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MLS Notes: Joseph training with Sounders, Red Bulls sign Izquierdo, and more

By IVES GALARCEP

In one of the stranger scenes in recent memory in Major League Soccer, long-time standout midfielder Shalrie Joseph showed up at Seattle Sounders training. No trade with Chivas USA had been announced, leading to some serious head-scratching.

The Sounders revealed that Joseph is a camp invitee, with sources telling SBI that the Sounders and Chivas USA are in trade talks to send the veteran midfielder to the Pacific Northwest.

Chivas USA head coach Jose Luis Sanchez Sola stated earlier in the pre-season that Joseph was not in the team’s plans, making a trade likely, and now it appears the Sounders have moved into position to acquire the former New England Revolution star.

“It feels good to train with some guys who actually appreciate what I can bring to a team,” Joseph told The Seattle Times after Friday’s training session.

Joseph is slated to make Designated Player money in 2013, but a move to Seattle could lead to a new contract being worked on. Chivas USA could also winding up paying a portion of Joseph’s salary to make the deal work.

Here are some other notes from around MLS:

RED BULLS SIGN IZQUIERDO

The New York Red Bulls were on the market for some more midfield reinforcements, and after getting an up-close look at what Spanish midfielder Ruben Izquierdo could do in their lineup, the Red Bulls decided to make him the latest addition to the team’s roster overhaul.

The Red Bulls signed Izquierdo on Friday, bringing the former Charlton Athletic in to provide depth in  variety of attacking positions. The young and versatile Spaniard can play on either wing, and can also play as a forward or in an attacking midfield role.

Izquierdo played for the Red Bulls in their pre-season victory against Swedish side Malmo on Thursday, impressing with his quickness and technical ability.

CREW SIGN SANCHEZ

Some five years after having an Argentine playmaker lead them to an MLS Cup title, the Columbus Crew have gone back to South American for another skilled Argentine to help an attack that sorely needs a boost.

The Crew have signed former Estudiantes midfielder Matias Sanchez, inking the 25-year-old to a deal that was announced on Friday. Sanchez spent five seasons with Estudiantes, helping the club win the 2009 Copa Libertadores. Sanchez was also a member of the Argentine Under-20 national team that won the 2007 Under-20 World Cup. He started and played 90 minutes in the Under-20 World Cup Final.

QUICK KICKS

The Portland Timbers posted a 3-0 pre-season victory against FC Tucson on Friday. (REPORT).

The Montreal Impact have acquired Argentine forward Andres Fabricio Romero on loan. (REPORT)

FC Dallas beat Mexican side Atlante, 3-2 in pre-season action in Cancun, Mexico on Thursday. (REPORT)

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What do you think of these developments? See Seattle being a good fit for Joseph? Think the Red Bulls were wise sign Izquierdo. Impressed with the Crew’s ability to land a player with Sanchez’s resume?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Iam not defending chivas, but I am guessing the only ones who have issues with Chivas are white people. Trying to fill a Mexican owned team with Mexican players is not racism, its nationalism. Vergara wants his team to play like a Mexican team which doesn’t bother me because it already tells me who will be the crappiest team year. You can not play in MLS by automatically cutting away a portion of useful players, especially with all the stupid rules in this league.

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  2. Te Klose isn’t Mexican dummies. Certain white folks are quick to denigrate those who “play the race card,” but what are they doing now?

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    • The stated manifesto to fill the roster out with latinos is stupid. It’s just a way to get attention. They are a dog shit franchise that my Timbers manage to lose to 3 times last year. Only looking up this year, haha.

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  3. With all this talk of Chivas trying to make itself more Mexican, I’d be curious to know if there are actually more Latinos supporting Chivas than the Galaxy in the LA area? I’d be willing to bet when it comes to soccer, that much like anyone, Latinos are more attracted to a winning tradition that a (pseudo) ethnic tradition. It’s just silly.

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  4. i am not impressed by the wing replacements to richards and linpere. Both izquierdo and lloyd sam show few flashes of brilliance but just not enough to convince that they will be effective throughout the season. by the way the last game between Red Bulls and Malmo FF was tough to watch. I felt like Backe was still in charge of the team. Yeah the new coach petke screamed for pressing but just wasn’t happening. Henry also looks out of form. he is always holding his head down and in critique of his squad. this might be a tough season for red bull fans.

