If the team signs another holding midfielder to a dp contract they are frankly more fucked up now then when Mo was in charge, and that is fucked up. "Best holding midfielder" in the world? Really? He was overrated whereever he played, and gets injured all the time cause he is a skinny, weakling, just look at his legs, my grandfather has bigger muscles.
Firstly, he would be a horrible fit for this team. Just like JDG, he is not what we need in a DP.
Secondly, he is a traitorous cunt.
Hargreaves would exhaust Canada's medical system.
Let's sign Michael Owen, too!
He has had standout moments in his career and can bring a good game to the table. However, as has been pointed out many times, he's made of glass and wouldn't last a half in a league as physical as the MLS.
As for the other half of the argument... time to get over it. Canada was never going to the world cup, even if he had been playing. The impact of his decision was a great big zero.
maybe hargreaves is the last piece of the puzzle? a midfield of him tchani AND de guzman, may be the answer to our woes... believe it or not but anyone who has seen hargreaves play, knows he is a brilliant passer of the ball... which is exactly what we need... personally with him and JDG together, it could be a very good axis to build our attack on... and with 3 predominantly defensive midfielders playing in the centre of the park, it would allow the forwards to focus completely on scoring and creating chances
his injuries seem to be a worry, but the slower tempo of the mls, along with the fact that i bet our regular training isnt is hard as utd's ... his injuries may occur less...
^That's some serious optimism right there. Some might say delusional optimism. You are correct, technically speaking, although I only say that because of the word "maybe".
Has anyone seen this guy play in the last THREE European season?Originally Posted by raj100
Remember that photo of the two road cones at BMO during the winter a couple of seasons ago? I'd rather those two in midfield than Hargreaves and JDG.
How can you say that with such authority?
If all the traitor douchebags actually played for Canada we would be a lot better. Possibly the 3rd best in the region.
Too many people with the gloryhunter mentality give these bastards a pass.
Because he's one player. Like TFC, the Men's national program has always had many, many holes in its roster (1986 aside). It is a team sport and one player — especially one who is not among the best players in the world in his position — does not change that.
If all the traitorous douchbags played for Canada under the current system we'd still be just as bad. Why should we encourage our best and brightest to stay in Canada and fail rather than go our into the world and succeed. I enjoyed watching Hargreaves play in an England shirt. He put on a great show before getting injured. He made a case that good talent could come out of Canada. If he'd stayed in Canada he would have been on a team that contending countries sent their substitutes bench to warm up against.
Better that everyone leaves and the CSA collapses. And being 3rd best in the 2nd worst region of FIFA still leaves you out in the cold. Canada's national program needs radical change. Hargreaves called it and did the right thing. This country won't get better till it starts from scratch.
With a mentality like this why even bother having national team soccer? Should every player in the World only aim to play for the Brazil, Spain, Italy type teams?
May as well have the club game only.
It is a problem that every organization has to deal with… if you want your top talent to stay you have to create the conditions for them to be successful. The CSA does not do this. It is my understanding thy they do not try to do this. An exodus of talent seems to be a precondition for change, so I say bring it on. That doesn't mean that I don't believe and national-level football.
There's no requirement to be residing in Canada to play for your national team.
Nobody here said he shouldn't have played for Bayern Munich or Manchester United.
Unless you're seriously comparing international football to club football.
In which case, there's no point in having international football if we're going to treat the national teams like they're clubs, with players going to where they're going to have the best shot at making sponsorship dollars.
cool now that he left CSA is completely different and brand new
thanks owen hargreaves, for being the catalyst of change in canadian soccer, by leaving it completely and forever
I don't understand what your endgame is? Under your suggestion its just a vicious circle where Canada continues to get worse and worse and more of these douchebags like Whoregreaves leave Canada. How will that improve things? It will just suck even worse.
I'd rather Canada's best talent plays for Canada and we do well in spite of the CSA. You make it sound like these traitors are martyrs for what they are doing. Which isn't the case at all.
don't you see? owen did it all for us. to help canadian soccer. what a selfless guy.
i, for one, am glad someone is stepping up to improve the state of the sport in this country; thanks owen.
They should build a statue for him outside BMO Field.
