like their fans already. They'll see his quality.

[Grizzly]

On 2/3/2016 at 4:56 AM, shamrock said:

Yes you can compare living standards in countries objectively without having to live there. It's called comparative sociology. 

Btw I visit Germany often and I think most can agree it's a nice place to live. Surely there's streets in Montreal where I don't want go in the dark, however that doesn't say Canada is a bad place to live either (referring to what you said about neo-Nazis in Germany). 

All I'm saying, and maybe it would be nice if you went into this, that it's really hard to break into a high-level football league as a no-body. We know what happens if you don't cut it at the 1. or 2. Bundesliga-level. You get playing time on a decent level (3rd or 4th) and if you show enough there you'll get another chance either at the parent club or at a new club. What happens if you don't cut it at Grozny? 

I never said Germany is a terrible place to live or that neo-Nazis are everywhere. LOK Leipzig games have a large number of neo-Nazis, but they make up a very low percentage of the overall Leipzig population. What I am saying is having lived in both Germany and Russia both have good and bad qualities and that your presentation of nice Lubeck versus horrible Grozny is not accurate nor do you seem to have much of a background to make such a judgement. Yes the standard of living is much higher in Germany but we are not talking about him going to Grozny and earning a typical Russian salary but rather of him going there and earning a much higher salary than he would in the German 4th division and the opportunity to earn very large sums of money in the future if he is successful. And personally if I were to earn the same salary I would choose to live in Russia over Germany but if living in Russia meant earning a typical Russian salary I would choose Germany. And Grozny would not be high on my list of Russian cities I want to live in due to the problems of the past and the possibility they could start again but if I had the type of career opportunity Cornelius will be offered if they sign him then I would certainly consider moving there.

As for Kadyrov, you can be sure you will never hear one good thing about him in any article or documentary in our Western "free press". Yet 10 to 15 years ago Chechnya was in a similar state to what Syria is now in and seemed a problem without solution but now is mostly rebuilt and stable. Kadyrov may indeed be doing some bad things to achieve this stability but for the vast majority of Chechens life is far better. A Kadyrov in Syria would be far better to the current situation just like Hussein, Ghadafy and Assad were not great guys but are far better than what the West has brought to those countries with our promotion/exportation of "democracy" and "human rights" that has mostly been a front for military conquest and exploitation.

As to the Russian system, just like most countries in Europe they have a pyramid. They also have a large population and money in soccer so the level does not drop as rapidly as in many of the other European countries that aren't England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. The reserve teams play a system where they travel with the first club and play a match against the club's opponent usually the day before the first team match. The 2nd division is still pretty strong, a bit better than the 3rd Bundesliga and must pay decently as well because there are still quite a few foreigners playing there. Also both divisions have a lot of players from the former Soviet Union countries, Eastern Europe, South America, Africa and also places like Iran. Many of these players never play in the West and are not EPL or La Liga level but a lot of them are pretty solid players even if unfamiliar to us. At 3rd division level it gets regional and the level drops and I suspect there is a big drop in pay as well since there are mostly Russia players. It would still be as good as the level in Lubeck though. There is also a lot of relation between the Russian leagues and many of the other Eastern European leagues. DiChiara went through the system and after things did not work out at Samara transferred to Hungary and then the Russian 2nd tier. He finally did not make it but he certainly was given an opportunity. Also given that Cornelius seems to be on good terms still with Lubeck and they are not opposing a transfer there is no reason he would be either required to stay in Russia or could not return to Germany if things do not work out with Terek. If he does not make it at Terek he is not going to drop of the map of football unless he does not have the talent to become a professional. Terek also has a lot of foreigners on its squad including Australian internation Luke Wilkshire who just transferred there from Feyernoord. He played several years previously for Dinamo Moscow so also has played games in Grozny before and knows what the situation is so I think if it was so terrible a guy like Wilkshire would not sign there.