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    • Richards was traded because his contract was expiring. He didn’t want to renew he wanted to go to Europe. Lindpere although a very good player in a central player not a winger and was played out of position. Red Bulls will probably play with one winger(Lloyd) with Juninho, Cahill and McCarty occupying the other midfield slots.

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  5. The racism criticisms are getting old. The roster has plenty of non mexicans and plenty of non latinos. Chelis has been complimentary about his entire roster. It’s an interesting chapter in a sometimes boring league. As for Shalrie, he is on a big contract and looked poor last year. Is this so different from what Philly are doing with Freddy Adu? Is Hackworth being racist? My hunch is that Chivas usa ends up having more mexicans than other rosters but will also take players who fit a style that is often seen in Mexico but not stateside. Will it work? Do not know, but this is entertaining to watch. It is certainly different.
    Ps: as a sounders fan I would rather have freddy than shalrie.

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    • Yes, because there are no other black players on Philly….typical Flounder fan, can’t wait to punk you dudes in about 5 weeks. You bested us last year but this is gonna be a different chapter. Samos Timbers.

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  6. I have no problem with Chivas USA trying to play Mexican players. Its not against the law. Its also not against the law for a French restaurant to hire only French cooking staff. Chivas USA tried having mainly Mexican/Mexican Americans when the organization first started and it didn’t work to well. The problem lies in that Mexican players are expensive. It would work better with Colombian or Argentinian players. The average starter on a Mexican first division team makes 400-500k. In the Colombian and Argentinian league its maybe 100k. In the past Chivas USA had to resort to getting benchwarmers or 2nd division players. Also there was only 4 internationa slots so Chivas used some not so good Mexican Americans that wouldn’t start in MLS otherwise. There’s differences now that MLS has 3 DP’s per team and 8 international slot versus 4. We will see how the experience works.

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    • It will fail because mexicans are not inherently better than Americans. Yes hiring based on ethnicity is illegal in this country but not that I care that its illegal this is MLS, ethnic teams are some third division sh!t. If chivas wants to go to the USL and do this be my guess but chivas is a waste of an MLS franchise

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      • Your argument for why it will fail doesn’t make any sense.Your argument would go both ways, Americans are not inherently better than Mexicans. So why would the team with Mexicans fail and not any other team with Americans? Double standard much?

      • Americans are better than Mexicans, absolutely. Why else are all the best runners and jumpers and swimmers from Mexico already here? Offensive? Oh yeah baby, stupid rule and Chivas can go to hell. I want a team full of Aryan’s!!

    • Actually. Yes, it is. California employment law bans discrimination based on race, national origin, sexual orientation and religion, among other things. Look up the California Fair Housing and Employment act. Surely Chivas’ lawyers are good enough to let them cw as close to the line as possible. But a French restaurant cannot hire only French chefs, that’s obvious.

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  7. Does anyone have any idea when Houston gets their international roster slots back from RBNY?

    One of them was traded for Ricardo Clark back when Houston was still in SJ, and the other a couple of years later. According to Wikipedia, per club and media reports the slots are thought to revert this year. This shouldn’t put RBNY over the cap, though, since two of their 12 internationals have green cards.

    My Dynamo are apparently proceeding with adding Songo’o from Portland, and unless they’re packaging Watson as part of that trade, we will be out of slots as things are currently believed to stand.

    More insight anybody?

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  8. No way should we give up Estrada, Ochoa maybe. I’m not really even inclined to give up Carrasco.

    Let’s not forget Joseph is 34, I hope we dont pay him DP money.

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    • ..I agree. Joaeph was not good last year. injured and inconsistent. no way should seattle trade for him. plus he is worth a DP slot.

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  9. Why wouldn’t Chivas just let those players they do not want play out their contracts and then bring in the players they want. This way they could gradually suck more than they do now. I guess it’s no time like the present.

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  10. Can’t be a DP for us and his salary will have to go down, but I wouldn’t mind him as a CB for us. A vet with good leadership on the backline to help fill in for Parke. I like the idea, maybe give up Ochoa or Carrasco and be good. We aren’t giving up Estrada.

