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  1. #151
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    For me at the end of the day, we have no strikers. No team can compete for half a season without a proper finisher. We needed to address this, and Hassli is a guy who can finish. He comes with a chip on his shoulder. He plays emotional - on a good day that means he's stuck in and destroys guys. On a bad day he drifts into nonchalance. I'm fine with that. Mariner prides himself in his player motivation - and by that I mean he does charades on the sideline. Hopefully that's enough to light the fire Hassi needs.

  2. #152
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    Seems Hasli will only be in Toronto next Wednesday according to Vancouver Whitecaps beat writer Mark Weber:

    Marc Weber@ProvinceWeberHassli will be in the crowd Sunday. Doesn't head to T.O. until Wed. Family stuff 2 sort. Caps still did treatment on his ankle today #MLS

    http://twitter.com/ProvinceWeber/sta...73858793947137

    http://twitter.com/ProvinceWeber

    Mariner said in his post game conference after the Liverpool game that the team will be at a TFC comminity practice on Monday then their next full practice is on Thursday

    http://www.torontofc.ca/video/2012/0...r-july-21-2012

    Also no update on centre back signing: Starts at minute 5:25 to 5:35. Doesn't look happy.
    Last edited by moralis; 07-21-2012 at 08:31 PM.

  3. #153
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    Quote Originally Posted by Couchy81 View Post
    You are too hung up on MLS Super Draft. It is not the end-game for MLS teams. It is nothing compared to NBA or NHL drafts. I don't know if you witnessed the friendly match this afternoon but the TFCA is doing what it is meant to do, support the main squad with talented kids. We will see the fruits of TFCA in 2013 and beyond I'm sure.
    You may be buying what Anselmi et al are selling on the academy business, but I'm not.

    TFC is not unique. Every MLS team is doing the academy song and dance. If there are so many stars in MLS that came out of Academies, how about you name a few?

    I can name about 20 stars that came out of the top 5 picks in the MLS Superdraft over the last 10 years.

    Even if it works, they're looking to sell players, not keep them. The Academy will not move the needle for the senior team - it may produce serviceable players that would otherwise be NCAA guys, sure, but that's about it.
    Last edited by ensco; 07-21-2012 at 09:06 PM.
    “What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”

  4. #154
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    Quote Originally Posted by Couchy81 View Post
    You are too hung up on MLS Super Draft. It is not the end-game for MLS teams. It is nothing compared to NBA or NHL drafts. I don't know if you witnessed the friendly match this afternoon but the TFCA is doing what it is meant to do, support the main squad with talented kids. We will see the fruits of TFCA in 2013 and beyond I'm sure.
    No we wont,the best one will be gone,the rest will go NCAA,some boys from junior academy right now thinking for a move to Vancouver or Montreal,can't name them it would bring the kids in a lots of trouble.Academy is now practicing and playing 442,not every academy player is happy about it and some already looking around and checking were to go once they leave TFCA.

    and not exactly TFC related but Aleman declined the call up to Canada U20 and might opt out all together from CMNT,I would not be surprised to see him playing for Costa Rica.
    Great love does not exist without joy and without great suffering ,that's why One club is worth only as much as its fans !


  5. #155
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    So the 4-3-3 really is dead then - from front to back...

  6. #156
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    Quote Originally Posted by ensco View Post

    If there are so many stars in MLS that came out of Academies, how about you name a few?

    I can name about 20 stars that came out of the top 5 picks in the MLS Superdraft over the last 10 years.
    The Academy business is new. How many MLS teams were running Academies 10 years ago? Easy to say that 10 years ago this guy who is a star was drafted when an Academy didn't event exist. Am I wrong?

  7. #157
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    Quote Originally Posted by denime View Post
    No we wont,the best one will be gone,the rest will go NCAA,some boys from junior academy right now thinking for a move to Vancouver or Montreal,can't name them it would bring the kids in a lots of trouble.Academy is now practicing and playing 442,not every academy player is happy about it and some already looking around and checking were to go once they leave TFCA.

    and not exactly TFC related but Aleman declined the call up to Canada U20 and might opt out all together from CMNT,I would not be surprised to see him playing for Costa Rica.
    I don't want to start any type of argument but basing your doom and gloom of the whim of a couple kids playing soccer on an Academy is kind of pessimistic don't you think? Every organization in the world whether it be sports, corporate, government, entertainment, has players/people come and go based on personal desire. You can't seriously think that because Johnny Soccer Player with the slick doo decides Montreal plays more to his style of game that TFC are doomed?

