Top Stories

Looking at some Americans who could use winter moves

Maurice Edu

By IVES GALARCEP

The recent signing of Oguchi Onyewu by Queens Park Rangers has meant one less name on a long list of Americans who could use a new club situation to help spark their careers. That list will be worth watching closely as we draw closer to January, when several players could, and should, be on the move.

In my recent piece for Goal, I laid out a list of top Americas who need loan or transfer moves this winter, with the general theme being players who just aren’t getting minutes for their current club teams.

Some are like Onyewu, facing the possibility of missing the World Cup if they don’t find regular playing time, while some others simply need a change of scenery even if it probably won’t help them break into the national team set-up.

Give the piece a read and let me know what you think of the list of players who could, and should, be moving this summer. Which player on the list do you think is most in need of a winter move? Do you see anybody on the list making the U.S. World Cup squad?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Jozy, ahem.

    Bradley is important because he usually starts and can play at a higher level than his replacements. If he gets rusty or pulls a muscle the overall unit weakens. Ditto Dempsey.

    Mo Edu, now there’s a blast from the past. Who would have thought that of all those Rangers castoffs Bedoya would come out best? Edu was becoming a star there and Boca was a mainstay who even stayed for the first months of NewCo. Bedoya struggled for appearances, and now….

    Shea and Corona are also talented players who could use a better situation. But those two plus Edu could in theory find a great home and then still might or might not fight their way into the 23. Talent glut at their positions.

    Gyau, total wild card, who knows how good he is or at what level he sticks, whether a move can help. I think he could do worse than come play MLS. He needs to drop down some rungs and be sure he sticks somewhere and thrives. Otherwise he risks Adu-dom, being the guy whose ambitions/ eyes are always bigger than his stomach.

    Parkhurst, overrated but ironically the back situation makes him matter. Shouldn’t but does.

    Gooch and Adu, they should be planning for their pro lives, figure out if they want paychecks or to play. But in terms of NT I can’t believe they should be able to salvage something…..if you can’t stop Antigua how can I possibly trust you to stop Italy. But then Klinsi was talking Gooch up to QPR, so what do I know.

    Reply
  2. a loan for Shea would be the most feasible move that could change the USMNT 23 for Brazil.

    other than that Edu is a long shot to get in unless one of the other 4 locked in CM’s goes down (MB, JJ, Mix, Beckerman) and he finds a good move.

    Still think that Parkhurst would be fine in the English Championship, and probably make just as good dough. Hope Mix and Boyd make upwards moves sometime soon.

    Reply
  3. It is cool that soccer is such an individual sport, and the team result doesn’t matter much, people obviously like it that way, soccer isn’t hurting for fans.

    But for me, I am looking at guys that need to get on a better team, one that is playing for something, rather than waste their careers just earning a paycheck…..Bocanegra, Altidore, etc.

    Reply
  4. I chuckled when I saw Freddy Adu on that list. Really? He’s like a cat, he has nine lives. Yet another move and finally Freddy will be unstoppable.

    Actually, it’s been reported in Brazilian news outlets that Adu was signed as a purely marketing move by Bahia to get brand visibility with American fans (Corinthians did the same thing signing a guy from China to build brand exposure there). Sad for Freddy, but he’s getting paid, living on the beach in Salvador, and from what I see on his twitter…watching a lot of movies.

    Reply
  5. What about Mix? He too will have a long off season. Does he come in to camp early or go out on loan to another league?

    Reply
      • they have 3 games left and then a cup game on the 24th.

        no games in December. not sure when they start.. February?

        he will be there in the December/January camp.

  6. did anyone catch ‘Arry Redknapp’s comments on Gooch being a WC player via JK? i’m sure he’s full of it, but a healthy, in form Gooch is an upgrade over Goodson, Orozco and maybe even Gonzalez-hes not out of it yet-enough experience and pedigree like Cherundolo to be given a chance to get healthy and prove himself

    Edu, Parkhurst and Corona are WC candidates and are very close, when actually in form, to their immediate competitors on the squad.
    Evans-Parkhurst is a toss up in my view, both are 2nd tier RBs in terms of World Cup level and if either one starts I expect them to get burned by the top-tier wingers, unless US bunkers down (ehich it might)….