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      • Doubt Seattle would take that deal. Chivas would have to add allocation money to pay Joseph’s salary off-cap, and I doubt Seattle would be willing to give up more than one player and a draft pick for an older veteran. Don’t think they’d give up Carrasco. Maybe Ochoa, but maybe not… I’ll be surprised if a deal gets done…

  11. Estrada, Ochoa and especially Carrasco have to be feeling pretty nervous about now. Chivas is surely going to ask for at least one of them.

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  12. Joseph would good for Seattle but certainly not at DP money and depending on what they have to give up to get him.

    Also I think we all know what the Chivas meant when he said he didn’t fit their plans, he isn’t Latino thus he has no place here. This all Latin experiment is going to fail hard for Chivas. Frankly I won’t feel bad either, only getting people of a certain ethnic background doesn’t sit well with me

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      • This whole Chivas USA only wants Latino players thing is being way over blown. Last I checked, they don’t have a single Mexican international on the roster. They have 10-11 Americans on the team, a Canadian and a Frenchman. They might be targeting getting more Latino players but people make it sound like their entire team will be Latino. I don’t even think that’s possible with the number of Americans you need on a MLS team.

    • Its alright Chivas is shooting its self in the foot. Giving away their best players for peanuts. Their best academy prospects are white, what are they going to do with them? After Chivas finishes last this season MLS needs to kill this team. Not relocate or sell it, just kill it and never speak of it again.

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      • I could even understand a team trying to target a Latino fan base, but don’t call it Chivas. Why would a fan of Tigres support Chivas USA?

    • Chivas are a bunch of racist trash and deserved to be booted from the team.

      Why does no one else attack them over this, you know the story would be different if they said only white players!

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      • If you go to a Mexican restaurant you will probably find a lot of Mexican staff. This despite the fact that Mexican food has for decades been as American as apple pie and there’s no reason to hire Mexicans specifically. But, there’s a heritage associated with the food that makes a significant Mexican presence among the staff desireable.

        Chivas is also a Mexican brand. Trying to boost the Mexican presence on their team may not be a good way to field a half-way decent soccer team, but it’s hardly racist.

      • so, to play devil’s advocate. If there was a MLS team in Mississippi, for example, and they wanted to be all white, could they do that under their heritage and it not be racist?

      • The difference is Chivas USA can make the argument that their preference of Mexican players is tied into a stylistic preference, with Mexican players playing soccer differently than non-Mexicans in general and Americans specifically. Not sure an MLS team could make same argument for fielding all-white roster.

      • Ives,
        yes they can make that argument, but it is a racist argument. They would be implying that non-mexican, Americans, whites, blacks, Asians, etc… are not capable of playing what ever style it is they are looking for. Good thing MLB did not use the style argument for for segregated leaugues or there would still be the Negro Leagues.

      • As a whole the MLB argument lacks any weight. We are not talking about an entire league only taking Mexican players. We are talking about a team with an owner from Mexico. By no mean is he in a position of power over the entire league.

        Know your history prior to Robinson, the league, not a team, the league supported segregation.

      • If they want to make some kind of justification for their hiring processes, CUSA could always make Spanish language skills a “desireable job skill”. This would obviously keep the door open for non-Mexican Spanish speakers, including those who speak Spanish as a second language, but given the continent’s demographics, it would almost certainly result in a heavily Mexican/Mexican-American presence.

        The justification for such a desired job skill would be easy enough – “extensive comunity outreach into Spanish-speaking communities in southern California” or some such. As long as this was in fact something the players engaged in, I would see no problem with this.

        Again, probably not the best plan for a successful team, but not racist or illegal.

      • Actually that is racism because white as white people tend to label themselves is a “race” and not a “nationality”. “Mexican” is a nationality and they can be of European, African, Asian or Native American decent.

        White America needs to chill with whole reverse discrimination. Its been more like fifty years since the civil rights movement in this country, and white people are ready at any moment to use the race card on nonwhites.

      • yeah, i think whites still have another 50 years before they can talk about racial discrimination. i mean, that’s the rule. there is a rule, right?

      • That’s not what Chivas USA is doing. To use your example, it would be like the team from ole Mis using all Americans. Do you have a problem with a team using all US citizens?

      • No, because Mississippi has a substantial black population. Excluding black Mississippians from a Mississippi team would be racist.

        A more apt comparison would be Bayern Munich wanting to start an MLS team and fill it with as many Germans and German-Americans as they could. This would be making their German brand German, and harldy racist, as long as they didn’t exclude, for example, black Germans or Turkish Germans.

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