We can also put him on the Wall of Honour to celebrate the 11 minutes he will play for us during his entire TFC contract.
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In all seriousness, the guy has played 5 games in 3 seasons. I wonder why some can't wrap their brains around those figures. What has changed in the past few months that show he is ready to play? The guy is made of glass. TFC can't afford that kind of risk, particularly at his position and at the money he would want.
Last edited by menefreghista; 06-24-2011 at 03:59 PM.
There is a grey area between traitor
And martyr. Canada is slowly undergoing a coming of age as a footballing country. The old strictures need to fall away and new ones need to take their place. Hargreaves had three main choices - play for Canada, play somewhere else or dont play at all. Has he chosen the third he would have been forgotten and lived a peaceful life. All that I am saying is that there are footballers who have a talent that transends our current level of play. There are not many of them but they may, on occasion, need to leave. These should be moments of reflection and growth for the national program, not opportunities to sharpen knives. The idea is to change sothat this stops happening, not to blacklist those who grew outside of our small-time system. And that, of course is just my opinion.
The CSA is changing. Never as fast as people want but they are. They had to because of the attention on the sport in this country.
And it's not like him having nothing to do with the CSA anymore and staying silent is providing us with as much as say Canada players that actually come out and refuse to play because of the state of things.
Could someone more compu-savvy put Owen's face in an Obama poster for change and we can send it to the CSA?
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
I realize my perspective isn't popular. I knew that before my first post. But the hargreaves that played for Bayern Munich was far and away better than anything else that our country had to offer. Look at the state of MLS DP's to se what effect that has. Sometimes a great performer stepping aside is the best thing that happen to an organization. That doesn't mean there aren't hurt feelings or self intetrest involved. I just think that him not being there was a "good" for Canadian soccer. I'll show myself the door.
Amen to that brother.
Teamns don't need a holding midfielder in MLS. The quality is so poor that the opposition first touch is the best holding midfielder in the league.
Well said Chris!
Post of the month.
And for the record the Daily Mail makes MLS Rumors look like a bastion of journalistic integrity
There are plenty of national associations around the world worse than the CSA but their players don't run off to other countries, hell just look at all the shit going on at FIFA.
Players going elsewhere isn't going to reform the CSA, a higher profile for soccer in Canada will. There's no higher profile than qualifying for a World Cup.
If he hadnt played for england and done so well in that world cup, he wouldnt have been signed by United for what? UKP 35 million....hahahahahahahahaha
Cut the guy some slack, anyone who can fuck over United and make millions sitting on his ass at the same time....should.......hahahaha
And still has more league winners medals than Stevie G. lol. Seriously though.....he does.
I still don't want him based purely on his injury history - I think he would break down, but here are some of my thoughts.
-I really, really, really hope that no one at TFC takes what supporters think into consideration on any signing, including this one. Signings should be 100% based on impact on the pitch. If the FO is still looking towards what the fans think of a player we are screwed.
-I wouldn't be surprised in least to see him sign for the rest of the season as a non-DP (even at the league minimum). He'll still want to play top flight football, and he is bloody loaded and doesn't need the money. I could see be willing to playing half a season in the MLS for cheap to show clubs overseas that he can still play. Plus, he hasn't played in a long time, so this would be good to get his match fitness up.
-Holding mid is his prefered position, but he is versatile. He is very good going forward. He's also played wide a fair amount and is a very good crosser of the ball.
-He's a dead ball specialist. He is an excellent direct free kick taker (which we lack) and delivers an excellent corner.
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Yeah, if this comes true, any faith I have left in management will be pretty much obliterated - unless it's a really, really favourable contract for us, and coincides with JDG being transferred somewhere else.
All of the national team chicanery aside, I can't imagine his knees will hold up in MLS at all. And then what?
He will want top dollar to essentially give up on a return to Europe and play in MLS, and he isn't worth top dollar to us. We have bigger needs.
- Scott
“Heroism breaks its heart, and idealism its back, on the intransigence of the credulous and the mediocre, manipulated by the cynical and the corrupt.” ~Christopher Hitchens
Or - he might be willing to play in the cheap for the rest of the season to prove he's not done with a goal to move back to Europe in the January window.
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