Roscoe’s January Soccer Report
(Who said that January’s a dull month for soccer?)

While the focus on events at Gillette Stadium is properly focused on the Patriots and American Football, Roscoe has been keeping a close eye on the latest news regarding the Revolution as well as the fixtures and transactions with Piacenza and Wrexham.

MLS/Revs:

The team’s franchise player, Taylor Twellman, was recently the target of a $2M transfer bid by Preston North End that was rejected by MLS. Unlike the other major American sports, MLS players are paid by the League, not the individual clubs, and Twellman is none too pleased that he will be playing this year on the cheap.

Revs already lost Clint Dempsey to Fulham after the ’06 season and Andy Dorman departed for Scotland after this year, so the team and MLS isn’t exactly terribly inclined to sell Twellman (who has scored over 100 goals since ’02) unless they’re blown out of the water on a transfer bid. In terms of career development, MLS and the US National Team could not have asked any more of Twellman. If they want to showcase talents such as his, they need to step up and pay whatever the market bears. It doesn’t make much sense to develop players only to see them go overseas for their prime years as recently happened with Freddy Adu, who left for Benfica last summer. American fans have difficulty relating to what’s happening in the various European and South American leagues.

Twellman and the Revs are between a rock and a hard place on this one. If he were to depart, there would be more “revolution” by the supporters than on the pitch. Twellman is the team’s greatest player to date and transferring him to an FA club would be harmful to the MLS, the Revs and the efforts made by the team to build a solid fan base. On the other hand, Twellman is one of a few Americans deemed talented enough to be considered as a world-class player and expects to be compensated accordingly. If MLS has any hope of long-term success they need to fairly compensate home grown talent instead of freely spending on foreign players whose better days are in the past. This is going to be a story worth watching all year. It’s wonderful to see more and more Americans getting an opportunity to kick a football with the world’s best players but MLS/corporate sponsors need to start paying the cost to keep them Stateside.

In other moves, Revs traded for defender Chris Albright from LA Galaxy in a cash allocation move. LA continues to go after “big names” and shuffling the deck allows them cash flexibility. Albright is a USNT member and 10-year MLS vet who will provide a steady presence in the backfield, provided he can stay healthy. He suffered a torn hamstring last May and was out for the remainder of the year. Hopefully, he’ll be match ready by spring. All in all, Albright was a really good pickup, and with Joey Franchino returning this year, the Revs end of the pitch is the least of their concerns.

On Friday, MLS held its annual Superdraft, with the Revs selecting five players in the four-round event.

With their first pick at 13, Revs chose 6’3” Defender Rob Valentino from University of San Francisco. He is highly regarded as a physical presence in the back end and will be groomed as a backup to Parkhurst. He would’ve been selected much higher in the draft had he not sustained a knee injury that cost him his senior season at USF.

With their next pick, they chose midfielder Michael Videira from Duke, then selected Videira’s midfield teammate Joe Germanese. In Round 3, Revs picked defender Matthew Britner from Brown and closed their selections with Forward Spencer Wadsworth, also from Duke. All of the draftees have impeccable resumes so it ought to be fun to see how they’ll fit into Coach Nicol’s plans.

In the Supplemental draft held days later, Revs picked Kheli Dube (F) Coastal Carolina, Chris Tierney (M), Virginia, Kyle Altman (M), Trinity (TX) and Saidi Isaac (F), Winthrop.

Days after the Superdraft, Revs announced that Pat Noonan signed with Norwegian side Aalesunds FK. This is yet another terrible loss and his departure and goal-scoring prowess certainly doesn’t bode well for 2008. It may be the case that Nicol has a trick up his sleeve that he’s yet to reveal, but don’t expect anything major.

Michael Parkhurst and Twellman have been called up for National Team duty as the U.S. Men’s National Team gets ready to play Mexico on Feb. 6th. Revs have already started training for the upcoming season that kicks off on March 29th at home against Houston.

Piacenza:

Biancorossi finally got back into action on January 12th after a two-week layoff in their first match following the transfer of their incomparable striker Daniele Cacia to Florence. They played to a scoreless draw against Cesena at the Garilli, then lost 1-nil to Mantova at Danilo Martelli on a late goal by Doga (61’) just as heavy fog rolled into the stadium. Piacenza had two goals called back for "offsides” and had numerous chances to score, but like the weather, they seem to be in a fog as well…

Ascoli (four points ahead of Piace) comes to the Garilli on Saturday, and it’s time for the side to start scoring some goals. Cacia’s gone, boys, it’s time to get over it and move forward.

