Zdeněk Zeman

Ok TFC next order of business HIRE THIS GUY: Zdeněk Zeman

I beg you to look past the cigarette stained, crooked teeth and into the mind of the 4-3-3 genius. His attacking football minded is a pleasure to watch even though a bit scary for fans at times.

The facts are this…

Zeman was Born in Prague in 1947 and is a naturalized Italian manager. One very historical coach. He has coached at Giants such as Roma, Lazio, Napoli, Fenerbahce and Red Star Belgrade has had great success at the smaller clubs that were fighting for promotion from Serie B to Serie A or to remain in the top flight. The work he did at US Foggia and Pescara was no small task. While at Foggia in the 90’s Zeman was continuously on the verge of UEFA Cup qualification. He molded players who into national team players like: – Giuseppe Signori – Francesco Baiano – Brian Roy – Igor Kolyvanov – Igor Shalimov – Roberto Rambaudi – Dan Petrescu

The following season Zdeněk Zeman as new head coach of Pescara put the team back into national coverage. Thanks to Zeman’s well-known all-attacking playing style which was perfect for his young promising players like Marco Verratti, Ciro Immobile, and Lorenzo Insigne and then BOOM. Pescara was back in Serie A! Pescara secured promotion to the top-level after a 19-year absence.

Zdeněk Zeman left the club to go manage AS Roma once again but found that managing the older more stubborn players like Totti who had their own ideas of how the team would play is a headache that in the end doesn’t go away.

I know that Zeman would have real success in MLS because he always does well with hard working, very fit players who are willing to listen and do as he says. It’s a tiring style but the reward is endless. Fast paced, organized, overlapping, attacking football! I love it.

TFC already has Bradley who played for Zeman at Roma and now Giovinco who understands his style. If they get one more attacking center midfielder who can feed balls going forward, this team is playoff bound. No offense Greg Vanny I am all for young American coaches but come on TFC! Make me a fan. Hire Zeman!

Another Post That Became a Reality: “Giovinco”

A couple months ago I posted my MLS wish list (below). First on the list was Sebastian Giovinco who I was confident would do very well in the MLS. Although he’s only 5′ 5” the Atomic Ant, as he is called has done extremely well in Serie A and while wearing #10 for Italy. He had limited time at Juventus but he scored 15 Serie A goals while at Parma.

Originally when I brought his name up people thought I was crazy, either because they thought he wouldn’t come or because they didn’t know much about him. Well Toronto FC thinks he is worth a good amount of money and maybe they took a look at the blog because as of a few days ago Giovinco is on his way. I will take it a step further and say he scores at least 11 MLS goals and by his second season more. TFC isn’t the strongest side in the league but he will for sure help.

See article of Sebastian Giovinco signing for TFC here: http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/69/transfer-zone/2015/01/19/8115562/official-toronto-fc-completes-giovinco-signing?ICID=HP_TS_4

 

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The D’Agostino Philosophy Post: 12/10/2014

HERE IS MY MLS WISH LIST

Before you say anything hear me out. I know that some of these names may seem washed-up and there were a few such as Totti and Klose that I left off because I know that the argument would be “the MLS is not a retirement league.” However, look what Marco Di Vaio and Beckham did. I think these names would improve the league significantly.

My MLS wish list:

Giovinco
Ross McCormack
Giuseppe Rossi
Xavi
Iniesta
Di Natale
Frank Lampard
Pirlo
Floccari
Pazzini
Jonathan Spector

I think it would make more sense if we looked in Holland, Germany, Italy, Serbia, Croatia, Belgium, Argentina and Brazil’s bottom of the table first division and/or second division teams to find younger talent before they are offered big time contracts.

It goes without saying that we should constantly be looking to have a strong infusion of young US talent coming in and being pulled up from USL and NASL.

Think about how much our young players could learn from some of these player’s experiences.

Lower League Talent

This goes to show that there is talent in the lower leagues. It would be nice to have more American scouts looking for talent in the 2nd, 3rd and even 4th divisions of top Footballing nations. In this case the player is happy with his decision but there are good young players  who would jump at the chance to come over to states and play for little money. 

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Part-time footballer, full-blown talent. Meet Robbie Dale, the barman who tears apart the opposition in his spare time.

