Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Claudio and Cows

Is Claudio a sacred cow of U.S. soccer?
Dyer takes a look at Reyna's value to his New York team specifically, and MLS in general
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Frankie Hejduk vouches for Reyna in the piece, but I know another former World Cup teammate of Reyna was far less complimentary.
"Claudio Reyna is not worth a million dollars in this league," he told me. "Please."
The thing is, that's what he said when Reyna was signed, before the injuries started piling up.
I have to admit, I had to use journalistic objectivity to overcome my personal hope that John O'Brien would be a good signing for MLS. His skill and creativity were thrilling, but his track record of health and fitness couldn't be ignored. Rather sadly, I wrote an article that was more than a bit skeptical of the investment Chivas USA made. Things turned out even worse than anyone expected. O'Brien cost only a fraction of what Reyna did, but he only played five minutes for the squad. There's no way the team got good value out of that.
Is Reyna worth a million? If not, what is he worth? Is he perhaps a better fit for another team? Is he delicate creme brulee instead of tough Jello, or completely insubstantial cotton candy?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cladio will always be a product of coaches and media saying he was more than he was. I am not saying he wasn't a good player, but I think the whole Captain America is overhype or over expectations depending on how you look at him. His game is to play simple and smart, when surrounded by better players that looks great. But when he becomes a teams focal point in the middle, he just doesn't have the ability to do it. He appears to be a great leader for teams, as evidenced by being a captain on several teams, but in MLS if you are gonna spend that much money, you need more than just a good leader. You need a difference maker, which I don't think anyone would claim him to be.

Anonymous said...

He might not be worth the money, but when he leaves the pitch the lack of organization, and the price the team plays for that, are obvious.

I've been going to the Red Bulls games this season and my husband and I were surprised at the impact Reyna made after all the criticism. Like so much of the game its something that's hard to read on t.v. Is he worth the money? Unless they have someone else who can run the ball through the midfield, that's not really their biggest issue.

BTW, I don't care what the "studies" say, plastic turf isn't a good surface for resilient players, let alone the injury prone. I've been watching football for a long time and I've never seen so many players with back problems until I started watching the Red Bulls -- I know that's not Reyna's problem but the turf can't be helping anyone.

A.C. said...

I agree, which is why I think Philly would be making a disastrous mistake if they plan on installing artificial turf.

MattJack said...

Just say NO to turf!

Unknown said...

I'd say no to Claudio as a sacred cow, he has taken a ton of heat in the media. Actually, I think CR has had a strange ride as far as being underrated/overrated. I think his skill set and injury record made him a bad signing for the Red Cows. Since then, I think people haven't appreciated his play on the field enough, but at the same time, you could really see the injuries coming.

Anyways, his time missed is definitely something to consider as MLS and Chi line up for McBride.

Anonymous said...

As for that unnamed former teammate of Claudio's...that comment sounds like a Wynaldaism.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering if you knew what was up with JOB. Is he just done with the game or is he still trying to get over his many injuries?