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Grella enjoys career day with four goals in Brentford win

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photo by Marc Atkins/ISIphotos.com

Mike Grella hasn't been lighting up the scoreboards ever since making the move to Europe in 2009, but that wasn't the case on Tuesday.

Grella enjoyed a career day by scoring four goals in Brentford's 6-0 win over rival Bournemouth in the quarterfinals of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Grella scored his first goal of the season in the first half before netting three times in the second.

The four-goal, 90-minute outing is likely to boost Grella's confidence while also helping his chances of seeing more minutes for Brentford in its League One season.

What do you think of Grella"s four-goal performance? Expecting more of that from him now that he's opened his account this season?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Perhaps I am just biased (I too was born in Glen Cove, NY), but I have been saying for a long time that Grella is a vastly underrated forward who, if given proper playing time, could develop into a quality footballer. It was very frustrating to see him being denied quality minutes at Leeds, when he had apparently showed the club so much promise in scrimmages and training. Hopefully this will open the door for Mike Grella to get a legitimate chance to showcase his skills with a League One side… Good luck, Grella!

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  2. Can’t an attaboy just be an attaboy.

    There is nothing in the article that gives it the prominence of ‘breaking news.’ In other words. Lighten up, guys.

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  3. Don’t gread too much into Grella’s performance. The Johnstone Paints Trophy is a much-milgned competition in which a lot of squad-rotation takes place in games clubs’ often see as a necessary evil – until the semi-finals and a prospective day out in North London at least!

    Brentford’s win on paper is impressive – though you would be foolish to use any JPT fixture as future guide to team or individual potential.

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  4. Four goals in one game is what is big news. Four goals for anyone, even Thierry Henry in MLS, would be big news. MLS and League One are pretty similar in quality and pay so I think this is certainly worthy of a headline on the USA’s best soccer blog.

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  5. Dont forget John Obrien and Claudio Reyna. Only Donovan and Dempsey from the current squad can compare with those names.

    It is a bit depressing but at the moment the current top attacking talent is well behind what we had in 2002. I will agree that the “base of the pyramid” seems much larger, so lets hope that pays off in a few years.

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  6. So true. Our best striker happens to be a guy of only 22 who is sometimes inconsistent playing for a good team in Holland. Our 2nd and 3rd choices play in 2nd Bundesliga and a small club in Mexico.

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  7. While I agree it’s a bit sad, and no, he’s no US Nats prospect, in 2002 we had McBride, and a 20 y.o. LD with Mathis off the bench. (Plus JMM). I think any USA fan would gladly trade our current crop of forwards for that group. The width of the base in US soccer talent is far larger than it was 10 years ago, but the peak of the pyramid is no higher, at best. It is what it is.

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  8. Shows you how sad the state of the game is in our country… On one of the “premier” if not the only “premier” u.s. soccer blog, a striker in his mid 20’s playing in England’s 3rd division is “big news”??? I mean really are we the U.S. 2002 world cup quarter finalists, 2n round 2010, or are we Azerbijan??

    (SBI-Who said it was “big news”? It was news, so we passed it on. Lighten up.)

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  9. This is good news though even if it’s only League One, which is below even Sweden’s top division. always glad to see an american score

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  10. he’s pretty much League 1 caliber at the moment, perhaps he improves and is Championship caliber but no way is he 1st division status anywhere outside of the Baltics

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  11. average player in MLS earns around $75-80k a season. The pay is comparable to MLS but the league is slightly below MLS’s style of play

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  12. It’s just a different game. League One matches are much more of a grind than anything else. Teams like Brighton (last campaign) and Huddersfield are attacking dynamos and really well organized — they’d probably finish right towards the top of MLS. As for payment, it all depends. A lot of it is guesswork since most deals are kept under wraps (no CBA or anything). Tons of League One’s top talent, though, is comprised of players on loan from larger clubs who are on Premiership and Championship contracts (but generally first professional contracts…so not HUGE. Nevertheless, larger than 85% of MLS deals). It’s my guess that Grella is making around twice as much as he could fetch in MLS.

    I’m a Brentford supporter, and we’re very much a team in transition under Uwe Rosler. I’ve been waiting for us to get some young American talent and I couldn’t ask for much more than Grella. Glad he’s finally gotten on the scoresheet so SBI covers him because he’s been a revelation at Griffin Park.

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  13. so I’ve seen this guy covered on this site for years but never seen him play. Does anyone think he’s a legit prospect to play top flight ball?

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  14. Bournemouth was in contention for promotion to the Championship last year, but they slipped at the end of the season. They’re down in the table this year though. I am a Cherry fan, I have been there to see them live.

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  15. I wonder how bad bournemouth must be…brentford hadn’t been scoring (or winning) much….grella should’ve stayed to play in mls….he probably would’ve had more minutes and been in a better position to move to europe….granted i haven’t seen him play so I am assuming he is good enough to be playing more than he has the last couple seasons….

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