Good morning all. It’s a rainy morning on Washington D.C. and I’ll be heading back north shortly after finishing a story for ESPN.com on the struggling squad known as D.C. United.
Here are are some interesting tidbits to tide you over this morning:
Conde wants out (again)
So much for things being patched up between Wilman Conde and the Chicago Fire. ESPN reporter Pedro Gomes reported last night that Wilman Conde is frustrated with his situation and wants to leave Chicago.
How bad are things with Conde? Well, the Colombian defender stayed away from the team for most of the night and was nowhere to be found in the post-game celebration. He didn’t set foot in the Fire locker room and essentially kept to himself before the team departed. The fact that he didn’t even dress for last night’s 2-0 win against D.C. United probably didn’t help matters.
Does this mean Conde’s days with the Fire are numbered? Not necessarily. He started in this morning’s reserve match and Fire officials expressed confidence in getting Conde to buy into to staying. One thing is clear, Chicago won’t be trading him to the Red Bulls. You have a better chance of seeing a Red Bull logo replacing the Best Buy logo on the Fire uniform than seeing Conde reuniting with Juan Carlos Osorio any time soon.
Dempsey’s (not so) new deal
Remember the reports of Dempsey signing a new deal the day before Fulham’s crucial match against Birmingham. There was no new deal. According to a source close to Dempsey, Dempsey had an option year kick in after playing in his 40th match for Fulham and did NOT sign a new contract. He still has two years left on his Fulham contract and could still make a move this summer if Fulham fails to avoid relegation this weekend. Fulham can avoid relegation with a win against Portsmouth on Sunday.
No truth to Adu benching rumor
One popular rumor making the rounds among American soccer fans is that Freddy Adu has become Mr. Invisible at Benfica because the club doesn’t want him to reach perfomance and appearance totals that would kick in a large transfer bonus to Major League Soccer.
Don’t buy it.
According to sources with knowledge of Adu’s transfer, there is no truth to that rumor and Adu has simply fallen out of favor as Benfica chose to go with veterans down the stretch of what became a disappointing season for the Portuguese power. Don’t be surprised if Adu is placed on the transfer list this summer, with a move out of Portugal a real possibility. That is unless Benfica’s new manager (Sven anybody?) decides to keep Adu a serious look, which he deserves based on how well he has played in the small amount of playing time he has received.
Euro news and notes
Frank Rijkaard out, Pep Guardiola in at Barcelona. … Tomas Rosicky to miss Euro 2008. … Arsene Wenger plays down Hleb exit rumors.
Share your thoughts on any of these stories in the comments section below.
anon_e_moose…
Your impression of Adu is very different ti what Benfica fans think. He is rated as highly or higher than Di Maria and the reason for his benching wasn’t that he has been good enough. He produced when he played under Camacho.
It’s only US fans that seem to go automatically negative with this kid. The current manager said he has been a model professional under the circumstances. The general manager says he, Di Maria, and Fabio Coentrao are the future of club. Relax people.
hoya said ” Even those who “overrate” Adu didnt expect the kid to go over to Benfica and come up with 5 goals and 1 assist at a rate of a goal every 60 minutes. That there is the important thing, he was producing and producing well and then seemingly out of the blue hes benched. Actually benched isnt even the word for it. He doesnt even make the gameday squad for them anymore. Obviously a comparions to Pato is nuts but if you’ve seen this kid play for our U20s/U23s and how effective he was when Benfica actually played him idk how you could argue that he shouldnt be getting regular sub minutes right now.
As for the Di Maria thing, Adu is not a winger. He does not have the speed to “run up and down the wing” like Robinho does. He can play on the wing (and he has) but to expect him to beat out a very impressive young prospect like Di Maria while playing out of position is retarded, plain and simple.”
I think people who overrated him expected him to be better than Pato, DiMaria and a bunch of other players.
You shouldnt confuse flashes of brilliance with production/effectiveness. You know, Adu and Mantorras have a better minute/goal ratio but it is Gomes and Cardozo who are consistently more effective. But you have to watch the games to know this and not just rely on statistics.
Adu played because other guys were injured or ineffective. He got benched because other guys were consistently more effective. Adu was inconsistent. The coach didnt know what he was going to get from him every game.
Robinho wasn’t a winger either. Deco was a winger in Porto. Moutinho plays on the wing and in the centre for Sporting. These are the type of players Adu is projected to become and they can play the wing. A-Mids need to be versatile.
BTW, when Adu did play he was mostly playing as a winger/forward. Same position as DiMaria. A guy USMNT fans thought Adu was better than. So I guess your calling them retards.