    Corona-Bedoya also flip flop between very good games and invisible ones, neither is consistent enough as a threat to be a clear cut choice-if both get playing time from january on- they’re equal odds for the squad

    Edu>Beckerman when in form as the defensive anchor in midfield-don’t ask either to do offense, that’s Bradley and Mixx’s job

    Reply
    • While I loved the gooch of the good old days I don’t know if he’s better than Goodson anymore. Maybe after starting in the championship for a while. But I feel like Goodson needs some more respect, all he has done is play solidly every time he has asked and he doesn’t panic on the ball. That’s all we can ask of him, and he even grabbed a goal in the gold cup! Don’t get to see him in mls though, so maybe he’s not doing well there…

      Reply
    • “but a healthy, in form Gooch is an upgrade over Goodson”

      That could be true but when’s the last time he was fully healthy and in form. It’s closer to when Charlie Davies was on the national team than today. Gooch is what he is right now, a slow lumbering CB with poor passing ability who can still dominate most smaller players in the air. I’ll take Brooks to Brazil instead.

      Reply
    • How about looking at how the players have been performing in real competitive games lately. The last time Gooch was really in “in-form” was 2009. Stop living in the past. Same goes for claiming Edu>Beckerman.

      I also wouldn’t dismiss a player like Evans so quickly as 2nd tier. He’s played great for the US in competitive games and seems to be getting better as he develops more confidence in that position and playing international.

      Reply
    • incorrect on every account.

      beckerman > edu; mo brings more in the attack but if you want an anchor, beckerman is sure and steady
      bedoya > corona; more experienced and getting quality time in a better league. corona is a great prospect as dempsey’s understudy but not someone i would bring to brazil
      evans > parkhurst; you’r right they are both 2nd tier RB’s

      we will be fine without any of them.. its in their best interest to get it going!

      Reply
  7. ND: oh snap, an actual article by Ives! he still loves us after all!

    SBI: hey, check out my piece on this other website!

    ND: FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU–

    Reply
      • I think its relatively fair, I don’t do the podcast aspect or the interactive question format, so what started out years ago getting everything directly from Ives and now not really hearing much from him.
        No big deal, pay bills/supporting kids I get… its just an unfortunate, the times are achangin

      • yep. and to clarify, i don’t hold it against ives if he wants to move on, or whatever–i get it.

        it’s just that this was a great site, and a pioneer effort when it comes to american soccer reporting, so i’d rather he made it a big deal, like announce that it’s now SBI by Franco, or hell, even blow it up; anything but starve it to death with subpar writing and redirects to his ‘real’ articles.

      • …you must be the same guy who prides himself on finding an obscure band and then when they latch on with a big record company you describe them as “sell outs”.

      • nope.

        like i literally *just said* in the comment you replied to, i absolutely don’t hold it against ives for moving on and making that paper; just hate to see what was a great site get worse.

        it’s easer to accuse me of being a website-hipster (“whipster”?), though, so go for it.

      • Ives is doing a made-for-TV-disney film, where he starts up his site. Works hard, giving all his passion and energy. Then Corporate offers to put alot of money into it. They say that together they will take him and his work to the next level. So Ives agrees and is happy and excited, then corporate weeds him out through some fine-print clause in the deal. Now Ives is homeless on the internet, banned from his own site except to come back and tell people to look at his freelance work on Corporate’s other site.

        Or maybe he’s just watchin’ Homeland.

    • I have both SBI and Goal bookmarked. Goal does have some stuff that SBI doesn’t in terms of coverage. But SBI is my first go to because it covers specifically the stuff that I’m into.

      Remember back in the day when you’d have to scour si.com or soccernet for a brief mention of how a yank was doing at his club? Now it’s all in one place and the writing is superior by far.

      Was the Goal thing ever announced and maybe I missed it? Or did it just kind of start happening like when a radio station changes format overnight so the next time you listen to it things are different with no explanation?

      My hope is with the move to Goal Ives gets more funding to travel and report on things. He should really be one of the pundits always on the networks – the Peter King of the US soccer perspective. But SBI should still be kept running strong for the purists out there. The everyday readers (for me it’s literally 2/3rds of the articles). And Frank’s a good guy so no hating!

      Reply
    • Stop hatin’ on Ives Nate, in fact if you look at it he has made a smart move.

      He builds up his own audience on SBI, then figures out how to get paid as the owner of SBI in ad dollars (with having others actually write the stories for it).
      At the same time he gets paid writing for Goal and has a fantastic outlet to pimp out his stories and get paid for high pageviews on Goal.com

      In fact, we should change Ives name to Ives Dollars. Smart business…

      SBI still kills it as being a go to place for soccer content, even if it isn’t all just Ives writing 15 stories a day.

