NASL Teams Busy with Player Signings
NASL teams have been busy recently, not only with the NASL Player Combine in sunny Florida this past weekend, but in signing veteran players for the 2011 season. FC Tampa Bay announced the signing of veteran defender Frankie Sanfilippo, while the Puerto Rico Islanders also reached out for experienced backline leadership by adding former Aztex captain Jay Needham. The Montreal Impact have also been active, inking French import Hassoun Camara, a defensive midfielder/defender. In other NASL news, the Strikers have brought in former Miami Fusion captain Jim Rooney as an assistant to Head Coach Daryl Shore.
Frankie Sanfilippo - Photo by Jarrett Campbell
Sanfilippo brings a great deal of D-2 professional experience to Head Coach Ricky Hill’s FC Tampa Bay squad. Sanfilippo, 29, was chosen by the San Jose Earthquakes in the 2003 MLS SuperDraft, but decided to stay in school at San Jose State to finish his degree before signing in 2004 with the USL-1 Syracuse Salty Dogs. The 5’9″ San Diego native joined the Rochester Rhinos in 2005, and played for the Carolina RailHawks and Charleston Battery before returning to the Rhinos in 2010. The Rhinos’ captain helped guide Rochester to the best point total in USSF D2 last season.
In a similar move, Coach Colin Clarke brings experience and leadership to the champion Islanders’ backline with the signing of defender Needham. The 6’2″ Texan captained the surprising Austin Aztex to an outstanding regular season in 2010, scoring 2 goals while bringing a steadying influence to the Aztex’ defense. This will be Needham’s second time around with the Islanders, as he originally played for Puerto Rico in 2007 after finishing his collegiate career at SMU.
Needham, 26, also has played overseas, captaining the Alta IF team in Norway’s 2nd tier for two seasons. While at Alta, the northern-most professional team in Norway, Needham was “the sort of defender that gets the job done, and was a great leader on the pitch, able to play as a holding midfielder or a full back as well, but at his best in central defense,” according to Norwegian -based soccer blogger Niklas Wildhagen. Needham played 50 games for Alta.
Meanwhile in Montreal, the Impact added to the French flavor of their team by signing Ligue 2 player Hassoun Camara. The 27-year-old played the last two seasons in France for SC Bastia after originally being signed by iconic French club Olympique Marseille, although he only appeared in one cup match for the French giants. The 6’2″ Frenchman of Senegalese descent joins fellow Frenchmen Anthony Le Gall, Philippe Billy and Richard Pelletier on Montreal’s 2011 roster.
“Camara is a versatile player, who can also play as a center back,” said Impact sporting director Nick De Santis. “He has played at a very high level and has a bucket full of experience. He joins the Impact at a good age and will continue to improve with us. We hope he will adapt well to the North American game.”
The Impact have also invited six of their Academy players to their upcoming camp, and are bringing in former AC St. Louis midfielder Luke Kreamalmeyer and Portland Timbers’ backup goalkeeper Matt Pyzdrowski on a trial basis. Kreamalmeyer has a strong D2 background, scoring 25 goals while playing for Rochester, Carolina and Portland before joining his hometown team in 2010. The former Bradley Brave, 28, scored five goals and added eight assists for AC St. Louis last season, missing only the season’s opener due to the birth of his daughter.
Pyzdrowski, 24, played at Marquette University before turning pro last season and made three appearances for the Timbers as Steve Cronin’s backup. The Illinois native will have a genuine opportunity with the MLS-bound Impact club, as long-time Montreal goalkeeper Matt Jordan retired to join the team’s front office staff and 2010 backup Srdjan Djekanovic was not offered a contract.
In other NASL club news, the Strikers announced that former Miami Fusion star Jim Rooney is joining the club as an assistant to Daryl Shore. The Bronx native captained the thrilling Fusion team of 2001 and also played for the NY Metro Stars and New England Revolution during his career, appearing in over 100 MLS matches while scoring 21 goals as a midfielder and striker.
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I had heard through the grapevine that there really was not much talent at the NASL Combine. I am assuming this person was referencing the fact that I was not there. It will be interesting to see how things go. Come on you Stars!
FC Tampa Bay just announced that they have re-signed 2010 team leading scorer Aaron King, who’s 12 goals were third-best in USSF D2 in 2010.
Puerto Rico ISLANDERS!!!!
To clarify, King was already signed for 2011. His new deal adds an option year for 2012.
@ Steve….My bad. Thanks for the clarification.
Islanders coach are headed to England to look at player right now.
I sincerely hope these players don’t get caught on the short end of the stick on this. The NASL teams may be making promises that cannot be kept, and unless they have a plan B, they know that, which would be an injustice to the players.
@Bart – The players sign at their own risk. There is no excuse for them to not know what is going on. If they got sold a bill of goods by a club to sign, then they have no one to blame but themselves. It sounds like Sanfilippo got talked into signing by the Tampa people with promises they are going to play. If they fold, then that was the risk he took. Seriously, just wait a week and find out the fate of the league. Why sign now? You’ll only look foolish later.
@Soccer Boy – I also heard there was no real talent at the NASL combine. But what did anyone expect? This league wouldn’t be run well even without a guillotine over their heads.