Terek finished their 2nd stage of training camp in Malta yesterday with a friendly against a Maltese team that Cornelius did not play in. The opposition was weaker and Terek started a weaker lineup as well and only won 1-0 so not sure what the significance was of Cornelius not playing. They will start the 3rd stage in Italy in a few days so it will be interesting to see if he is invited to that stage. Even if the trial is not successful it has to be a very good experience for him at 18 years old to train and play several games with a first division Russian team against at times pretty decent teams much higher than those he would face in German 4th division. Plus he has been in Germany for 2 years and despite the praises of Lubeck's staff as far as I know has not gone on trial in any of the bigger clubs a short drive away from Lubeck. There is no guarantee he would in the future. Sometimes one can stuck in a system or at a level for a number of reasons or not get the right opportunity at the right time so he would be crazy not to take the chance to jump up several rungs on the professional football ladder when given the opportunity.

Edited February 10, 2016 by Grizzly

[Fussball_eh]

4 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Terek finished their 2nd stage of training camp in Malta yesterday with a friendly against a Maltese team that Cornelius did not play in. The opposition was weaker and Terek started a weaker lineup as well and only won 1-0 so not sure what the significance was of Cornelius not playing. They will start the 3rd stage in Italy in a few days so it will be interesting to see if he is invited to that stage. Even if the trial is not successful it has to be a very good experience for him at 18 years old to train and play several games with a first division Russian team against at times pretty decent teams much higher than those he would face in German 4th division. Plus he has been in Germany for 2 years and despite the praises of Lubeck's staff as far as I know has not gone on trial in any of the bigger clubs a short drive away from Lubeck. There is no guarantee he would in the future. Sometimes one can stuck in a system or at a level for a number of reasons or not get the right opportunity at the right time so he would be crazy not to take the chance to jump up several rungs on the professional football ladder when given the opportunity.

Thanks for monitoring Cornelius closely. Please let us know when there any updates.

[Obinna]

More on De Jong's looming move away from SKC. This blogger is speculating he could join a Canadian MLS team, although this appears to be solely based on his passport.

http://reportingkc.com/2016/02/09/is-marcel-de-jong-on-his-way-out-of-sporting-kc/

I don't quite know where he'd fit in. I definitely don't see him going to TFC with Morrow and Morgan already there (unless the latter decides to try his luck elsewhere). Montreal has Oyongo and Eric Miller as a reserve I believe? A better chance there, but he wouldn't be an automatic starter - he'd have a battle on his hands. In Vancouver, Harvey and Adekugbe will be vying for the left back role. De Jong is a better player than both, but at a $180,000 salary cap hit I don't believe it'd be worth their while.

[Blackdude]

7 minutes ago, Obinna said:

More on De Jong's looming move away from SKC. This blogger is speculating he could join a Canadian MLS team, although this appears to be solely based on his passport.

http://reportingkc.com/2016/02/09/is-marcel-de-jong-on-his-way-out-of-sporting-kc/

I don't quite know where he'd fit in. I definitely don't see him going to TFC with Morrow and Morgan already there (unless the latter decides to try his luck elsewhere). Montreal has Oyongo and Eric Miller as a reserve I believe? A better chance there, but he wouldn't be an automatic starter - he'd have a battle on his hands. In Vancouver, Harvey and Adekugbe will be vying for the left back role. De Jong is a better player than both, but at a $180,000 salary cap hit I don't believe it'd be worth their while.

I  think that Montreal is a good spot. I wouldn't be surprised to see Oyongo being moved this summer because he'll go to Europe on a free, so the Impact would want to get something from him. Toia and Tissot are the only other left backs on the squad. Toia has been tried at right back this preseason and Tissot has played as a winger in the past couple of seasons, but a return at left back is possible.

I do think that de Jong to Montreal only happens if Montreal truly wants to sell Oyongo this summer. 

[Keegan]

46 minutes ago, Obinna said:

More on De Jong's looming move away from SKC. This blogger is speculating he could join a Canadian MLS team, although this appears to be solely based on his passport.

http://reportingkc.com/2016/02/09/is-marcel-de-jong-on-his-way-out-of-sporting-kc/

I don't quite know where he'd fit in. I definitely don't see him going to TFC with Morrow and Morgan already there (unless the latter decides to try his luck elsewhere). Montreal has Oyongo and Eric Miller as a reserve I believe? A better chance there, but he wouldn't be an automatic starter - he'd have a battle on his hands. In Vancouver, Harvey and Adekugbe will be vying for the left back role. De Jong is a better player than both, but at a $180,000 salary cap hit I don't believe it'd be worth their while.