    Also what the hell has Aleman ever done for people to be so enthralled with his every move? Prospects are prospects, in baseball you go through them a dime a dozen, suddenly because it's a new thing in soccer to have them at your team's disposal they are treated like the next coming of Messi.

  8. #158
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    Not sure if this has already been mentioned ?? But this move is sure to bring some fans back to the game and fill some seats .

    Good move , I hope :P

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    Quote Originally Posted by ensco View Post
    I can name about 20 stars that came out of the top 5 picks in the MLS Superdraft over the last 10 years.
    That'll be the kicker though, won't it. Top 5 is still pretty good. After that is a bit of a crapshoot. So how bad TFC performs next year will determine the value of the trade.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Yohan View Post
    Now if Mariner can somehow pry the unsettled Brek Shea out of Dallas, sign McKenna or Mellberg and maybe add a decent depth CM, I'd be happy!

    Not bloody likely...Shea is revered in the US as the second coming of Jesus...no way he comes to Canada....

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    What a waste of $20m... Im pretty sure Rongen and BDK will leave after this season.

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    Quote Originally Posted by iy12l View Post
    What a waste of $20m... Im pretty sure Rongen and BDK will leave after this season.
    I don't buy into that at all. The academy construction will always benefit TFC and Canadian soccer. TFC and MLSE are building a long term future, and that will last longer than Ronger/DK's reign. No matter what style of play the academy are playing, they will always be the future of TFC, NOT the draft or allocation money or the cap - but the academy. Mariner knows this, and even the tea lady at TFC probably knows this! The academy is the academy, Winter's 4-3-3 is different. The academy will live much longer than Winter and Klinnsmann's 4-3-3 vision.

  13. #163
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    Any more word on Hassli's health status?
    Will he be able to play this weekend?

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    Quote Originally Posted by flatpicker View Post
    Any more word on Hassli's health status?
    Will he be able to play this weekend?
    Word from Vancouver is that he is moving to TO on Weds. He was still doing rehab on his ankle with Whitecaps staff this past weekend.

    http://www.theprovince.com/sports/so...379/story.html

    "He doesn’t leave for Toronto until Wednesday and he’ll be in the crowd today as the Whitecaps host the San Jose Earthquakes at B.C. Place...

    Hassli, once he’s recovered from a right ankle sprain in a week or two, will see plenty of time in Toronto."

    From July 21:Marc Weber@ProvinceWeber Hassli will be in the crowd Sunday. Doesn't head to T.O. until Wed. Family stuff 2 sort. Caps still did treatment on his ankle today #MLS
    Last edited by tovan; 07-23-2012 at 06:17 PM.

  15. #165
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    Hassli will be urgently needed as soon as the all-star break is over. The three-game winning streak - plus a crushing moral victory over Merseyside Selects - has given TFC a slim chance of making the playoffs. Win the next three league games over Houston, Chicago and KC and that faint hope flickers into life.

    Le Gros Galoot can be the difference maker if he's sound and into it. Otherwise, he'll have no real reason to bust himself until next season.

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    Anyone else excited to see a potential TFC next year with a healthy Hassli and Koevs playing infront of Frings? I really hope that Koevs comes back strong because that right there sounds awesome.

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    Quote Originally Posted by David_Oliveira View Post
    Anyone else excited to see a potential TFC next year with a healthy Hassli and Koevs playing infront of Frings? I really hope that Koevs comes back strong because that right there sounds awesome.
    No chance. Hassli and Koevs are incredibly similar. That can't work. I have never seen a team play with two 6 foot 4 in (or whatever they are, they're both big and strong and tall!) target men.

    Hassli is Koev's replacement. He was acquired because of the possibility (probability?) that Koevs is done.
    “What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”

  18. #168
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    Quote Originally Posted by ensco View Post
    No chance. Hassli and Koevs are incredibly similar. That can't work. I have never seen a team play with two 6 foot 4 in (or whatever they are, they're both big and strong and tall!) target men.

    Hassli is Koev's replacement. He was acquired because of the possibility (probability?) that Koevs is done.
    Hassli's not a target man, he just looks like one. He's shit in the air. He's more likely to try a stepover and beat a guy, like Ryan Johnson, than to challenge much for a cross or hold the ball up (although he's not bad at the latter, out of the necessity from being played at the top of a three-man front.)