Anybody know what the deal is with the transfer window? Are NASL teams able to deal with European teams to try and get players in on loan?
Jay Needham back in an Orange jersey. I’ll raise my plastic cup of lemon ginger ale to that one!
That guy played really well for us when he signed with us the first time.
Some of us followed him from a distance in Sweden and had hoped that when he returned to the States and signed with Austin but seeing how it was his hometown we weren/t that disappointed.
After Uncle Phil Jr. bailed on Austin like the Colts did Baltimore, I guess there was even less incentive for Needham to move on to Orlando.
If the NASL gets sanctioned then it will be a really good move for him.
@Big Nige: Not trying to be funny but I don’t really think that the transfer window comes into play with European teams because I don’t really think that too many teams are going to be loaing guys to the NASL, not even players with traffic ties like Bryan Arguez in Portugal.
@Bart & Dave: Some players are definitely waiting to see what happens before signing with a club–be it NASL or USL. One told me that last weekend.
Some guys are going to wait and see how things play out.
So guys are taking calculated risks and if they aren’t–like Dave said–they have only themselves and in some cases their agents to blame.
BTW, I just wanted to give a shout out to Niklas Wildhagen for sharing his personal observations of Jay Needham’s play while in Norway. Niklas also gave me a heads up on Norwegian defender Jan Gunnar Solli, who recently signed with the NY Red Bulls and should be a solid addition to their team.
Niklas is a native of Hannover attending university in Norway. You can read his soccer writing on his own blog, norwgianmusings http://norwegianmusings.wordpress.com/ and on the Bundesliga Fanatic http://bundesligafanatic.com/
In all reality, this is the NASL’s first combine. It’s expected that it would be really only a small building block as opposed to a smashing success. All the other issues, the greatest being the sanctioning, only added to the struggles. But, I’m sure it’ll be much improved next year.
The NASL is going to play soccer this season with or without USSF’s sanctioning; or at least that’s what seems to be the plan. I think it’s the right decision on the part of the NASL leadership. They need to go ahead with their work. The USSF D2 sanctioning will follow, as they prove that indeed they are serious about running a true D2 league.
BUT the NASL will only be able to do that if we – the fans – buy tickets, go to games, cheer for our local teams, buy team products, buy foods & drinks (especially beer) at the games, and even better invite our friends. Honestly, I feel that NASL (and USL for that matter) have done all they could. Now it’s our turn as fans to do our part. See you all at the games!
GO STARS!
I know it’s a crazy world. But I have a hard time believing the assumption that a league would stoop so low as to screw its players over, or that the players who are signing these contracts would be so incompetent to not consider the consequences or to devise a backup plan with their agent and respective club.
Lets not forget that soon after they lost their provisonal sanction, the league has gone on record for stating they would continue to work in conjunction with USSF to address any problems right up to the submitting of their application about a week ago.
Their action to shamelessly allow player signings to pick up momentum speaks volumes of how optimistic they are or how stubborn they can be. And unless we were there watching the whole process unfold between the league and USSF, we will only continue to assume and predict this end-of-the-world scenarios.
@fotbalist – Good post. NASL is indeed just in its infancy here. Davdison himself, while talking about big long term goals, advised fans to temper expectations early on in the process. No sane soccer fan has intimated the NASL will be an overnight success. Nothing soccer related in the country is. The teams, and by proxy the league need slow and STEADY growth if this is going to work. And you’ve hit the nail right on the head in your last paragraph – it’s all about us the fans. The teams HAVE to do their part in marketing the hell out of their respective communities, and putting an entertaining and hopefully successful side on the field. But the game in this country at all levels only grows because of us the fans. Everyone get out and watch your team. Go again and bring your family. Go again and bring your family and your friends. Go again and grab everyone you know. LOL Have fun and enjoy the games! Can’t wait for the season to get started, go Strikers!!!!
FC Tampa Bay have put together a very strong core of players this offseason and should be one of the better sides this season… If the league gets sanctioning.
With King, Ambersley and Steele leading the attack, I look for them to be the most exciting team to watch. The addition of Frankie will help a back line that struggled towards the end of the 2010 season.
@yankiboy
There could be some european teams who could loan to use like in San Marino or Wales or Ireland. I had when people mention soccer in Europe and all they think about is England, Spain, Italy, and the big countries, their are countries that have shit leagues as well in Europe.
P.S: GO ARSENAL FC (ENGLAND), NEW YORK RED BULLS (USA/MLS), PUNE FC (INDIA), AND ….
FC TAMPA BAY (USA/NASL)
@Robin:
Europe is a really big place. It sounds like you might be grouping me in with the people that think only about the big countries (which isn’t the case).
If an Irish or Welsh club needs to send a player to the US second division in order to get him some playing time then they probably need to reconsider their approach.
If I’m in San Marino and my guy needs some playing time then I am going to not send him so far away because I would prefer to keep him closer pysically (justa comfort zone thing).
I’d rather send him to the Austrian second or the German 3rd or someplace that has stylistic characteristcs that I fell could be of more use to him for when I get him back.
But hey, that’s just my personal preference…