If you think of Marcel as a LM/LW rather than a LB, which is realistically where he should be I think he makes sense for TFC.  We have desperately needed a left footed wide player for years now.  It's important for TFC to have options if they want to be successful, too often they've built the team around a single tactic that either breaks down with depth issues or is exploited by opponents after a few matches.

The way the team looks now it's going to be another year of no width and play down the middle.  AKA pray Giovinco produces magic as a trequarista.  

 

 

 

Edited February 10, 2016 by Keegan

[Grizzly]

34 minutes ago, Blackdude said:

I  think that Montreal is a good spot. I wouldn't be surprised to see Oyongo being moved this summer because he'll go to Europe on a free, so the Impact would want to get something from him. Toia and Tissot are the only other left backs on the squad. Toia has been tried at right back this preseason and Tissot has played as a winger in the past couple of seasons, but a return at left back is possible.

I do think that de Jong to Montreal only happens if Montreal truly wants to sell Oyongo this summer. 

Based on last year's form, DeJong would be a backup to Toia even if Oyongo left and he is too expensive for that and we don't need him in the midfield so I don't think the Impact would be a good fit at all. If Oyongo leaves I don't see DeJong as a replacement at all as he is a downgrade over Oyongo and too expensive to be a sub.

[Toje]

Apparently, Andrew Lebre has moved from Casa Pia U19 (Portugal) to Ourense U19 (Spain).

http://www.footballzz.com/player.php?id=428719&epoca_id=0

I wasn't able to find any other further confirmation at the moment.

[Unnamed Trialist]

12 hours ago, Toje said:

Apparently, Andrew Lebre has moved from Casa Pia U19 (Portugal) to Ourense U19 (Spain).

http://www.footballzz.com/player.php?id=428719&epoca_id=0

I wasn't able to find any other further confirmation at the moment.

Ourense is a team with problems to make it into and stay in 2nd division, they seem more comfortable in 2B (third). Problem is, they were dropped a division for financial problems and disappeared 2 years ago, they now have a lower division 1st team, 5th tier I think. In fact, as I look at this, there are new splinters to refound the club, and I am not sure which one he might be with now.

If it is CD Oursense their Juvenil (u-19) A team is dead last in their top division of u-19 Spain, Honor, likely to do down to Nacional (which is still an alright level).  So in fact they are better than the senior men but slipping as the club suffers through this period of being remade.

He is represented by Rocha, RISM, from Toronto.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Unnamed Trialist

[Toje]

Thanks for the clarification about the situation with Ourense.  

[lazlo_80]

Shamit Shome, FCE academy kid,  signs pro contract

 

http://www.fcedmonton.com/news/2016/02/12/fc-edmonton-signs-academy-graduate-and-canadian-u-20-international-shamit-shome?utm_campaign=FC+Edmonton+Website&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=1455294052#.Vr4G8zHdoZc.twitter

[shamrock]

On 10 februari 2016 at 10:50 AM, Grizzly said:

 What I am saying is having lived in both Germany and Russia both have good and bad qualities and that your presentation of nice Lubeck versus horrible Grozny is not accurate nor do you seem to have much of a background to make such a judgement.

Ok, you really want to go there? Personally I thought Jon had a point about keeping politics off these board, but hey, I guess I have a right to respond to your lenghty epistel.

It might be interesting to know that I have a degree in comparative sociology. I am the first to admit that's not a free pass either but to assume that I don't have the background to make any judgement in this case seems presumptious to say the least.

On 10 februari 2016 at 10:50 AM, Grizzly said:

As for Kadyrov, you can be sure you will never hear one good thing about him in any article or documentary in our Western "free press". Yet 10 to 15 years ago Chechnya was in a similar state to what Syria is now in and seemed a problem without solution but now is mostly rebuilt and stable. Kadyrov may indeed be doing some bad things to achieve this stability but for the vast majority of Chechens life is far better. 