So why isnt Adu playing more? Its very plain and simple. Adu is inconsistent and lacks versatility. He is simply not as good as you think he is.
Hey PanchoMiguelMoralesdeConejo.
I think you are incorrectly applying US sports logic to the Conde situation. MLS isn’t the only game in town. Soccer is a real international game.
If the Fire can’t get fair value in a MLS trade, I see the Fire attempting to sell Conde during the summer to a club in Mexico, Columbia, Europe. Then the Fire could use the allocation money to add talent without helping another club in MLS. I don’t think they are forced to “take what they can get” quite yet.
CA81 – here’s where I think you’re missing a key point. Dempsey may not be world class, but he’s a solid player. He’s also one of the key pieces on the US national team. A national team can be filled with solid players and not superstars and still get great results if the chemistry is right. If you’re American, I’d say you have every right to be conservatively optimistic about this team because of that, but if you’re not American and don’t root for the Nats, then your comment about Clint and the USA falls on deaf ears since that’s what the rest of the world has always said.
CommomSense,
Dempsey has started 16 games and came off the bench twice since Christmas. So he has appeared in 95% of Fulham’s games in the second half of the season. So stop calling me a “dolt” and an “idiot” and go look in the mirror, since you are the one who is stating false information. Try Google next time before you post. And if he is “WITHOUT QUESTION ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT US NATIONALS” as you state, then the future of Team USA is very. very bleak indeed. So, are you Clint’s mom?
Common Sense – I think you’re getting a little too emotional bra. Dempsey is a good player and I like watching him b/c he’s one of the best American field players, but he’s not a world class player. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t root for him, but he does make a lot of mistakes (at least in the games I’ve watched this year – I haven’t seen them all)
Wait a second, you said he started every game in the last 5 months. You’ve revealed yourself rather clearly, he was not playing much since Hodgson took over due to a variety of factors, he has only recently regained his starting place.
That just so happens to correlate with Fulham’s recent ressurgance.
What an incredible coincidence you dolt. Maybe have some idea of what you’re talking about before you spout off at the mouth.
Seriously, you are either lying, and haven’t been watching (which seems the likely choice considering you didn’t even know Dempsey was out of favor for awhile) or you just don’t understand the game, because Dempsey has been consistently rated one of the better players during their recent run of good form, and was the lone bright spot through much of the first half.
“McBride and Bullard came back after long absences due to injury and immediately have made a huge impact. Dempsey has done nothing for this team in the last five months while starting every game. If you think Dempsey is a very good player, then you are the one who needs to be given a lesson on the basics of the sport because its obvious you know nothing. Ive watched that guy blow chance after chance in front of goal, and he creates nothing from midfield except turning the ball over when trying to take players on. Hell even Stalteri is more useful in attack, he atleast gets up and down the wing and puts in some useful crosses. Maybe you’re just overrating him because he’s a Yank, and there are only a small handful of high quality Yank players so you just dont know any better.”
Wow, I guess leading the team in scoring is providing “nothing”. I guess being the most effecient passer of the ball on the team in the past 4 games is providing “nothing”. I guess fighting for the shirt as hard as any man on the team, leaving dozens of games dirty and battered is “nothing”.
You sir, have no idea what this game is about. You’re obviously oblivious to actual events that take place on the field, because Clint has rarely turned over the ball (far less than your man Bullard) in recent games.
He has more goals on the side than two strikers that get frequent international starts, Healy and Kamara. He was the only player to provide anything while Bullard and McBride were injured
AND HE’S WITHOUT QUESTION ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT US NATIONALS.
If you fail to grasp that, I’ll call you what you are, a freaking moron.
@Posted by: kpugs | May 09, 2008 at 10:17 AM
What exactly are we going to break out the ‘wahhhhmbulance’ for? The fact that we have an all-star caliber centerback who is 4th on the depth chart who we could get a small fortune (by MLS standards) for and improve the league leading team even more or that we’ve given up 3 goals all year with him buried on the bench?
I think you should check the mirror if you wanna see the waaahhh squad, Chief. We’ll be competing for trophies once again, you’ll be competing for the rights to the best excuses as to why you have failed with RSL once again this year. Toronto is better than you right now by the way. The 2nd year team run by Mo Johnston. Mo f’n Johnston. You need to focus energy elsewhere like figuring out why RBNY/Metrostars are 0-fer forever in the titles department.
re the Dempsey bashing: he has 6 goals on a team that was missing it’s creative midfield force (Bullard) and best strike partner (McBride) pretty much all year while being teamed with what can only be called cut rate footballers. The fact that he has any goals with what he has to work with is nothing short of miraculous.
