Photo by ISIphotos.com
The Houston Dynamo moved a big step toward keeping together the league's stingiest defense on Monday after re-signing free agent central defender Bobby Boswell to a new long-term contract.
Boswell had finished out his contract with the Dynamo and had been pursuing opportunities overseas, but ultimately chose to return to MLS after enjoying a strong season in 2008. Boswell led the Dynamo in games played and was one of best central defenders in MLS.
Boswell joins Chad Marshall as top MLS defenders to return to the league after seeing talks with Turkish club Antalyaspor fail to materialize in a deal.
The signing headlines a busy few days for the Dynamo, which also signed goalkeeper Tally Hall last Friday. Hall spent the past two seasons playing for Esbjerg FC of the Danish League.
Sounders land Ianni
Houston's signing of Boswell allowed the Dynamo to deal defender Patrick Ianni to the Seattle Sounders for a conditional 2010 draft pick. Ianni joins a Sounders defense that already includes former Kansas City Wizards Tyson Wahl, Former San Jose fullback James Riley and former USL All-Star Taylor Graham.
The deal reunites Ianni with Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid, who Ianni played for as part of the U.S. Under-20 national team at the 2005 Under-20 World Cup.
Old News
Since there are always stories we don't get to, here is a rundown of some items from last week that you may have missed (and we did miss):
The Chicago Fire will play the LA Galaxy in a friendly in Tempe, Arizona on March 14. The match will be the final pre-season tuneup for both teams.
Ronnie O'Brien has played his last game for the San Jose Earthquakes, and he wasn't happy at all with how things were handled by the Earthquakes. Yes, that makes him just the latest player to leave the club from the 2008 roster, a list that now includes O'Brien, James Riley, Francisco Lima and Jovan Kirovski. And for those of you scoring at home, that was a $300,000 allocation and a first-round pick that became Sam Cronin for one season of Ronnie O'Brien. His total numbers? Four goals and six assists in 28 games. Not exactly a great return on San Jose's investment.
D.C. United second-round pick Lyle Adams is in Austria on trial, making him one of several MLS 2009 second-round picks to not report to camp.
That's all for now. Please feel free to share your thoughts on any of these stories. Happy to see Boswell back in Houston? Think he passed on Turkey because he didn't think his blog would work in Turkish? Can Sigi turn Patrick Ianni into a serviceable MLS defender? How many people do you think will attend the Fire-Galaxy friendly? How many do you think will go if David Beckham isn't there?
Share your thoughts below.
ianni is a very good defender, would like to see him with the redbulls
I don’t think chad marshall came back with his tail between his legs, they told him he was going to be the second option on a division 2 squad, so he chose a first team job back in MLS how is that being scared? That is good business sense your not getting anywhere sitting on the bench. He got a raise and he took it. Chill with the hate for our guys.
totally unrelated; I think Beckham is seriously thinking about extending his stay at AC Milan.. however the negotiations wont be easy, image rights etc… makes me think think Milan might offer Schevchenko in exchange?? who’s warming the bench at Milan too? anyone out there sees this as a possibility? Ives??
Did I drop too much acid back in the 60s or is Bobby Bo using a size 3 soccer ball in that photo?
by the way, the Red Bulls have announced their preseason roster
http://redbull.newyork.mlsnet.com/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20090126&content_id=214003&vkey=pr_rbn&fext=.jsp&team=t107
7 trialists as mentioned earlier by Ives.
Think the surprises might be that Gilkerson isn’t listed but Gordon Kljesta is.
Ianni is no longer Gen Addidas, and the writing has been on the wall for a while now that he was leaving. Great that the Dynamo have Boswell back, making him and Hall fill two of the big needs. Now if we can just find a way to get out hands on Felix Garcia from the Laredo Heat (he won’t sign with MLS unless he gets assigned to a team in Texas… at least for now).
Geez you guys are catty. As to whether Ianni was terrible or not, I don’t think he was. A lot of coaches didn’t, either. His problem was that he didn’t have the speed to make up for his inexperience (and the resulting errors). I did a comment early in the 2008 MLS analyzing the Dynamo’s performance during their rough patch at the beginning of the season with and without Ianni; it was better with.
According to Greg Seltzer, Boswell wasn’t able to sign in Turkey because they “they couldn’t clear a foreign player space for him.” He goes on to note that “club spokesman Servet ÇavuÅŸoglu told me they may well ring Bobby up again. Apparently, he made a very good impression during his visit.”
about the valley of the sun…i think the mls is expecting a large crowd due in part to cuauhtemoc and becks bringing in there respective ethnicity to the game
I think it will be a good move for Ianni. He probably will get PT in Seattle and continue to develop.
