Photo by ISIphotos.com
The San Jose Earthquakes and FC Dallas had the framework in place for a trade involving out-of-favor FCD midfielder Dax McCarty but the deal fell apart after Dallas tried to extract more out of San Jose.
According to sources with knowledge of the discussions, FC Dallas attempted to sweeten its end of a proposed swap of McCarty for a draft pick, only to see the Earthquakes walk away from the negotiating table.
Both San Jose head coach Frank Yallop and FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman have denied that a trade was ever in the works but sources have informed SBI that trade talks did take place and an agreement was nearly reached before FC Dallas asked for a better deal, which lead to talks stalling.
So what now for McCarty? If FC Dallas is asking for too high a price you just might see McCarty in limbo for the foreseeable future. It will certainly be interesting to see if FC Dallas finds a better offer than the one it originally had from San Jose.
FC Dallas did get one deal done on Tuesday, signing Costa Rican defender and former Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake player Daniel Torres. The 31-year-old spent 2008 playing for Bryn of the Norwegian second division. He played for FCD assistant John Ellinger with RSL in 2007.
Sounders sign Cuban midfielder
The Seattle Sounders landed their second USL-1 Best XI player on Tuesday, signing Cuban midfielder Osvaldo Alonso. The former Charleston Battery midfielder enjoyed a strong season in 2008, earning All-USL honors after starting 31 games for the Battery.
Alonso defected from the Cuban national team during the 2007 Gold Cup in Houston. He had made 17 appearances for Cuba before defecting.
The 23-year-old central midfielder spent time on trial with the New York Red Bulls a year ago, but passed on a developmental contract offer before signing with Charleston.
MLS bosses in Ottawa
Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber and president Mark Abbott arrived in Ottawa on Tuesday to begin surveying the Canadian city's bid for a 2011 MLS expansion franchise.
Ottawa is the final expansion candidate to be visited by Garber and Abbott as they attempt to choose two cities to be awarded the two MLS expansion bids in 2011. St. Louis, Portland, Vancouver and Miami are the other four remaining candidates.
MLS is expected to choose the winning bids by mid-March.
MLS schedule to be released
The 2009 MLS schedule will be released on Wednesday. The league revealed the first home games for all 15 teams earlier this month, with New York traveling to expansion Seattle on March 19th in the league opener.
What do you think of the above stories? Disappointed that San Jose wasn't able to land McCarty? Think Alonso will start for Seattle? Does Ottawa have a realistic chance of being one of the two MLS expansion cities for 2011?
Share your thoughts below.
i don’t understand why having such a HUGE presence in the pacific northwest is such a worry for MLS.
the tv money only comes when people care enough to watch your product – so why place a team in an area that has already rejected your product (miami)…
if an Ottawa franchise means playing in Kanata, I don’t want it. It’s a terrible location, and will not have anywhere near the success of Toronto (which is essentially downtown). If they put a team downtown, I’d get seasons tickets. It’d be about 45min by bus, but it’d be worth it. Kanata’s at least 1.5hrs by bus, and, well, a terrible location.
@Zoran
The only thing stopping the Ottawa SSS is the fact that another group wants to bring a CFL team back to the city as well and the government will only fund one stadium. The MLS group wants to build the stadium out in Kanata by Scotia Bank Arena where they can build soccer development fields to go along with the stadium, sort of like in Colorado from what I understand. The CFL team wants to rebuild a stadium that is downtown.
So its either one or the other, share a stadium (which is what I assume the government would prefer) or possibly neither will get one.
But if Ottawa does get a franchise, it’ll come at the expense of Vancouver. No way do I see MLS going to 2 Canadian cities…unless they make an exception and award 3 franchises to cities. Or a possible relocation and rebranding of one of the LA teams maybe??
Seems like Ottawa and Vancouver have the best bids, but that is not going to happen. What really gets me is when Garber says “it is a good market and place we will expand to, if not this time??” So if that is the case why doens’t he just pick the best two packages, Miami has a bad stadium situation, St.Louis apparently doesn’t have enough money and Ottawa needs to get confirmation of government help, so why not go to Portland and Vancouver? They both have good fans, decent enough stadiums and create a great 3 way rivalry, just do it already.
