NASL Adds Oklahoma Club Backed by La Liga Team for 2016-RAYO OKC

[Fussball_eh]

I'd be happy to see some more clubs on the west side of the Mississippi, just for FC Edmonton's travel issues and Vegas would make one hell of an away game.

The trip to Las Vegas would be around 1200km less than their trip to Ottawa... just saying.

[CDNFootballer]

Rayo OKC co-owner Sean Jones' passion for soccer drives success

 

http://www.rayookc.com/news/2015/11/23/rayo-okc-co-owner-sean-jones-passion-for-soccer-drives-success

 

 

[CDNFootballer]

Canadian Alen Marcina, who won an NASL Championship Soccer Bowl in 2014 with the Scorpions, becomes Rayo OKC's first coach :

 

http://www.nasl.com/news/2016/01/07/alen-marcina-named-first-head-coach-in-rayo-okc-history

 

Rayo OKC introduced Alen Marcina as the club’s first head coach at a press conference in downtown Oklahoma City on Thursday.

Marcina has vast experience in the NASL, spending four years with the San Antonio Scorpions’ coaching staff and capturing the NASL Championship in his first full season as head coach in 2014.

He began his coaching career in 2012 as an assistant coach with the Scorpions, as the club finished with the top overall regular-season record in the NASL. After serving as interim head coach at the end of the 2013 season, Marcina was elevated to head coach and his team captured the 2014 NASL title with a dramatic, 2-1, win over the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

“We welcome Alen and his family to Oklahoma City,” Rayo OKC part-owner Sean Jones said. “His wealth of knowledge of the NASL, combined with his astute communication skills, makes Alen a perfect match for our needs as an expansion franchise.”

 

 

 

 

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

On 8/1/2016 at 1:56 AM, CDNFootballer said:

Canadian Alen Marcina, who won an NASL Championship Soccer Bowl in 2014 with the Scorpions, becomes Rayo OKC's first coach :

 

http://www.nasl.com/news/2016/01/07/alen-marcina-named-first-head-coach-in-rayo-okc-history

 

Rayo OKC introduced Alen Marcina as the club’s first head coach at a press conference in downtown Oklahoma City on Thursday.

Marcina has vast experience in the NASL, spending four years with the San Antonio Scorpions’ coaching staff and capturing the NASL Championship in his first full season as head coach in 2014.

He began his coaching career in 2012 as an assistant coach with the Scorpions, as the club finished with the top overall regular-season record in the NASL. After serving as interim head coach at the end of the 2013 season, Marcina was elevated to head coach and his team captured the 2014 NASL title with a dramatic, 2-1, win over the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

“We welcome Alen and his family to Oklahoma City,” Rayo OKC part-owner Sean Jones said. “His wealth of knowledge of the NASL, combined with his astute communication skills, makes Alen a perfect match for our needs as an expansion franchise.”

Since Marcina brought Daniel Fernandes to San Antonio, I wonder if he'll want to take him with him to OKC. Thing is, he is on this fairly immense--for NASL--salary from Twente (400 thousand euros so) and the contract is up in June, so they'd have to shell out quite a bit to satisfy at least a part of the salary the first half of the season. 

I am pretty sure the strategy was for Dani to make the move to MLS now, after San Antonio, but not sure if their season makes it that much easier for him.

[CDNFootballer]

RAYO OKC SIGNS THREE PLAYERS

http://www.rayookc.com/news/2016/01/15/rayo-okc-signs-three-players

Three solid signings with Mls experience and young as well at 24-25 years of age. Sebastian Velasquez last of New York City FC and Rayo OKC's first signing is the most impressive and should do well in NASL.

 

 

[CDNFootballer]

Breaking Ground: Rayo Oklahoma City

 

http://midfieldpress.com/2016/01/23/breaking-ground-rayo-oklahoma-city/

 

 

[CDNFootballer]

[Unnamed Trialist]

There it is!! The Boateng signing, he is under contract with Rayo but was on loan to Eibar, so there is a first example of them using Rayo OKC as somewhere to place players. Obviously could be very good for them, though he is getting on.

The player has to accept the deal, so I assume he did. 

