Searching for the Free

A poster on goalseattle mentions Henrik Larsson, a different former Swedish captain and solid foward with time at Barca and ManU.

Larsson is free, but seems to have a desire to stay in the Swedish league.

As yet again another Ecuadorian player is mentioned, I can’t get them out of mind. I’d love to see Sounders FC, especially, develop a connection with Ecuadorian futbol—it’s a country becoming increasingly developed, but still has a ways to go. One possible avenue I’ve been thinking about for going accomplishing this is through the defender Ulises de la Cruz whom you probably know from his latest stint at Reading. He has a wicked cross, has 98 int. appearances and is still being capped as of July 08 – wiki,and is loved in Ecuador because of the charity he established – good article here.

The downside is his age, and with two aging players in Ljunberg & Keller, SSFC may not want to take this risk. The upside is he’s an experienced veteran, every source I viewed points to him as being out of contract yet still capped this summer (unfortunately I can’t guarantee he hasn’t ‘retired’ but that would seem quite abrupt…), and would give SSFC a chance to be involved with an international charity establishing a footballing and social connection with a developing country, specifically the Chota Valley region—one where 11 players on the past two Ecuadorian WC sides come from. Just think of the sporting benefits if SSFC got involved at the ground level with de la Cruz’s ‘sports and community center’… once these players have developed themselves in Ecuador’s domestic, and maybe some time in Mexico or Colombia, we could have discovery dibs on some potentially tremendous players down the road.

So, in the light of worldly humanitarian action (Seattle can’t be the only focus) and player development, I’d love to see SSFC sign de la Cruz for a two year contract or until he runs out of steam, and then keep him on board in some facility or another as an ‘ambassador’ type, he wouldn’t have to remain living in Seattle, but SSFC would retain a formal connection with the man and his work. May be out on a limb here, but enjoyable speculation. Please speak up if anyone knows something more concrete on his current playing/contract status… or if these comments are way off base.

damn, I suck at those tags… apologize for the work this creates…
-forgot closing ‘>’ in first link attempt
-I wanted a second link on the word “established” to this page: http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/Charities/0,,10306~1193652,00.html
-the third to the bbc page (which the entire last 2/3 of the post is currently linked to) is supposed to be applied to the word “article” in the parenthesis after the unlinked word “good”
-think that’s it, again I’m sorry
-is there anywhere for the poster to edit his posts? …it’d be nice if you didn’t have to fix this stuff

Zack, I will look into adding a comments plug-in. Something with insert link, bold, italics basically.

I think I cleaned that up for you, and it wasn’t actually tough, but you are right, I need that plug-in. As I’m able to drive to work again, it might be Boxing Day before I can get to it, but its on the short list.

Wow, this plug-in will make things much easier. Thanks for the fix above, and for so quickly taking care of the larger issue. Happy Holidays all!

Well, the not being able to get my car moving again probably helped me get a move on the plug-in and actually inspired to upgrade the overall software for the site.

Robbie Fowler, would you take that risk?

I don’t think I would. Tough call though, I believe he still has it in him to come off of the bench and score, but two things are holding me back: 1) he’s injured… and has been going on half a decade… does SSFC need another injury-plagued veteran? 2) allardyce recently assessed that the premiership is ‘two-levels’ too high for Robbie, and he has been linked with player/coach role in league two—it seems like one of those classic, slightly acrimonious, but inevitable, fading end to a footballing career because a body is just too beat up.

Beasley may be available on a Free, as Rangers seem to be tired of him and aren’t getting offers for transfer.

Ives claims that he is eyeing MLS, but would want DP money. While he may not put butts in the stands, the quality of the league would go up, and that will long term help more than the short term seating boost of a Beckham.

The best answer would be to find a way to bring US MNT guys that aren’t regular subs back to the States where they could play regularly.

Denilson: absolutely not! (although some may believe in ‘fresh starts’…)
Beasley: would be tremendous, but who thinks he warrants DP money? For me, I realize that may be the only way he comes back over, but not having any offers may give MLS substantial leverage in convincing him otherwise… deflate that ego, you’re hardly dressing!!

Lucas Neill is reportedly going to be released by West Ham. He’s an Australian national, team captian and mainly plays RightBack, but also as a Center Back.

He is 31 on First Kick. His wages are in the 85-95% of Max range. So he’s Free and he was not being paid DP level wages, and he’s Premiership side’s CAPTAIN.

MLS should TRY for this one, and try HARD.

Jared Borgetti is out of contract and has been linked to MLS in the past. 35 on First Kick. Prolific scorer, big name with Mexican population and has Premiership experience. This suggestion came from a conversation with Steve Clare of ProstAmerika.