I’m just clinging to hope (LOL) that the benching of Adu will cause Altidore to think long and hard about a European transfer. Hopefully he’ll want to continue to play, which he will do in NY.
Hey CommomSense
McBride and Bullard came back after long absences due to injury and immediately have made a huge impact. Dempsey has done nothing for this team in the last five months while starting every game. If you think Dempsey is a very good player, then you are the one who needs to be given a lesson on the basics of the sport because its obvious you know nothing. Ive watched that guy blow chance after chance in front of goal, and he creates nothing from midfield except turning the ball over when trying to take players on. Hell even Stalteri is more useful in attack, he atleast gets up and down the wing and puts in some useful crosses. Maybe you’re just overrating him because he’s a Yank, and there are only a small handful of high quality Yank players so you just dont know any better.
Clever kpugs, good to see that New Jersey fans are still so clever and original. Moron. You just plagiarized the biggest idiot in the world – yourself.
The question is not why would Chicago want C. Klein, but why they would continue to pony up $160K for an unhappy Conde when they are winning without him? I think John has better insight than most MLS GMs.
Klein is very servicable. A better than average MLS RB who links very well and makes smart runs, (see the Beckham goal #1 last week when it was Klein who opened up the late with a run, as well the Houston game when it was Klein who threaded a diagonal pass to set up Beckhams assist to Donavon) However, if I’m the Gals, I’m not sure I want Conde unless it is in exchange for Xavier.
Dempsey has not been playing forward since McBride’s return, he’s been playing LM or RM. His job is no longer to bag goals, but to facilitate the offense. His passing has been sublime, he’s gotten himself in dangerous positions and has really fought on defense.
I’d like him to get a goal or two, but all players have poor runs of form, and considering he’s no longer in front of goal often, I’m not surprised that his goal tally has dried up.
Fact is, he’s one of the best players available to a top 20 National Team.
Fact is, he’s been one of Fulham’s best players all year.
To see his progression from a flair, inconsistent wing and occasional withdrawn forward/am to an all-around, Premiership quality player at multiple positions has been fantastic.
If you’re saying Dempsey is average, it’s also an indictment of our “average” US team.
Top 20 isn’t average, especially considering his play for the US team, I find it impossible to understand such a sentiment.
He’s not world-class by any stretch, he’ll never be. He is Premiership quality, he’s one of the best players on his team and has really helped the team.
In my mind much of his poor form in the middle of the season has to do with his exhaustion after playing 90 minutes every game, many as a target forward AND playing significant minutes for the US MNT.
You can see him starting EVERY game in Fulham’s recent revival, he’s been a key cog in facilitating the offense, in my mind his lack of dribbling defenders is actually a good thing. We know it’s in his repertoire, but his job is to help the side, not make slick moves. He’s becoming a smarter player, and working well within Hodgson’s system which seems to rely heavily on quick, intelligent ball movement.
While I’m not saying Bullard has been instrumental in the club since his return, he and Murphy have had a lot of problems turning over possession cheaply, Dempsey has not.
Quite frankly, if you think Clint Dempsey is “terrible”, you’re stupid. I call it like I see it.
Guys…no one is an idiot because they disagree with you, or have another opinion.
The idiot discussions are on Big Soccer. I believe insults are welcome there.
CA81 makes a point.
Dempsey has not made the contributions we would expect since Christmas. Of the games I have watched, I have not seen Dempsey’s 1v1 skill change anything in a game. He is defended well by his opponents. He falls down a lot and appears to be pushed off the ball rather easily. He has been known to foul opponents in the wrong place. I believe one game, he got pulled off after he did it.
He does make the nice pass and his off the ball movement has been good, but the final touch in front of goal is lacking right now. Like I said, I have not seen him win the 1v1 battles he did here in MLS.
and you’re a very poor judge of talent, at best.
Six goals, playing the target role for the first time, is pretty damn good. He hasn’t scored in quite sometime, but he’s also been pushed back into the midfield and has looked very good as of late. He’s been great for the US team as well.
If you think Dempsey is average, at best, you know nothing of football and you should immediately stop watching the sport. It’s a waste of your time.
Dempsey may not be amazing but he’s a good player and he scored 6 goals playing as a striker, gotta show something. He’s still adjusting to the Premier League and i expect greater things next season. Now Freddy, real good player. Hopefully Ericksson leads Benfica and can get Adu to rocket up his play.
“Yea, the player who has scored 9 goals for the US, against some of the biggest clubs (Ghana WC, England, Brazil) is crap. LOL.
The player that saved Fulham’s season last year is crap. LOL.
The leading scorer, who has played all over the field for Fulham, is crap. LOL.
You sir, are a freaking idiot.”
