Was mentioned somewhere about a month ago that the agent for the Gambian guys at New England was takign some team reps over to Africa, including TFC. Anybody hear anythign else about this?
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Was mentioned somewhere about a month ago that the agent for the Gambian guys at New England was takign some team reps over to Africa, including TFC. Anybody hear anythign else about this?
Imagine finding the next Drogba or Eto'o? :taz::taz::taz:
That's not happening sorry those guys are probably already in Europe but we could hope for like a Mamadou Diallo or the like
Yep.. but I can dream.. and dont forget.. St Louis was taken 233rd, and 3 people in the NE Pats defense werent even drafted, ANYTHING can happen :)Quote:
Originally Posted by T_Mizz
I'm with you but I've been hurt by scouting trips before *tear* also the scouting in other sports is nowhere near the level as in soccer
Scouting in pro sports is very important, you need to find the future before the other team does. I am sure MO is keeping track of various players around the world.
For whatever reason, getting the proper paper work for African players to play in the MLS has always been an issue. Finding a player that's good enough for our league, but not good enough for some of the others in the world is one thing...to then have to get his immigration status/work visas in order is another thing all together.
How would you like to bet that if the next great hockey player was born in Africa (a long shot, I know!) the paper work would be taken care of in minutes.
like the Gambians, there are plenty of young African players that would jump at the opportunity to play here. Think they would complain about $12K/year?
Yeah, because that would only barely cover rent in Toronto.Quote:
Originally Posted by werewolf88
it could buy you a house in Columbus. (speaking in general MLS terms). Also, don't the players have something worked out in terms of housing costs?
Yeah, but if the choice was living in Gambia or Columbus, who in their right mind would pick Columbus? :lol:
As for housing costs, I don't think any living expenses are covered by the league/team (other than per diem on road games).
we should have billets then, like junior hockey. :lol:
Either way, if paper work situations can be figured out, there are certainly future stars to be signed.
Absolutely, a lot of people are predicting that there will be a huge influence on 21c football by Africans.Quote:
Originally Posted by werewolf88
This is all kind of useless tho isn't it? I mean we already have a full senior roster and no more international spots right? also we have even less spots next year so we'll probably not see anything out of this
How is it useless to find good players? The best teams in the world have scouts in Africa. It would be extremely glib to assume that TFC can't stand to improve.Quote:
Originally Posted by T_Mizz
The last player we had from Africe, he was from Togo ran into Visa problems, I just think issues come up because of past experiences with imigration has come up and Canada is being very careful. I love the African style, it is so fast.
It's still relatively untapped, probably because of the expense and complications of dealing with local officials; I grew up in Angola, and everyone wanted a bribe for everything. The Angolan player Man Utd. just picked up as a 'can't miss' prospect at the beginning of this season, for example, was already the two-time league scoring champion there before being inked, so obviously these guys aren't being sniffed out at the youth stage.