This is huge for Houston, Bobby took a few games to settle in last season, but was stellar almost all year. This will keep us in contention for at least another year.
Ouch, Ives. Really?
The East Valley Tribune?
Haha, I’m only half-joking. But I have to give props to my boy Jose E. Garcia who had the news of Galaxy-Fire in Phoenix first and a day before.
Here’s the REAL link:
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/azetc/articles/2009/01/21/20090121mls0122.html
Yes, I know it’s petty. But the East Valley Tribune?
Apparently, the reason Bobby Boswell didn’t sign with Antalyaspor is because they couldn’t get another international space on the roster for him. Sorry guys, i know how some of you like to knock our guys but this wasn’t because of a lack of talent
I am glad the Dynamo were able to sign Bobby Boswell long term. Good luck to Ianni with Sounders…
If Boswell and Marshall couldn’t latch on abroad, then Jeff Parke probably won’t either… which means another CB for Ianni to sit behind on the Seattle depth chart.
Ianni was Gen Ad before — is that over for him? If he still counts as GA that is big deal b/c he is “free” for salary cap purposes = more $ to use at other spots.
Boz like Marshall came back with their tails tucked between their legs. Playing in Europe is very difficult and they quickly found out and ran home to momma MLS.
Lou – don’t believe that one yet. The Red Bulls have not confirmed that. I checked a couple of weeks ago
Having watched Ianni some in Houston, I think he has the potential to be a solid MLS central defender. He is very good with the ball at his feet. I wish we could have kept him for depth, but because we got the young CB in the DeRo deal and the reduced size of MLS rosters, it is not surprising that Ianni had to go.
I don’t know if you heard about this ives, but Mikel Silvestre is having this huge charity game at giants stadium with some of the world’s best players. If anyone is interested here is the link http://allstarsforhope.org/
Ronnie was a great player for us and a fan favorite– he scored two of our best goals all year. most Quakes are sad to see him go, and more than a little nervous since we’ve started out ’09 w/ more holes than we ended last year with. hard mgmt decisions are one thing, but yallop is a player’s coach and he has that reputation around the league. i’m not too worried about the impact the tough dealings might have on new signings…
Ives,
Great hearing you. I check your site like three times a day to keep myself posted on the soccer world. Keep it up brother! Hey you know the UNCAF tournament is being played right now and there is a handful of players that play in MLS and ex-players like Michael Umana. Although the tournament is very weak, it would be nice for you to make a story on it and wondering if there are any scouts out there. You never know if there might be the future Wilson Palacios in it. Walter Martinez is playing whom the DC United wants pretty bad.
Man, Ronnie O’Brien is such a good player. How is it that he can’t settle in with a good team? Think of how good he would be surrounded by a good team.
ROB is apparently a locker room cancer…watched him with fcd for years and when he was good, he was great…other times, invisible.
Anyone with eyes should think Ianni is not good. This guy is a one man wrecking crew. It was excruciating watching him blow big games for Houston last year. Given his lack of soccer talent and his name, it seems like he would be more successful composing and selling elevator music. 🙂 I think it’s predictable that Schmid would pick him. Schmid’s going to have his front line playing defense.
I just lost a LOT of respect for San Jose. What is the point of screwing Ronnie O’Brien like that? It’s just going to serve as a warning about S.J.’s management for other players. He’s a great player and he was taking a pay cut, what else do you want, blood?
I was briefly interested when I heard about the pre-season game in Tempe since there is no MLS in the Valley of the Sun; but when I heard the price for ALL tickets I almost fell off my chair laughing! I’ve gone to L.A. to watch MLS playoff games that were much cheaper. Enjoy the crowd of 2,000.
I think he is what he is….a very young, raw talent that needs plenty of PT to get himself to the next level. The powers that be obviously see something in him with him being on the U-20’s and on the Olympic Team. This could (and should) be a make or break year for him. If he can’t beat out Taylor Graham for a spot, then maybe he does need to go do something else.
Yea, definitely not a big Ianni fan. My fondest memory of him is when Landon scored against him last year. He beat Ianni to the near post for a header, then verbally abused him like a dog afterwards. Classic.
That should help shore up Seattle. Ianni isn’t outstanding, but serviceable and that defense just needs some decent players to hold off counters – under the assumption that Seattle will be a big time possession and attacking team. Which is what they have the personnel for.
I enjoy that Tally Hall is also a band. Good move by the Dynamo, Tony Caig was Awful with a capital A.
Dannyc58,
lets check the olympic appearances chart on that one….hmmmm none…..
Anyone else not think Ianni is very good?