Posted by: CommonSense | May 09, 2008 at 01:13 PM
WOW! 6 goals this year ,what a world beater. Ive watched most of Fulhams games this year and hes terrible. He hasnt scored a goal since Christmas, I don’t see him saving Fulham this year. It’s a good thing McBride and Bullard came back to carry the weight of that team, cause Clint Dempsey sure wasn’t gonna do it. Hes’ average at best
@guillermo
The Fire may not want Klein, and ask for allocation $ for Conde… but Klein’s a servicable MLS midfielder.
Chicago is pretty deep (by MLS standards) everywhere except midfield (the starters are terrific, not much on the bench). Klein could provide another option off the bench, rather than maintaining Conde on the roster as 5th choice center half.
”
Dempsey is crap. He’s one of the most overrated american players. He should probably stay at Fulham because no one else will want him outside of MLS
Posted by: CA81 | May 09, 2008 at 12:56 PM
”
Yea, the player who has scored 9 goals for the US, against some of the biggest clubs (Ghana WC, England, Brazil) is crap. LOL.
The player that saved Fulham’s season last year is crap. LOL.
The leading scorer, who has played all over the field for Fulham, is crap. LOL.
You sir, are a freaking idiot.
and I’m sorry, but there has to be something more to this Adu situation. There’s no decent explanation for the benching of one of their brightest young stars early in the season. The kid scores 5 goals in sub minutes, leaves and absolutely lights up U23 qualifications and returns to a struggling team badly in need of goals.
and he sits?
WTF?!?!?
Anon:
Even those who “overrate” Adu didnt expect the kid to go over to Benfica and come up with 5 goals and 1 assist at a rate of a goal every 60 minutes. That there is the important thing, he was producing and producing well and then seemingly out of the blue hes benched. Actually benched isnt even the word for it. He doesnt even make the gameday squad for them anymore. Obviously a comparions to Pato is nuts but if you’ve seen this kid play for our U20s/U23s and how effective he was when Benfica actually played him idk how you could argue that he shouldnt be getting regular sub minutes right now.
As for the Di Maria thing, Adu is not a winger. He does not have the speed to “run up and down the wing” like Robinho does. He can play on the wing (and he has) but to expect him to beat out a very impressive young prospect like Di Maria while playing out of position is retarded, plain and simple.
CA81, don’t hold back, tell us what you really think, and please dont sugar coat it
Dempsey is crap. He’s one of the most overrated american players. He should probably stay at Fulham because no one else will want him outside of MLS
Maybe some people just overrated Adu, mostly those foolish enough to think Adu was better than Pato because of a few games last summer. I think people should lower their expectations or just calm down. You know, Nani barely played for Sporting when he was 18.
The fact is Adu was never going to get consistent minutes in the CAM role this year, maybe next year when Rui Costa is retired. But he did have ample opportunity though to take the RM job from another youngster, Angel DiMaria. That may not be his best position but Robinho doesnt seem to have a problem runnin up and down the wing for Real. If Adu was really that good he would be playing instead of DiMaria.
BTW, Fabio Coentrao, a Benfica youngster on loan, scored two goals against Porto last week.
After seven weeks, Hamlett is coach of the “year”. Not just because Chicago is winning, but because of the way they play, they are obviously well coached.
Why would the fire want Chris Klein?
As a Red Bull fan I would not want Conde. Can someone tell Conde that Chicago is #1 in the standings and he hasn’t played a game. So by the looks of it, is he needed sounds like a big “NO”. Looks like the Fire were not bad off hiring a new coach.
Your top two stories today should be sending the offices in Los Angeles into overdrive. Although, given the competency of Lalas and Bravo, I’m confident they haven’t…
(1) Chris Klein ($190k) to Chicago for Conde ($156k).
(2) Draft pick to New York for the MLS rights to Brunner — sign him to a senior roster spot ($33k).
(3) Waive Troy Roberts ($33k) to make room on the senior roster.
(4) Waive Abel Xavier ($156k), because he sucks and his cap figure matches Conde’s.
(5) Use the $190k balance to sign another internationl center half in the upcoming window.
Make those moves, and get a healthy Jazic back, and the worst defense in the league suddenly becomes decent.
Who is Wilman Conde?
Seriously, Conde has zero leverage to angle for a trade. He is pretty much rounding out the numbers in Chicago now and making a fool of himself in the process. Chicago also has the cap room to let him rot on the bench, which it appears is going to happen. Good for the Fire not bending to some arrogant, prima dona’s demands.
