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FC Dallas sign Mexican defender Duilio Davino

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                                                                                         Photo by ISI Photos

FC Dallas has completed the signing of long-time Mexican national team defender Duilio Davino at a press conference today. A veteran of ‘El Tri’ with 84 caps and a place on the 1998 Mexican World Cup squad, Davino is expected to step in and give FC Dallas the type of central defense anchor it has been lacking for years.

According to soures, Davino will not count as a designated player but the club sees the 31-year-old as a potential draw for Mexican fans in the area. A long-time standout for Mexican club America before leaving the club last season, Davino brings the type of leadership and toughness needed in an FC Dallas back-line that conceded 44 goals, second-most among all MLS playoff teams.

Davino is expected to step in and fill the void left by the departure of central defender Clarence Goodson, who was selected by San Jose in the expansion draft. Goodson has been called up to the current U.S. national team camp.

What do you think FC Dallas fans? Is Davino the answer? Are you still trying to figure out why the club let Goodson go? Are you just happy the Denilson contract was only one year? Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I’m not massively informed about the guy, but I give a thumbs up to anything that looks like it will improve the defending in MLS.

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  2. Davino is a solid defender and excellent passer (he’s going to stop and start alot). Super signing!

    I liked watching Denilson dancing around out there, too bad he couldn’t stay for less pay.

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  3. If he is being paid between 1m and 750K as noted by vreleven how can Davino not be a DP?

    The Red Bulls need to find a veteran CB who will not occupy a DP slot as well.

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  4. Matt: maybe it’s different for a defensive player, but when Paco Palencia was on Chivas, he was quite a draw. And obviously Blanco has been a big draw for Chicago.

    I’m REALLY curious about who this Columbus DP target is.

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  5. Just ran into two interesting stories before heading off to bed:

    1) Columbus is not only wanting to keep their DP, they might actually use it. I imagine that Glidden money is pushing this one along. Any idea who it may be?

    http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2008/01/09/crew.html

    2) Houston is inching closer to get its own stadium. Unfortunately, it’ll most likely add to the cookie-cutter AEG collection of SSS stadia. I’ve linked the short blog entry by Bernardo Fallas, the Dynamo’s beat writer. He’s really quite good for those unaquainted.

    http://blogs.chron.com/soccer/archives/2008/01/dynamo_stadium.html

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  6. I doubt too many Mexicans will show just because one Mexican is on the field. Look at Chivas USA and their troubles with attendance.

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  7. I wish Goodson would have stayed in Dallas and develop his skill in Dallas. Davino was not good enough in club America anymore that’s why they let him go. Me personally like to see prospects rather then old beat up folks that really don’t bring much to the league.

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  8. According to ESPN Deportes radio, he-Davino- is being paid in the neighborhood of 1M and 750K.
    He was interviewed and gave the usual lines about how happy he’s about being here. The hosts were certain that Davino consulted with Cuahtemoc Blanco before agreeing to his two year contract.
    I hope, like many others, he succeeds and helps Dallas achieve their goals.

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  9. Why doesn’t CA want him any more and why is he willing to play for 125K or so? I think he can help but there more wrong with Dallas and one Centerback. Goodson was great and now he’s in the national team pool but it looks like he always set on going to Europe so good luck to him.

    Ives, where is Goodson going? I’m certain it’s not SJ.

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  10. He’s going to make a great addition to the FC Dallas defense. I’ve seen him play a number of times and he’ll undoubtedly be a top 5, top 3 maybe, defender in the league.

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  11. I don’t have any deep insight about Davino, but the first thing that immediately comes to mind is how Chivas USA, in three seasons, has unspectacularly failed at cornering the MLS market on Mexican talent as it clearly set out to do when it first came into existence.

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  12. As long as he’s being paid close to 200k/year this should be great! He’s a popular, skilled leader, at good price and at a position of need. The antithesis of the Denilson signing.

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  13. ^
    From Ives’ post:

    “According to soures, Davino will not count as a designated player but the club sees the 31-year-old as a potential draw for Mexican fans in the area.”

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  14. Glad so see a team us it’s DP slow, impressed that it’s a defender! Not all the teams need a flash DP. If we could leave that to LA and NY and get every other team to get a quality DP based on need, it could do wonders for MLS.

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  15. cosmic and Marlon, both of you should know if you’ve lived in communities with large Mexican populations, as I assume both of you have, that Mexicans aren’t gonna give a crap about those players just because they are Latino, unless they are already well known in Mexico.

    Would Germans come out to see a Swiss player just because they speak the same language and have certain cultural similarities? Maybe some would, but it would not bring out the masses. This signing is about getting the large Mexican fan base who skips live MLS games in order to stay home and watch their countrymen play in the Mexican league.

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  16. yes, I know they’re not mexican (I am mexican-american), but they are attractive personalities in the local spanish-language media, with futbol credibility based on their latin background.

    I think it’s a bit like the northern transplants and baseball- no matter how long they live in DFW they still only go to the Rangers games to see “their” team i.e the Yankees (although given how the Rangers suck…). How many Yankee fans would come out all the time if they signed Jeter here? I’m not sure many.

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  17. it doesn’t matter that they aren’t mexican. alvarez’s parents are salvadorean like mine and just because of that they watch dallas now. the thing is to bring in the latinos to mls not just mexicans.

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  18. Seems like a pretty reasonable capture on FCDs part, should make a pretty decent team more solid. Hopefully we will be hearing about Toronto signing SOMEONE respectable soon.

    Theres been talks in the forums (ech, hardly a good source) of us possibly signing brazilian attacking mid Roger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Galera_Flores)

    Looks like a decent/realistic enough signing. Defo a slot we need filled…

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  19. I think big time fans of Club America will definitely flock to see Davino…however, this does not mean many. Regarding Cosmic’s comment – Toja, Alvarez and Ruiz are not Mexican; rather Colombian, American, and Guatemalan, so there is no reason for Mexican fans to flock to see FC Dallas.

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  20. Don’t know much about him but it seems like a good pick up.
    I’m just impressed with the ongoing string of SBI news today. Awesome stuff.

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  21. absolutely necessary and welcome…good job FCD! As for the Mexican fans, they’re very fickle in Dallas and have never embraced the team (as opposed to Houston). The location of PHP hurts but is far from the only reason. If Toja, Alvarez, Ruiz, et al don’t bring in the Mexican fans than this one can’t make a huge difference. Despite our annual disappointment, this is an attractive team to watch and support.

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  22. 31 (will be 32 at the start of the season) is still quite young for a defender, and for someone with his experience, non-DP, I don’t think there are any drawbacks to this transfer.

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