I feel bad for Dax. He is the loser in all of this drama. He is Mr. Hustle, works hard and plays with his heart.
Too bad for Dax, if he got traded to San Jose and was able to get family to get season tickets and if his family were to get there friends to get season tickets, Dax could have made some good money.
What are McCarty’s options in all this? If they don’t sign him, is he stuck at FC Dallas?
From what I’m hearing, if the politicians in Ottawa agree to help fund a SSS, a team WILL be going to Ottawa. The question is do they build downtown or out in Kanata?
DAX deserves to go to a team where they will appreciate him, I had season tickets for FC Dallas and I always enjoyed watching Dax play, he deserved to be a starter more then some of the other players. GOOD LUCK DAX make the most out of your playing time and show these other teams what your worth!
The Sounders could either a. be on to something signing USL Best XI players, or b. wasting money. Only time will tell. Hopefully they are on to something for my sake.
Off topic, best tattoo in soccer?
i wonder how much the league took beckham into account in scheduling, and whether san jose already booked a larger stadium for dates w/ LA etc..
If Miami is selected, do they get all of the records from the Fusion?
Much better pic of McCarty Ives. At least his Adams apple doesn’t look like Jupiter.
Whoops — guess I should have refreshed my screen before sending what now looks like plagiarism…
Evan — LD cam on in the 67th min for Toni. He apparently had an open look on goal a minute after coming on and just missed.
Found it,
“Landon Donovan went in for Toni in the 67th and narrowly missed the target off a pass from Ribery only one minute into his official debut for Bayern.”
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/01/27/sports/SOC-German-Roundup.php
mikeK, another point off topic but including Schalke…
Does anyone have any idea if Donovan got any playing time against Schalke today in the German Cup? Bayern won 5-1 and Donovan didn’t score any goals but it doesn’t say anything about whether or not he got any playing time.
Wasn’t Dax linked to the Galaxy for a time? I’d love to see that.
He also is ugly like Wayne Rooney.
I must say, I am impressed with Sigi and the Sounders, this is a heck of a lot of signings for the new team. they won’t be deep, but they are certainly looking for talent from outside MLS, and not giving up a heck of a lot to other MLS teams. it bodes well for the franchise.
I think Miami would be a great place to have a team again. I think they have the population for it. Of course, I would love to see a team in Portland as that I where I am living for the next 3 years…
The MLS would be crazy to put a team in Ottawa.
Sure, Toronto is a success, but remember, Toronto is Toronto and Ottawa is… Ottawa.
Hopefully Portland or Vancouver get one of the bids. It would make for a nearly immediate rivalry with Sounders FC…
I have no clue what to expect from an Ottawa bit. It seems like the league wants to expand further in Canada and Ottawa is obviosly a potential city. Unfortunately it lacks the Old World attactions of Montreal or the large world city flavor of Toronto and Vancouver.
As for Dax, I think his MLS career has been a bit dissappointing. I’m not why that is, but Dallas hasn’t been a good fit for him. Hopefully the Hoops will find a new home for him somewhere else.
Maybe FCD wouldn’t be so greedy if they had a shirt sponsor. I think they were trying to get their hands on that new Amway money.
——
No, I don’t like welshing out of a deal, but Dax is a good player now, plus with upside, and they weren’t asking what he was worth to start with.
The league needs to sign more of the Cuban refugees. Look how Galindo turned out. You can’t blame them for leaving Cuba.
Maybe FCD wouldn’t be so greedy if they had a shirt sponsor. I think they were trying to get their hands on that new Amway money.
Ives, a little off topic but…
I’ve heard that a Schalke bid for Kljestan was accepted, is this possible?
Do you have any insight on to where he’s going? Everyone in Celtic land still has their fingers crossed.
Well for Dax’s sake he might just have to suck it up and play for hyndman… sometimes you hate your boss but you’ve gotta eat..