Benfica is a mess. Adu has been there less than a year and he has had 3 coaches already. Camacho, the previous coach, who Adu had to win over after having been brought in by Coach #1, quits mid stream saying “I don’t know how to motivate these guys” or something to that effect. So now Coach #3 goes 2-3-3 without Adu in the games, and Benfica falls from 2nd place to 4th and out of CL.
The coaching carousal has to become settled if Adu has any shot at winning over a coach. I’ve no idea if Ericcson is a coach who develops young talent.
On the bright side, looks like I get a trip to Europe for the Spain game, would’ve loved Wembly…but that is a much tougher ticket.
Who is Freddy Adu????
Dempsey clarified the contract situation himself in the podcast interview on US soccer. Said exactly what you reported there.
Ives,
thank you for trying to get to the bottom of Adu’s situation a Benfica, i can’t believe that someone else in the US soccer media hasn’t tried to get down to what the problem is there, its clearly a very weird situation given Adus failure to get a single minute since the olympics quals despite good form both at Benfica earlier in the year and the Olympic qualifiers
I’d put more stock in Conde’s complaints if it weren’t for the fact that the Fire is playing lights-out D without him. He needs to realize that sometimes you’re going to get outplayed and have to ride the pine. Complaining about not being one of the best 11 on the team won’t get you into the starting lineup.
He’s making the situation worse for himself by complaining. I don’t think Hamlett, or any coach for that matter, wants to be seen as a guy who will cave to crying players. Conde has basically forced Hamlett’s hand to continue to bench him for the next game so it doesn’t look like he’s letting his players call the shots.
After all this talk about Conde, I think it’s for the best he’s not with RBNY.
I still dont believe the Adu situation, and no one knows the truth unless they know the President or the Board members. Why not give your young players the chance to play and get more used to the league and make your team better for next season. Adu was doing a good job off the bench, and could have helped them a lot more if they used him. I do see him moving on to England. I will say again they are not playing him to save the money to use on summer transfers.
i was a firm believer b/f that the fire should hold onto conde. after seeing the team play and the depth they have at defense, i’d be happy to see them trade him if they can get equal value. he isn’t playing, so he isn’t very needed. even if we suffer injuries, we still have robinson, brown, marmol and others. plus, when he has played, he’s been half the player he was last year. he’s probably out of shape and unmotivated, so what good does he do sitting on the bench at this point? get some cash, allocation $, dp slot and/or 1st round draft picks. i do agree w/not sending him to the eastern conference though.
“a source close to Dempsey” aka a microphone
How dumb is Conde?
The main reasons he’s not playing are:
1. The team is playing well without him, and the defense in particular has been very good with him sitting where he is.
2. He had a tummy ache that kept him out of last weeks match.
3. He needs to shut his mouth and wait his turn. He is taking every opportunity to whine like a baby to anyone who will listen.
If he would learn to stop crying and conduct himself like a professional he might work his way back in to favor. He’s screwing himself, since they’ve already told him he’s not going anywhere.
Ben,
They do have a history of that, but they’ve also had a lot of turmoil within the club this season and right now sit 4th in the table (a travesty at Benfica). With how well Adu played early in the season, it may be a blessing in disguise that he is not associated with the poor results they’ve had to close the season out.
Also on a somewhat related note, as a Man City supporter it kills me to see the treatment of Sven (and now Benfica trying to lure him away) after a succesful season. I had given up hope that we would retain him…. until I got to work this morning and read on Manchester Evening News that City is in the front runner spot to land the UEFA Fair Play spot into the 1st round of the UEFA Cup next season.
If this comes to fruition we had better retain SGE… we should also change our club motto to “We may finish 9th in the table but damned if we’re not fantastic people.”
Benfica does develop young talent. It kinda takes a little patience to do that though.
3 GOALS AGAINST IN 7 GAMES…..Conde who?
wasn’t adu’s reason for going to benfica was they develop young talent?
Wishlist:
Dempsey to Everton to partner with Pienaar, Bradley, Cahill, and Arteta.
Solid.
I doubt that Adu will be heading out of Portugal, especially out of Benfica. He is one of the fan favorites there. This close source of yours is quite suspicious. Does he happens to be the FORMER agent of Adu?
anyone who keeps up with the Fire know that Conde is not happy, and that some of the players even after his apology didn’t accept it. I hope they sell him in summer because I do feel for the guy even if he is a whiny girl
“WAAAAAHHH!!!!!!”–my impression of Chicago Fire fans after reading this
I hate any Premiership-related news. Clubs issue falsehoods in press releases. No wonder the tabloids have no problem fabricating their own news, absolutely no one over there is ever held accountable for this crap. I’d cite their lack of journalistic integrity, but it’s not just the media over there that is responsible, even if they are MOSTLY responsible.