    They could work together. Both tactically a step ahead, might even work.

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    Quote Originally Posted by jloome View Post
    Hassli's not a target man, he just looks like one. He's shit in the air. He's more likely to try a stepover and beat a guy, like Ryan Johnson, than to challenge much for a cross or hold the ball up (although he's not bad at the latter, out of the necessity from being played at the top of a three-man front.)

    They could work together. Both tactically a step ahead, might even work.
    That's how I see it. One playing off the other. Koevs winning balls and laying of to Hassli

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    Quote Originally Posted by jloome View Post
    Hassli's not a target man, he just looks like one. He's shit in the air.
    There was a story in the National Post a couple of months ago saying that Hassli was afraid of headers because of a childhood accident (I can't find a link). But he's not shit in the air. Quite the contrary.

    http://www.mlssoccer.com/video/2012/...-over-crossbar
    http://www.mlssoccer.com/video/2012/...s-header-frame
    “What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”

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    Quote Originally Posted by ensco View Post
    There was a story in the National Post a couple of months ago saying that Hassli was afraid of headers because of a childhood accident (I can't find a link). But he's not shit in the air. Quite the contrary.

    http://www.mlssoccer.com/video/2012/...-over-crossbar
    http://www.mlssoccer.com/video/2012/...s-header-frame
    Ah, that explains it. There was a discussion last season about his reluctance to head the ball.

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    Quote Originally Posted by T-boy View Post
    I don't buy into that at all. The academy construction will always benefit TFC and Canadian soccer. TFC and MLSE are building a long term future, and that will last longer than Ronger/DK's reign. No matter what style of play the academy are playing, they will always be the future of TFC, NOT the draft or allocation money or the cap - but the academy. Mariner knows this, and even the tea lady at TFC probably knows this! The academy is the academy, Winter's 4-3-3 is different. The academy will live much longer than Winter and Klinnsmann's 4-3-3 vision.
    Although I agree with most of your points ..... why can't the academy, college players AND allocation money (ie scouting) ALL be the future? Why would a club limit their options? The collage players are getting every year, academies are just getting off the ground and international scouting is not subject to any financial constraint so why not use all three?

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    Searched around for article on Hassli's fear of heading. Couldn't find linkable article but found this cached article. A little bit troubling.

    Whitecaps' striker Eric Hassli overcoming fear of heading

    Finally getting his head in the game

    Vancouver Whitecaps' Eric Hassli during the MLS season opener.

    When Eric Hassli was a 16-year-old youth player in France, he went to head a ball but instead bashed skulls with an opposing defender.
    He went home, seeing clouds and different colours, and collapsed, unconscious, for a few seconds.
    Hassli spent a week in hospital in Sarreguemines, the French-German border town where he grew up playing.
    But the psychological impact of that experience has been with him for another 15 years, lingering, as it were, in the back of his head, making him reluctant to use the front of it.
    New Vancouver Whitecaps coach Martin Rennie is the first manager to coax that story out of the previously head-shy Hassli, a 6-foot-4 forward with a tantalizing mix of size and soft feet, but, until now, a mysterious aversion to heading.
    Both the coach and player believe that unlocking that memory is the key to unleashing an even greater physical force.
    "It's much better now, so much better even than last month because he spoke to me and he's right," said Hassli, who scored 10 times for the Whitecaps in 2011, all with his feet. "When I jump, I can protect myself with my arms."
    Getting over his fear of a head injury, combined with a back-to-basics approach to heading in practice, is already paying off for Hassli.
    It was the Frenchman's flick-header that created the opening goal for countryman Sebastien Le Toux in Vancouver's 2-0 win over the Montreal Impact on Saturday.
    During a crossing and finishing drill at practice in Burnaby on Thursday, Hassli at one point tried to score by raising his leg for a difficult high volley.
    Assistant coach Carl Robin-son pointed to his own head and encouraged the big man to use his.
    The next time through the drill, Hassli nodded in a goal, raised both arms high and, with a beaming smile, began punching himself, softly, around the temples.
    "It's different for me to play with my head," said the 30-year-old. "It's really good. I work really hard on it."
    Hassli then noted Didier Drogba's performance in Chelsea's Champions League victory on Wednesday, which included a header goal, and it would be hard to find a better model for Hassli than the 6-foot-3 Ivorian striker.
    "We can see Drogba was fantastic with his head and his body," Hassli said. "I'm heavy, I'm tall and I need to play with my head to help my teammates. It's really important to being a good striker."
    Hassli's commitment to an aerial game should help the Whitecaps in many ways, including on attacking set pieces where they were woeful in 2011 except for Camilo's free kicks.
    The Whitecaps scored just once off 138 corners in their inaugural MLS season, a league worst, and five times off headers (see box above). As the Whitecaps prepare for their first road trip of the sea-son, at L.A.-based Chivas on Saturday, some will recall that last year's road opener at Philadelphia was memorable for Hassli's head - as in hothead.
    That game marked the first of three red cards for Hassli, whose adjustment to referees and style of play was as big a story as his high-light-reel goals.
    His final sending off, coincidentally, came at Chivas, 66 minutes into Tommy Soehn's first game in charge.
    One of Rennie's first projects when he took the job in Vancouver was to make Hassli's head a topic of conversation for all the right reasons.
    No cautions and one assist is a good start.
    Rennie believes the big break-through - Hassli's first headed goal for Vancouver - is coming soon.
    "He's attacking the ball really well," said Rennie. "He's getting his timing right, he looks sharp, he looks strong. Saturday, he won the second-most headers on the field. He's got the ability to do that. One of them set up a goal, and a 6-foot-4 forward with the power he's got - if we get balls in the box, he can be a big threat."
    Much has been made of Rennie's people skills and focus on the mental side of the game.
    For those seeking evidence of the benefits, Hassli could be Exhibit A.