How come Chechnya was such a horrible place a decade ago in the first place? Putin completely destroyed the country, without any regard to its inhabitants. All in response to revolutionists who wanted to liberate themselves form Russia. Now, I won't go into wether they had a right to want this, and wether the ways they pursued it was correct. However isn't it remarkable that the same Putin supports revolutionists in Georgia, in Moldova, and in eastern Ukraine?

After there was barely anything left of Grozny he put Kadyrov in place as his puppet, and yes he has brought relative peace there. At a cost though. Just like all of Putins cronies in Russia, Khadyrov has enriched himself in ways that are beyond comprehension. You could ask yourself why politicians in Russia are so rich, but hey, keep on dreaming.

On 10 februari 2016 at 10:50 AM, Grizzly said:

A Kadyrov in Syria would be far better to the current situation just like Hussein, Ghadafy and Assad were not great guys but are far better than what the West has brought to those countries with our promotion/exportation of "democracy" and "human rights" that has mostly been a front for military conquest and exploitation.

These "Regime changes" have failed completely. The Bush / Cheney government have in fact created the soil for Isis to blossom. However, I do think people (nations) have a right for self determination, Ukraine comes to mind. You correctly mention "the West" but fail to mention Russia in this regard. 

 

On 10 februari 2016 at 10:50 AM, Grizzly said:

As to the Russian system, just like most countries in Europe they have a pyramid. They also have a large population and money in soccer so the level does not drop as rapidly as in many of the other European countries that aren't England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. The reserve teams play a system where they travel with the first club and play a match against the club's opponent usually the day before the first team match. The 2nd division is still pretty strong, a bit better than the 3rd Bundesliga and must pay decently as well because there are still quite a few foreigners playing there. Also both divisions have a lot of players from the former Soviet Union countries, Eastern Europe, South America, Africa and also places like Iran. Many of these players never play in the West and are not EPL or La Liga level but a lot of them are pretty solid players even if unfamiliar to us. At 3rd division level it gets regional and the level drops and I suspect there is a big drop in pay as well since there are mostly Russia players. It would still be as good as the level in Lubeck though.

Ah yeah, the famous Russian development system. It has produces great players like ehm, what's his name? Great left foot, or was it right? I don't know a single world star from modern age Russia, despite the huge amounts of money they pour into soccer.

If you are serious about developing as a soccer player, I think you should look at Spain, Germany and to lesser extend countries like Belgium and Netherlands (even though the level in those countries is significantly lower, technically and tactically their academies are solid).

Come on man, just like you can't name a single Russian export product outside of natural resources, nor any economic innovation from Putins Russia, they don't develop shit. They buy. 

On 10 februari 2016 at 10:50 AM, Grizzly said:

There is also a lot of relation between the Russian leagues and many of the other Eastern European leagues. DiChiara went through the system and after things did not work out at Samara transferred to Hungary and then the Russian 2nd tier. He finally did not make it but he certainly was given an opportunity. 

Di Chiara, maybe you should have thought a few seconds before mentioning him as an example... Where is he now?

On 10 februari 2016 at 10:50 AM, Grizzly said:

Also given that Cornelius seems to be on good terms still with Lubeck and they are not opposing a transfer there is no reason he would be either required to stay in Russia or could not return to Germany if things do not work out with Terek.

I find it comforting that Cornelius could always go back to Lübeck if things don't work out for him at Terek. You know, the club that has payed his wages the last couple of months without him playing for them at all. I know I go on a limb here in professional soccer these days, but there's also something like loyalty. They have invested in this kid, gave him a chance to come overseas and he bails at the first opportunity he sees. Again, without having played a single minute or them. Ungrateful if you ask me.

On 10 februari 2016 at 10:50 AM, Grizzly said:

Terek also has a lot of foreigners on its squad including Australian internation Luke Wilkshire who just transferred there from Feyernoord. He played several years previously for Dinamo Moscow so also has played games in Grozny before and knows what the situation is so I think if it was so terrible a guy like Wilkshire would not sign there.