ROBERT GORDON | JANUARY 4, 2015

On Saturday afternoon, Robbie Dale scored twice as the non-league Blyth Spartans narrowly lost their 3rd Round FA Cup tie against former Premier League side Birmingham City, a team four full divisions above them. While his second was as good as any goal you’ll see on NBC Sports, come Sunday morning Dale was back opening up the family pub, as he does every weekend.

In an American Idol / X Factor / Keeping Up With The Kardashians era, where fame and money seem to count for more than achievement, Robbie Dale is an anomaly. Because despite having more footballing talent in his little toe than you or I have combined, Dale isn’t a professional; he’s a bartender. And that’s just how he likes it.

Don’t for a second think the 30-year old Dale hasn’t turned professional for want of skill or ability: he scored a hat-trick on his debut for Blyth, was their top scorer in four of the last eight seasons (despite playing in midfield as often as a striker) and the two goals he netted on Saturday took his 2014-15 FA Cup tally to eight in as many games. What’s more, despite regularly playing on pitches with less grass than the moon, he still has the touch and technique to score sensational individual goals like these:

On Saturday afternoon, Robbie Dale scored twice as the non-league Blyth Spartans narrowly lost their 3rd Round FA Cup tie against former Premier League side Birmingham City, a team four full divisions above them. While his second was as good as any goal you’ll see on NBC Sports, come Sunday morning Dale was back opening up the family pub, as he does every weekend.

In an American Idol / X Factor / Keeping Up With The Kardashians era, where fame and money seem to count for more than achievement, Robbie Dale is an anomaly. Because despite having more footballing talent in his little toe than you or I have combined, Dale isn’t a professional; he’s a bartender. And that’s just how he likes it.

Don’t for a second think the 30-year old Dale hasn’t turned professional for want of skill or ability: he scored a hat-trick on his debut for Blyth, was their top scorer in four of the last eight seasons (despite playing in midfield as often as a striker) and the two goals he netted on Saturday took his 2014-15 FA Cup tally to eight in as many games. What’s more, despite regularly playing on pitches with less grass than the moon, he still has the touch and technique to score sensational individual goals like these:

No, he’s had plenty of opportunities to move up the footballing ranks, it’s simply that Dale likes his life as it is: “I’ve been offered trials all over the place, but none of them seemed right. I’m happy with life as a barman and a part-time footballer. People might not understand that, but I am.”

So hats off to Robbie Dale for bucking the modern-day scourge of fame for its own sake. Why not follow him on Twitter? Despite having achieved the square root of f*ck all, Kim Kardashian has 27 million followers; Dale barely has a thousand.

(For the full article and video click below)

http://the18.com/news/man-best-amateur-footballer-world

 

Tournaments/Showcases

In the past month or so I have been to 4 tournaments/showcases, I will rate them on:

Fields|Talent|Bang for Buck|Organization

 

IMG Academy Showcase

Fields- 9

Talent- 7

Bang for Buck- 8

Organization- 8

While these are all a bit different IMG was ran best just because all of the games were taped. Disney (Puma) dropped the ball on this one. Every game needs to be taped so coaches can go back and watch full game tape on a player they are looking to spend upwards of $160,000 on in scholarship.

Disney Cup

Fields- 8 due to the fact that there were some turf fields

Talent- 8

Bang for Buck- 7

Organization- 7

IMG offered water, Gatorade, electrolyte gummies, recovery snack bars while Disney did none of this. However Disney had non academy teams at the tournament which was good, I would have liked to see the academy and non academy teams put into mixed groups as appose to the academy teams put in their own category.

Boston College Showcase

Field- (Football Stadium Bubbled Turf) 8

Talent- 6.5/7

Bang for Buck- 8

Organization- 7

Boston College showcase did a good job in 2 days to get local schools there to scout talent. Every kid got a solid look and coach to player ratio was worth it. The field was the football turf which is bubbled. It made for a good environment.

Infosport Combine

Fields- 6.5/7

Talent- 7

Bang for Buck- 7.5/8

Organization- 8

Infosport Combine has really upped its numbers and even included women this year, which was great to see. The fields could have been better but at least they were all grass. My criticism would be that each team needs at least 2 coaches because 18 players are a lot to watch by oneself. The talent over all was good obviously I am comparing it to the pro ranks and not Academy level, the first half of the All-Star game was good quality. Players are always missed in these environments but the coaches that were involved were of high quality from MLS, NASL, USL there was great representation.