[CDNFootballer]

10 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

There it is!! The Boateng signing, he is under contract with Rayo but was on loan to Eibar, so there is a first example of them using Rayo OKC as somewhere to place players. Obviously could be very good for them, though he is getting on.

The player has to accept the deal, so I assume he did. 

Actually he wasn't under contract with Rayo V anymore as his contract was recinded when they had a wealth of players and he was on the wrong side of the numbers apparently. After that he signed a deal with Eibar. His contract with Eibar expired last August.

 

Solid signing for NASL's Rayo OKC along with Forbes.

[Unnamed Trialist]

6 minutes ago, CDNFootballer said:

Actually he wasn't under contract with Rayo V anymore as his contract was recinded when they had a wealth of players and he was on the wrong side of the numbers apparently. After that he signed a deal with Eibar. His contract with Eibar expired last August.

 

Solid signing for NASL's Rayo OKC along with Forbes.

Ok, was wrong, going on memory, I thought he'd been loaned to Eibar but knew he wasn't playing. 

In any case, it is odd a former Rayo player from recently has gone to their club, even odder now in fact.

[Unnamed Trialist]

They've signed Dani Fernandes as keeper just as the European transfer window closed. I expected this as Alen Marcina was his coach in San Antonio. Thing is his salary at Twente is very high for an NASL keeper. 

Saying they've signed him makes me wonder if the loan from Twente has been extended until his contract there is up or if he now belongs to Rayo OKC fully. Transfermarkt says it is a loan until the end of June, but I wonder.

Plays the opener in Edmonton, where he was born.

[jedinathan]

17 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

They've signed Dani Fernandes as keeper just as the European transfer window closed. I expected this as Alen Marcina was his coach in San Antonio. Thing is his salary at Twente is very high for an NASL keeper. 

Saying they've signed him makes me wonder if the loan from Twente has been extended until his contract there is up or if he now belongs to Rayo OKC fully. Transfermarkt says it is a loan until the end of June, but I wonder.

Plays the opener in Edmonton, where he was born.

VS Edmonton. Opener is in OKC.

[Unnamed Trialist]

2 hours ago, jedinathan said:

VS Edmonton. Opener is in OKC.

Right---in Miller stadium.

Looking at NASL map teams like OKC and Edmonton have terrible travelling problems, they really need some more West teams, Las Vegas would've great.

[shamrock]

21 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Thing is his salary at Twente is very high for an NASL keeper. 

Saying they've signed him makes me wonder if the loan from Twente has been extended until his contract there is up or if he now belongs to Rayo OKC fully. Transfermarkt says it is a loan until the end of June, but I wonder.

Of course it's a loan, cause why would he forgo that big salary? OKC probably pays just a portion of it, which still benefits FC Twente. In the summer Rayo can sign him, but then it would be on an NASL-salary. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

5 hours ago, shamrock said:

Of course it's a loan, cause why would he forgo that big salary? OKC probably pays just a portion of it, which still benefits FC Twente. In the summer Rayo can sign him, but then it would be on an NASL-salary. 

I guess what surprises me is that not only no club in NASL but hardly any in MLS have ever seen a coach convince a management to commit such a major salary to a keeper. A half year of Daniel would be about 200,000 euros. What is Rayo going to pay him 100 grand now and another 50-75 for the rest of the season? It is still a lot for an NASL keeper I think.

Read today a rumour that Casillas is going to make a move to NY City in MLS this summer, so yeah, he'd be paid a DP salary, he'll be the highest paid keeper in the history of MLS.

[shamrock]

Not too be picky here, but Oklahoma doesn't pay him, they pay FC Twente. And Twente at this moment is happy with anything off the big paycheck they have to give him every month. So even if it's 50.000, that's still better than nothing at all. 

Ironically, FC Twente could really use him at the moment. They've hit hard times and both of their goalies suck. But they want him off their books, which will happen this summer. 

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

Was just looking at their site and I see their shirt and equipment sponsor is Kelme, a Spanish brand from Elche. With rather little market penetration in the USA, though I see that they did sign the deal as the official footwear sponsor for the new US futsal league starting this upcoming winter. So this is another part of the Rayo package, Raoy Vallecano has them as the sponsor as well. 

Though they have some of the Spanish futsal boot market, they are far from being the dominant brand, there is a great Barcelona brand making inroads called Munich, an old brand from the 70s that has been revived and revamped. Has anyone ever seen Munich in Canada?

