Good morning folks. As you can tell, it has been a pretty slow week as MLS clubs go through the paces in pre-season camps. There is always some news to go over. I have a few tidbits for you but before I get those I will address a rumor that has picked up way more steam than it needed to.
Stop of you’ve seen this scenario play out. Some non-descript website throws up a completely baseless rumor only to have it picked up by other, slightly more respectable websites. Before you know it a rumor that should never have seen the light of day is running rampant. This is the case with Colombian forward Wason Renteria, who has been "linked" to the Red Bulls.
Folks, common sense should have killed this rumor early on but some people just don’t follow the world’s game enough to realize the absurdity of the Renteria rumor. He is a 22-year-old Colombian national team striker who just happens to be doing very well in the French first division while on loan from Portuguese power FC Porto. His form with the national team and French club Strasbourg has him rated as one of the more exciting young players in South America.
What scenario would have to play out for Renteria to the Red Bulls to even be a possibility? Well, you start with the Red Bulls freeing up a designated player slot, which isn’t happening (If Reyna were going to retire he would have done so by now). Even if that did take place, the Red Bulls would need MLS to essentially ignore its own policy on the size of transfers MLS teams can pay for a player. The league policy is to not allow large transfer payments (there were no big transfers involved in either the Beckham, Angel or Blanco deals). Now, once you’ve managed to free up the DP slot and get MLS to change its rules, you would then need to convince the 22-year-old Renteria that his career would be better served by playing in MLS rather than the French or Portuguese first divisions.
Doesn’t seem realistic does it?
Now for some real news:
Galaxy looking at Brazilian- His name is Alvaro Henrique Alves Pires, but you can call him Alvaro. The Brazilian defensive midfielder is in LA Galaxy camp and making a good impression. The Galaxy need a quality defensive midfield option and the 23-year-old product of Brazilian power Internacional has shown good skill despite looking a bit out of shape. With a nickname like "The Buffalo", Alvaro probably isn’t going to get much smaller.
Another interesting note about Alvaro? He last played with Russian club Spartak Nalchik. Yes, the same club former Seton Hall star Eliseo Giusfredi is trying to latch on with. Admit it, you never in your life heard of Spartak Nalchik before this week.
LA wouldn’t be the first MLS club to sign a Brazilian this winter. FC Dallas signed midfielder Andre Rocha on Tuesday.
In other LA news, the Galaxy is also stepping up its efforts to acquire a veteran defender. Sources in Los Angeles suggest that Portuguese defender Abel Xavier is showing his age while another pending development is expected to leave the Galaxy’s defense even worse off. Stay tuned for more on that. On the bright side, rookie defenders Sean Franklin and Julian Valentin have been very impressive in camp.
Angulo suffers knee injury– New Jersey product and New England Revolution trialist Jose Angulo has suffered a torn meniscus and could miss up to a month. Angulo suffered the injury early in the Revs training camp. The injury will not require surgery and Angulo has joined New England on its pre-season trip to Bermuda. He has yet to sign a contract with New England.
In other Revs-related news, former Rev Andy Dorman scored the game-winner for St. Mirren in the Scottish Cup on Wednesday. St. Mirren won 1-0.