SWAP-MEET: Angel, Schelotto, even Bryan Byrne

With the international window now closed, it could be this will constitute the final big wrap on trades for the 2007 season - unless, that is, Mo Johnston pulls off a swap or two to bolster a Toronto FC defense that's proved porous as tripe.

Dichio to TFC
While we're on the subject, it looks like Johnston did manage at least one more acquisition, when he picked up Daniel Dichio from the lower reaches of English club soccer (and, for some reason, I first read of this in the Boston Globe). Thanks to his connection to a Yank through marriage, Dichio will count as neither a designated player (crap, I hope not) or a Senior International.

Red Bull's Angel
But the biggest news of the day surrounds the signing of Colombian forward Juan Pablo Angel by Red Bull New York - if you read MLS Underground, you'll get the impression this was a HUGE signing, at least from the Red Bull point of view. For reasons I can neither explain nor justify, I'm constitutionally unable to dub Angel the missing puzzle piece that will make Red Bull bonafide contenders. But, for all that, he's closer to how I'd like to see the league use the designated-player rule in the A. B. era (that's "After Beckham"): find a need on the roster and fill it with the best player you can afford/bargain for. On that level, I like this signing - a lot even - and hope it pans out.

At any rate, there's more about Angel in the Blogo-verse than you can shake a stick at, so here are some favories: USSoccerplayers.com pulled together some nice details about pay and such, while Ives Galarcep offered perspective on the signing closer to my comfort zone (no disrespect to the Underground, which truly is a bang-up site):

"All of a sudden the Red Bulls go from being painfully thin at forward to having three very solid options after Clint Mathis served notice on Sunday that he was back and ready to be his old goal-scoring self."

So he's jumping a bit on the Mathis bandwagon (I called shotgun on that ride, but I'll make room).

Columbus: Snag or a Fish
Yeah, I should post this on The Offside, but I've got other plans for that space.

Sports Illustrated has got off the fence and declared Guillermo Barros Schelotto Columbus-bound, so why's the Crew front office still holding off? Can't say for sure, but it may be they just want to cut the ribbon when the time comes. What I can say for sure is that the locals (see bottom; OK, I've done it too) are already busy figuring where and how to play their new toy.

Odds, Ends, Rumors
- No disrespect intended to Bryan Byrne, who signed with the New England Revolution late last week (maybe...by which I mean he signed, but I can't recall when I saw the story), but he's coming up as kind of an after-thought with all these other trade shenanigans going on. Hope he does well for the team I still call my own.

- The Zinedine Zidane rumors will not die - they only seem to get stronger, in fact. If the talk about him joining Beckham at the Galaxy hold true, it will make official what has heretofore only been an impression: the Galaxy is actively trying to revive the NASL model.

- Finally, Greg Lalas pulled all the designated-player odds-and-ends into a nice big bow (SMMMOOOCHHH!)

FLUFF: The Rumor That Will Not Die; Conway's Jab

With signs finally suggesting the Zidane-to-MLS rumors have finally died, Ives Galarcep turned in a column for ESPN dubbing it a shame that the French great will likely never come. He notes the money Zidane was looking for (big), noted the reasons (Beckham's fault, the bastard), and gets a bit into why the money Zidane requested wasn't out of line: "Would you listen to anything less than $15 million if a player you knew you were clearly better than was making $25 million a season[?]"

An incidentally-related article, from the Boston Herald if you must know, touches on an upside Galarcep saw for Zidane coming out of retirement:

"Zidane headbutted Italy’s Marco Materazzi during the World Cup final and ended his career with a red card. France lost to Italy on penalty kicks."

That that's the last line in the article bears noting: this is the footnote of Zidane's life.

Turning away from Zizou news, a quick interview with Red Bull New York's Jon Conway showed a bit of what the upstart 'keeper is all about. When Metrofanatic asked about how Conway felt about his situation with the arrival of Ronald Wattereus, his answer was telling: "No difference than last year when I was here. 36-year-old ex-international. We'll see how that goes." The kid has got balls, if nothing else.

Descending further into "Fluff" territory, SoccerAmerica wrote a respectable piece on four of this year's rookies: Bakary Soumare (Chicago Fire), John Cunliffe (Chivas USA), Abdus Ibrahim (FC Dallas), and Maurice Edu (Toronto FC). No offense intended to any of them, but you could copy/paste the quotes from 90% of sports articles and get substantively the same copy.

Now in the realm of pure fluff, Ian Plenderleith, of USSoccerplayers.com fame bumped into the Kansas City Wizards' Players' Wives Club (third section, by the way). I only call this fluff in terms of its direct relation to the game itself. It actually sounds like a pretty cool thing.

(#########)

("Weird") Moves and (King-Sized) Rumors, 2.16.07

I'll start with the big one - and, from any other source, I wouldn't have given this the teeniest, tiniest bit of credibility. Steve Goff posted word on Soccer Insider that the Chicago Fire has resumed the courtship of Zinedine Zidane. He also notes a decision "could be made" by Monday.

In a word, "wow." Zidane's age and the whole coming-out-of-retirement thing aside, this one would excite me.

In totally unrelated news, in spite of the fact both pieces share the same author (Goff), an article in yesterday's Washington Post reviewed Jay Needham's decision to pass on a developmental contract for DC United and to run with a shot at first-team soccer in Puerto Rico.

DC bloggers have already beat me in responding to this one (no surprise there, of course) and their reactions are, of course, worth the look. I'm fairly close to where DCenters' D was on this - "either Puerto Rico is overpaying for Needham, or DC misjudged its bid and the allure of playing for [Major League Soccer (MLS)]" - only more so. I honestly don't know how one faults Needham for this decision. However justified they may be from a budgeting point of view, MLS's developmental salaries are the sporting world's equivalent of stiffing the waiter; so long as he's got options that will pay more, and so long as he believes he's good enough for MLS, his decision assumes they'll keep an eye on him while he's earning more.

Anyway, I swear I saw one yesterday bemoaning DC's capacity to lose a player to the USL (can't find that one, dammit), but can you blame the guy? Really?