[Steedman]

They're doing a great job slapping together a roster. A whole lot of international experience.

No.	Position	Player	Nation
1	Goalkeeper	Patterson-Sewell, CalebCaleb Patterson-Sewell	United States
2	Defender	McKenzie, RauwshanRauwshan McKenzie	United States
4	Defender	Juanan, Juanan	Spain
5	Defender	Norales, ErickErick Norales	Honduras
6	Midfielder	Chávez, MarvinMarvin Chávez	Honduras
7	Forward	Forbes, BillyBilly Forbes	Turks and Caicos Islands
8	Midfielder	Gibson, TylerTyler Gibson	United States
10	Midfielder	Velásquez, SebastiánSebastián Velásquez	Colombia
13	Defender	Rhoads, HugoHugo Rhoads	United States
14	Midfielder	van Schaik, JaradJarad van Schaik	United States
19	Defender	Svantesson, IanIan Svantesson	United States
20	Midfielder	Boateng, DerekDerek Boateng	Ghana
22	Goalkeeper	Fernandes, DanielDaniel Fernandes	Portugal
27	Defender	Kimura, KosukeKosuke Kimura	Japan
31	Defender	Michel, Michel	Brazil
10	Forward	Findley, RobbieRobbie Findley	United States
—	Midfielder	Menjivar, RichardRichard Menjivar	El Salvador
—	Midfielder	Pecka, Pecka	Brazil
9	Forward	Samaras, GeorgiosGeorgios Samaras	Greece

[CDNFootballer]

Rayo OKC confirm Georgios Samaras signing

http://www.twiceacosmo.com/2016/3/10/11196320/rayo-okc-confirm-georgios-samaras-signing

 

"On Friday, one of the NASL's two expansion clubs, Rayo OKC, announced a very big name signing. Greece international Georgios Samaras has agreed to a contract with the club, and will presumably lead the line for OKC,  and be one of the more potent center forwards in North America next season."

[CDNFootballer]

New turf being installed at Rayo OKC's Miller Stadium today for Saturday's match vs FC Edmonton :

Kudos to Rayo for spending the $$$ for the new turf.

 

[CDNFootballer]

Pic of the new modular NEXXFIELD® X-GEN E2™ PRO turf at Rayo OKC's Miller Stadium :

 The new modular turf was transported from Canada to Oklahoma this week. Didn't realize until I saw the that the turf was transported from Canada but the company that provides the product is apparently a Canadian one located in Montreal.

 

Comments from some of the clubs players last night :

 

“There’s a little cushion to it, which some turf doesn’t have and there’s no black rubber particles, so it’s good.  It’s just a case of getting used to it.  I think I’ll get used to it no problem.  The ball runs good and that’s what’s important.” – Kosuke Kimura

“It’s new, so it will take a bit of time to get used to, and I’ve never played on this generation of this pitch before.  I’m not a big fan of artificial turf, but this pitch looks good and this technology looks good.” – Georgios Samaras

“Being in Europe, I’ve never played on this kind of surface before, so it’s something new, but that is not going to be any kind of excuse for me.  Everywhere I go I’m happy to play football.  It feels soft, like grass, which is good.” – Derek Boateng

[Unnamed Trialist]

They had a sell-out, 6000 odd, in a 0-0 tie.

Saw Marcena's interview afterwards as tuned in at the end. He thought Edmonton was v good. See Dani Fernandes played.

For me, if you can sell out, then you should expand your stands behind goals, since there is space there to do so. 

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Always better to wait a few games to see how they are going to draw once the novelty factor wears off, but a promising start for them.

[Unnamed Trialist]

2 hours ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Always better to wait a few games to see how they are going to draw once the novelty factor wears off, but a promising start for them.

Actually Marcina said he was pleased because OKC has a lot to offer these days, thinking about the Sooners playing Vilanova in the NCAA Final Four semis, around the same time in fact. Plus the fact that the USL OK Energy played at home last week and actually seemed to have drawn well, I can't find attendance but pics via their Twitter show at least a thousand on one stand.

5000-6000 average would be a solid NASL attendance level

[CDNFootballer]

6416 sellout, big walk up for the match, nice to see.