Good afternoon folks. Apologies for the lack of posts today but I was tending to other aspects of the site, as well as finishing off an ESPN.com piece on Amado Guevara that should run later today.
There was big response to yesterday’s post on the Fire-Red Bulls situation and I felt like I needed to make one thing clear. Yesterday’s post had ZERO to do with the current situations with Wilman Conde and Lider Marmol. I have no problem with anything the Fire is doing on either front there. Conde is their player and it is their right not to trade him. Also, with Marmol, it is their right to want to try and sign him. After having spoken with Fire officials about Marmol in the recent past I believe their interest in the player is genuine, even though Marmol’s interest in playing for the Fire is pretty non-existent.
If I were a betting man I would bet good money that Marmol doesn’t play in MLS in 2008. I’ll get into more detail on that situation next week.
Back to yesterday’s post.
The three items that people should have noted in the piece were the escape clause in Osorio’s Fire contract, the fact that the Fire courted Osorio behind the backs of Millonarios and the news that Guppy had been in touch with Osorio before he fired Dave Sarachan. I didn’t recall any of these items being written about before (though the previous two were widely-believed to have happened. I am here to confirm that they did.)
And no, the post wasn’t an attempt to stir up the hornet’s nest that is the Fire-Red Bulls rivalry, but rather to follow up on a situation that Fire owner Andrew Hauptman brought to light recently. Hopefully it will be the last we hear about this situation.
I will get back to cranking out the posts shortly so keep an eye out for Soccer on TV, some more Q&A, a You Write the Caption (assuming I can find a good photo) as well as some other tidbits before the day is through.