Yeah, for a veteran player like Wilkshire I can see why Terek isn't that a bad a place to get rich. He had to leave Feyenoord because he was too fat, but's that's a side-note. I don't know if you can understand Dutch but I saw an interesting Documentary about Mbark Boussoufa on youtube. It's a Dutch/ Belgium/ Moroccan player who's played in Russia.  https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mbark+boussoufa It shows him completely lonely in Moscow (can you imagine Terek?) and paying for his friends to come over for some company. Sad really. Not saying this is the case for every one, but I don think it's an exception either. The worse part iis, Boussoufa had the world at his feet. He could have been a world famous player but instead he's now plying his trade for tiny AA Gent for a trainer that doesn't want him. He's got cash though. 

I appreciate your efforts to track Cornelius, I do mean that. And I also hope he'll make it (maybe sounds strange but I really do). I just don' think he's making the right choices at this moment, considering he hasn't played a single minute as a professional footballer. 

[Grizzly]

If a mod wants to move this to off-topic I am fine with that.

Lubeck paid his wages? There are some strict rules about remuneration of youth players although there are many ways of getting around them as well. I don't claim to be an expert on youth players remuneration in Germany but I strongly suspect a guy who is under 18, has no playing licence and is training with a small 4th division team is not getting any remuneration at all and is merely getting free training. And again you keep accusing him of disloyalty yet he was given permission to go on trial with Terek by Lubeck and they have also stated they would be happy with the transfer fee they will receive if he transfers. 

As for Boussoufa, no I did not watch the 1 hour 20 minute documentary on him in Dutch but if you tell me what part he says he was lonely in Russia I will watch that. I am sure one can find players that are not happy in Russia just like in any other country. Still like almost everything you post I really question the accuracy of what you are saying. Boussoufa was a top player for Anderlecht when he transferred to Russia and was surely earning pretty well and had other lucrative offers and did not have to go to Russia. Then when he went he played for 2 different teams and stayed 5 and a half years and only returned to Belgium on loan after he lost his spot in Lokomotiv's squad. That doesn't sound like someone who hated life in Russia. And Gent is a tiny team? That is certainly news to me. They are the defending champions in Belgium, are currently in first place and play in one of Belgium's largest cities and nicest stadiums. And the trainer does not want him? He has been there all of 2 weeks and already made his debut yesterday and scored a goal.

As for Wilkshire, when he went to training camp with Feyernoord, the manager had changed in the offseason and did not seem to want him there so he came to a mutual agreement to leave and the next thing he starts reading in the paper that the manager said he was overweight. He gave an interview at the Terek training camp and looked in good shape to me.

As for the politics, you have a lot of opinions but don't seem to know very much about the places you are talking about or the conflicts that are occurring there. Have you ever visited any of these countries? Have you ever talked to people from these countries and from various sides of the conflict? Why don't you try and contact or at least read the opinions of some ethnic Abkhazians about what would have happened to them had the Georgian nationalists won the war? Maybe the West and UN should hold a vote on whether they want to rejoin Georgia, have their own country or join Russia and recognize the result. By the way the nationalist Georgian President who attacked them the last time is now wanted for various crimes in Georgia so he fled to Ukraine where he was appointed governor of the mostly Russian speaking Odessa province, given Ukrainian citizenship on the day of his appointment and is doing his best to become Prime Minister of Ukraine. Vive le democratie, nothing strange about that at all. And again speaking of democracy, I have a friend in Donetsk who would like to have her vote for Yanukovich counted and have him restored to power after the illegal coup d'etat. She would also like to have a vote held in her region on joining Russia or staying in Ukraine (which would end the war but we will never agree to it because we only like democracy when we are sure our side will win). And she would also like to be able to drink her morning coffee with her grandparents without having to listen to artillery shells fall in her region and hope that none hit her building. 

