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Jaqua “close” to Houston return

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                                                               Photo by ISIphotos.com

Nate Jaqua is in advanced discussions with Major League Soccer about a new contract, with a team source confirming the negotiations and another source saying the two sides are "close" to a deal that would return Jaqua to the Houston Dynamo, which he helped win MLS Cup last season.

Jaqua left MLS on a free transfer after last season and spent half a season with Austrian club SCR Altach. He scored five goals 10 matches for the Austrian Bundesliga strugglers before becoming a free agent again.

The Dynamo could sure use Jaqua’s services. The defending champions have scored just 17 goals in 16 matches, second fewest in the Western Conference and fourth fewest in MLS. Jaqua produced six goals and two assists in 15 regular season matches for Houston last season and could slide right next to Brian Ching in the starting lineup.

Jaqua isn’t the only target on the Dynamo’s radar. Houston is poised to make one or two moves this summer in order to bolster the squad and could add two forwards (with Jaqua being one) in the upcoming transfer window.

What do you think of Jaqua returning to Houston? Could he be the missing link to helping revive a flat Dynamo attack? Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Jordan:

    Thanks for the info. Never heard this. Too much money? This sounds odd. I can’t recall such a thing ever having come up before.

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  2. Aristotle-

    Noonan wanted to return to the league. Columbus wanted him, agreed to a transfer fee with his club and agreed with New England on appropriate compensation but MLS nixed it because they felt Columbus was going to pay Noonan too much money

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  3. Jaqua was a sketchy striker in Chicago. At times he looked to have skill and others he just looked like a bum. How many opportunities did he blow because he only has faith in one foot?

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  4. I like adding Jaqua again but it is a step towards a solution, not the solution itself.

    Jaqua worked pretty well the other players last year and even with Ching when they were in together. We still don’t have a real speed element but if he scores 5 or 6 goals the rest of the way it is a good pickup.

    We also need depth for the CCC games during midweeks in September and October so at least we have another competent forward to slot in there.

    As to how a team with all this “talent” can struggle to score, I think if you look at the Dynamo since they moved to Houston, there a few times a year they get on great runs but also long stretches of 0-0 and 1-0 games. Everyone is a little older and teams are more adjusted to Kinnear’s 4-4-2. Tactically, just about every team uses the same defending philosophy, especially at Houston, and the Dynamo don’t have the upfront speed to defeat the tactics.

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  5. Jaqua’s a decent enough player and could probably help Houston. But his style is so similar to Ching’s…wouldn’t Dynamo be better served, on balance, by finding someone quicker and/or shiftier to play off the target man? Jaqua can’t do what Ngwenya did.

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  6. On another note, I can’t believe the quantity of mediocre MLS players that are making moves to Europe. Noonan, Ngwenya and Clarence Goodson were all good but hardly great MLS players that now ply their trades in the lesser European leagues.

    But Kyle Veris, Greg Dalby, Troy Perkins, Matt Allen, Bryan Arguez, Clint Mathis, Luis Robles? C’mon! Even Adrian Cann and Cam Weaver from USL1 are in Europe.

    But I guess even the lower leagues of Europe pay better than MLS and USL1.

    However, I would not take that to say that they contain better players.

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  7. Jaqua’s a decent player but I’m not sold that he’s the answer. His 15 games in Houston (where he scored about 5 goals)was the best three months of his career. I just don’t see him carrying the team.

    He was pretty much a stiff in LA.

    Ngwenya would have been a more complete player but I guess Houston adding Jaqua couldn’t hurt.

    How a team that has De Rosario, Ching, Brad Davis, Mullen and Rico Clark on it can’t score is beyond me.

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  8. Jaqua made $100,000 for his 6 months in Austria.

    Jaqua is the real winner here. I wonder if he could make that kind of scratch in MLS? I doubt it, because MLS is cheap.

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  9. I’ll go out on a limb here and say that the reason that Jaqua didn’t “stick” and is returning is because he stinks. He showed potential and never developed while he was with MLS. Now it didn’t work out for him with an Austrian league team. Who knows about the goals? Maybe they were garbage goals and he was just lucky to be in the right place, and maybe other than those fortunate(?) goals he was awful.

    We’ve had a lot of players in MLS who showed a lot of potential but never developed, but a few eventually did. Ngwenya and especially Buddle come to mind as having finally found their game. I still believe Noonan will make it as a good player, but I don’t think Jaqua is going to make it as anything special. He didn’t do much for Houston before he left, so he probably won’t be much better in his return.

    Jordan:

    Pat Noonan is returning to MLS?

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  10. That’s sad that Nate wasn’t in Euro for a full season. It’s a bummer when some Americans can’t hack it in Europe.

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  11. Noonan is still under contract and MLS would have to pay Aaleseund a transfer fee for Noonan. On the other hand, Jaqua is a free agent; thus, Houston can get him on a free tranfer.

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  12. Why will MLS let this go but Columbus cant get Pat Noonan when he wants to return to MLS and the Crew are willing to compensate New England? WTF

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  13. Ives it would be great for you to give us more background on Jaqua’s return. Why didn’t he latch on with another team? Why didn’t he stay with the Austrian team?

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  14. He should find another club in Europe. 5 goals in 10 matches isn’t a bad average. Anybody know how many assists he had? I wonder why SCR Altach released him.

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  15. You do have to wonder– 5 goals in 10 matches?

    Ives, what do you think is the point for a guy like Jaqua in going over to a struggling Austrian team like that? Does he really still have a better chance of making it in Europe from a team like that, versus by getting notice in MLS? I know it’s unlikely either way for Jaqua… but theoretically, was he really better off over there?

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  16. Now I didn’t see Jaqua play in Austria, but based purely on his numbers (goals/games played) I’m surprised he didn’t stick with another team over there.

    Reply

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