  24. #174
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gazza_55 View Post
    Although I agree with most of your points ..... why can't the academy, college players AND allocation money (ie scouting) ALL be the future? Why would a club limit their options? The collage players are getting every year, academies are just getting off the ground and international scouting is not subject to any financial constraint so why not use all three?
    Because the contraints of the league and salary cap means that its better for the whole team to have homegrown players who don't count against the cap. I agree that you need to get players from various sources, but the "value" of HGP is doubled as they don't cost anything in terms of cap space.

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    Not sure if this posted anywhere but it's an interesting tweet about Hassli saying he will never play against the Caps!

    https://twitter.com/kentoncanderson/...03291628662785

  26. #176
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    Quote Originally Posted by T-boy View Post
    Because the contraints of the league and salary cap means that its better for the whole team to have homegrown players who don't count against the cap. I agree that you need to get players from various sources, but the "value" of HGP is doubled as they don't cost anything in terms of cap space.
    There's also some belief that colleges will get fewer and fewer good quality players as soccer increases in stature in the united states. That is, academies will take away the best kids that normally would have gone to college. College-eligible players may also decide to take the Euro route more often. So quality will decline in college and the draft will become less and less valuable. We already see that there's maybe 5-8 players worth drafting each year now.. if that declines the draft may have to be scrapped altogether or made just one round. I've found the later rounds to be almost meaningless -- teams draft a player's rights, trial him, then choose not to sign him. Of course MLS likes the draft to control players, as they control players' rights in many many ways.

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    Quote Originally Posted by rocker View Post
    There's also some belief that colleges will get fewer and fewer good quality players as soccer increases in stature in the united states. That is, academies will take away the best kids that normally would have gone to college. College-eligible players may also decide to take the Euro route more often. So quality will decline in college and the draft will become less and less valuable. We already see that there's maybe 5-8 players worth drafting each year now.. if that declines the draft may have to be scrapped altogether or made just one round. I've found the later rounds to be almost meaningless -- teams draft a player's rights, trial him, then choose not to sign him. Of course MLS likes the draft to control players, as they control players' rights in many many ways.
    It'll be very interesting to see if soccer can become a major, mainstream sport in the US without a strong NCAA (and high schools).

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadlocks View Post
    Not sure if this posted anywhere but it's an interesting tweet about Hassli saying he will never play against the Caps!

    https://twitter.com/kentoncanderson/...03291628662785
    This and the fact he went and watched their game this weekend makes me wonder where his head is.

    Merucurial comes to mind.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadlocks View Post
    Not sure if this posted anywhere but it's an interesting tweet about Hassli saying he will never play against the Caps!

    https://twitter.com/kentoncanderson/...03291628662785
    I says Pardon?

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    lol umm, what in the fuck?

 

 

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