And sure Russia and Putin and Kadyrov do some bad things too so yeah send them to the war crimes tribunal. Just make sure that Obama, both Clintons, Bush, Cheney, Kissinger, Blair, Albright etc. are all on trial too. I think we will find that the Russian list of crimes is relatively short compared to the very extensive list of crimes committed by the US and its NATO allies. Awful nice of the great democracy of Canada though to sell all those armoured personnel carriers to those nice protectors of human rights in Saudi Arabia. I can't wait to see what good use they put those to in Yemen or in their own country the next time they have democracy or human rights rallies. 

[jpg75]

Hey, what do you guys think about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

[rob.notenboom]

1 hour ago, jpg75 said:

Hey, what do you guys think about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

Good grief. I'm laughing but I'm also cringing. 

[Toje]

Friendly in Slovakia today - Milovan Kapor started for Podbrezova in a 3-2 win over 2nd div  FK Pohronie D. Ždaňa Žiar n/Hronom 

Friendly yesterday - Cebara started for Zlate Moravce yesterday in a 1-1 draw with Atyrau (Kazahkstan) in Turkey.

Edited February 13, 2016 by Toje

[Grizzly]

Cornelius has been offered a contract by Terek but Lubeck and Terek  are still negotiating the transfer fee and need to come to an agreement by Feb. 26. Cue Shamrock to tell us what a great mistake Cornelius is making.

http://luebeck.sportbuzzer.de/regionalliga-nord/artikel/noch-vfber-derek-cornelius-grosny-vertrag-ist-unterschriftsreif/54698/222

[Unnamed Trialist]

19 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

Cornelius has been offered a contract by Terek but Lubeck and Terek  are still negotiating the transfer fee and need to come to an agreement by Feb. 26. Cue Shamrock to tell us what a great mistake Cornelius is making.

http://luebeck.sportbuzzer.de/regionalliga-nord/artikel/noch-vfber-derek-cornelius-grosny-vertrag-ist-unterschriftsreif/54698/222

There was this guy in a pub who was half-Terek fan and half-Lubeck fan. He wanted a drink but couldn't bring himself to buy one.

[shamrock]

10 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Cornelius has been offered a contract by Terek but Lubeck and Terek  are still negotiating the transfer fee and need to come to an agreement by Feb. 26. Cue Shamrock to tell us what a great mistake Cornelius is making.

http://luebeck.sportbuzzer.de/regionalliga-nord/artikel/noch-vfber-derek-cornelius-grosny-vertrag-ist-unterschriftsreif/54698/222

Lübeck is fully in their right to ask for a transfer-fee (and there's no doubt in my mind Terek can pay off any contract in the Regionalliga with pocket change). So it's a matter of time. I wish him all the luck. 

[shamrock]

Jamie Dell to Fc Cincinnati. http://www.uslsoccer.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=32800&ATCLID=210715313

Hope he does better that the 89 minutes he played at Carolina...

[Toje]

Dominic Szyszka has gone out on loan to Bron Radom in the Polish 4th division from  Wigry Suwalki. He mostly played with the Wigry reserves in the 5th division, so at least it is a small step up for him.  http://www.90minut.pl/kariera.php?id=29382

[Big_M]

The QSF just reported on their Facebook page that Zakaria Messoudi has signed with Odd.

[Fussball_eh]

5 hours ago, Big_M said:

The QSF just reported on their Facebook page that Zakaria Messoudi has signed with Odd.

Yeah he signed a while ago, it was just pending paper work. Great to see it's pretty much official now.

I moved Hanson Boakai to 2nd division Croatia. Not looking forward to tracking that, it's almost impossible...

[Grizzly]

11 minutes ago, Fussball_eh said:

Yeah he signed a while ago, it was just pending paper work. Great to see it's pretty much official now.

I moved Hanson Boakai to 2nd division Croatia. Not looking forward to tracking that, it's almost impossible...

Website of Hanson's team. Game summaries with lineups in the Novesti section: http://www.nk-hrvatskidragovoljac.hr/index.php

[shermanator]

Sean Melvin has signed with Whitecaps FC 2. He really impressed me during his loan stint in Calgary #OurKeeperIsAGiant

https://twitter.com/wfc2/status/700730725637685248