The team finally got their act in gear during their final match of the month at home against Ascoli. According to news reports their was quite a bit of animosity between the sides. After a scoreless half, Dedic put biancorossi ahead on a penalty kick in the 65th. A fight broke out shortly thereafter and Signor Squillace dished out red cards to two of the visitors and to Daniel Wolf. Sommese netted the equalizer in the 86th, despite Ascoli being a man down. Bianchi put Piacenza ahead for good during stoppage time, and biancorossi picked up their first win in over a month.

After 22 matches, Piacenza are 8-12-2-26, good for 14th place in Serie B. It appears as if the coaching change to Mario Somma hasn’t had the intended effect of invigorating the team. They need to find their identity soon or face the remainder of the season languishing at midtable, which won’t play too well in the North Country.

Wrexham

It has been a remarkably difficult time for Wrexham fans as the club continues to struggle and desperately attempt to claw their way out of the relegation pit. With half a season remaining, they are five points out and time is running short. To Brian Little’s credit, he has wasted no time clearing out the roster and brining in fresh faces during the January transfer window, the question is whether the reinforcements can bring new life to a desperate team.

In are:
Gavin Ward (goalkeeper) 18-month deal
Phil Bolland (defender) end of season
Sam Aiston (midfielder) 18 months
Paul Hall (forward) end of season
Danny Sonner (midfielder) month-to-month
Stuart Nicholson (striker) three-month loan
Carl Tremarco (defender) end of season
Jeff Whitley (midfielder) non-contract
Robert Duffy (striker) a month's loan.
Drewe Broughton

Out are:
Mark Jones (out 4-6 weeks with hamsting injury)
Gareth Evans and Jamie Reed (loan to Tamworth)
Ryan Valentine (signed with Darlington)
Juan Ugarte (terminated)

While the lineup was (obviously) in flux, there were still matches that needed to be played. On Wednesday the 9th, they blew a two-goal advantage and lost 4-2 to Llanelli in the semis of the FAW Premier Cup. Losing to a Welsh Premier side may be a new low for Wrexham. Back in League Two play on the 12th, Grimsby Town defeated Dragons 1-nil at Blundell Park on Danny North’s goal in the 68th. The bad news was losing, the good news was that the team played a disciplined and inspired match and refused to quit.

Ward, Bolland, Hall and Sonner were in the starting XI, and their veteran presence helped to keep things moving in the right direction.

Having recorded eight consecutive losses, Wrexham’s worldwide legion (!) of fans wondered if anyone could help the team reverse its fortunes, especially when League Two’s top side, Milton Keynes Dons were coming to the Racecourse Ground a week later.

The weather conditions were terrible, but Dragons played one of their better matches of the year with a 1-nil triumph over the Mighty MK Dons. Opportunities to score were far and few between for both sides, but Neil Roberts put Dragons ahead in the 71st picked up a rebound from a corner and floated the ball past Willie Gurret in the Dons’ goal. Gurret vehemently protested the lack of a foul call, and was booked for exercising his big mouth. If there was a time when the lads absolutely, positively needed to get points out of a match, this was it. This was a great win for Little and his squad and hopefully brought some joy to the good folk in Northeast Wales.

On the following Saturday, Bradford City came to town as Wrexham continued to improve their play, although the match ended in a 1-1 draw. Neil Roberts put Dragons on top in the 38th, but Kyle Nix netted the equalizer in the 49th and Bradford had the better edge in play until Little shifted to a 4-4-2 and the Dragons regained their edge.

Three nights later, Wrexham hit the road and pulled out a 2-2 draw against Morcambe Bay by the hairs on their chinny-chin-chins. It was cold at Christie Park and the 2,400+ in attendance appeared bundled up as if it was Lambeau Field. Tremarco and Sonner were injured during the match and their availability is as of yet unknown. Wayne Curtis put Morcambe ahead early on and Dragons were playing catch-up thereafter. Midway through the first half, Nicholson was dumped in the box and Mr. Hall awarded Wrexham a penalty. Sonner banged in the equalizer and the sides went in after one half all square. Early in the second, Morcambe went ahead on Roberts’ own goal and the home side really started to force the play. As the match entered the latter stages, Broughton tried to capture a corner and was hauled down, leading to another penalty kick. Michael Proctor (who entered for Spender in the 67th) did the honors, and the match was tied at two.

This was a case were the squad did not have a particularly good night yet came away with a point, further narrowing the distance out of relegation. After 27 matches, Wrexham is 5-17-5-20 (-23); still in the basement yet only two wins from making it out of the pit.