      Reply
      • read my clarification at 12:15 up above. i’m certainly not trying to hate, but i also don’t think i’m the only person who’s noticed the correlation between ives’ absence and the decreasing amount of quality writing on this site.

    • I’m really curious… what’s your objection to a link to goal.com? Moral objections to reading something on goal.com? don’t enjoy one additional click? I guess I just really can’t see what the big problem here is.

      Reply
      • good question. it’s not about goal.com; like riggity said, ives has had other gigs for years (espn, fox soccer).

        i don’t know, i think it’s because, even while he was writing for other sites, he was still a major contributor to *his* site.

        more than anything, i think it’s because the quality (both writing and posting) has been lacking lately. if he had left, and the quality of the website hadn’t suffered at all, i don’t think i’d really care.

      • I’m so with you on this. It can’t be a coincidence that as soon as Ives put more time into his podcasts and his goal.com articles, the content has declined significantly. The grammatical errors, the wrong times, etc. are ruining a once-great site.

  8. When Edu was with Bursapor he was playing well on a team that almost made the Champions League, and if the World Cup happened last May I think he would have been on the 23-not a Beckerman hater by any stretch, think he belongs on the 23 right now, but Edu at his best may be an upgrade.

    Reply
    • Edu, when playing, is clearly someone who can contribute to the USMNT. Experienced Depth is needed to insure we don’t have the situation we did in 2010 (Davis/Gooch).
      As it stands if players get on track with their clubs we’ll be able to cover for an injury or two. There are some good players who won’t be on the plane to Brazil:
      Forwards: Jozy, Dempsey, Johannsson, EJ, Boyd, Gomez, Agudelo
      Wings: Donovan, FJ, Bedoya, Zusi, Shea, Corona,
      CM: Bradley, Jones, Mixx, Cameron, Beckerman, Edu, Torres, Williams
      CB: Besler, Gonzalez, Goodson, Brooks
      LB: Beasley, Castillo, Lichaj, Chandler, Klute
      RB: Evans, Chandler, Lichaj, Dolo, Yedlin, Ferrell
      Keeper: Howard, Guzan, Rimando, SJ,

      Reply
  9. I hated on EJ for a long, long time, but I see nothing wrong with what he’s doing. He wants to get paid, and the CLUB acknowledges, and agrees with it. He hasn’t sat out games, hasn’t really even spoken that much about it. He’s not complaining about his CURRENT contract, he’s complaining about the one they’re offering him

    Reply
    • Then whine and complain when the season is over, not in the most important part of the season when you are trying to just make it into the playoffs.

      Reply
      • Same thing Deuce did to get out of New England. Same thing Deuce did at Fulham. Same thing a lot of professionals do.

      • Thanks a lot for the take–you got a great point about Deuce. I appreciate the perspective. I was sleeping on that.

    • If he doesn’t like what they offering then he should go somewhere else. If he’s as good as he thinks he is I’m sure somebody will offer him a better deal.
      He seems to forget that not long ago he was in the trash heap and Seattle was the team that helped him out when nobody else would.

      Reply
  10. Good picture of Maurice Edu, who probably picked the wrong team to sign with when he moved to Stoke, a team with lots of defensive midfield players. He’s dropped so far down the USMNT depth chart, it’s hard to see him coming into the figuring for Brazil, move or no move.

    Reply
  11. Even though he is not in Europe or Mexico, EJ needs to obviously move. You can’t be a crybaby to a club who took a chance on you and cry because you want to ge paid more. I don’t know if any club will pay him or even want him but in terms of the USMNT, he needs to play somewhere if he wants any chance at Brazil.
    Also, I hope this isn’t the case but he wasn’t playing the race card with his “slave” comment, was he? I certainly hope not.

    Reply
    • I disagree. Seattle took a chance on him and it worked out for both the player and the club. In a new contract, if the player isn’t happy with the new contract then he has more than a right to go anywhere else. I have no problem with him wanting more.

      Reply
      • I agree. Seattle took a risk on EJ in the hopes of getting a good player for cheap. It payed off. They never signed him to help him out personally.

        I do feel that public complaining is a bad PR move and I’m not convinced it helps in the end anyway.

Leave a Comment