It is MUCH too early too give a fair evaluation to the happenings in the last 24 hours with Real Salt Lake making it a prime time for us bloggers to throw in our two cents. For those of you that use my site to keep up on the dealings and news of RSL, first I’d like to thank both of you…mom/dad, you should know that
It is a pretty big deal for RSL who dealt Jeff Cunningham, last year's Golden Boot award winner
and the fourth all-time goal scorer in league history. He also has three of RSL's six goals this season. He is an exciting player that can create opportunities out of nothing and also a fan favorite (or should I say favourite now that he is going to Canada?). Some critism of Jeff is that he can be lazy when he isn't getting the ball and tends to be very 'streaky'. In fact he is really having a bit of a slump with RSL scoring just one PK that he didn't create in the last six games after scoring 2 in the first game alone.
In return Salt Lake will be getting a young (Esky is 24) hard working striker who l
ike Cunningham has been a fan favourite (well I guess favorite now) with his two previous clubs. He was first overall pick in the 2003 SuperDraft and was a good player for DC United for a couple of years...though not really a star. After an injury plagued 2005 (concussion kept him out) Esky was traded to Toronto FC where the fans instantly loved the guy. He scored his first goal in BMO stadium Saturday against his old club DC United and seemed to be gelling with the team and Toronto community. So much that he wasn't too pleased when he was initially told the news. He told Goff with the Washington Post,
"It's a huge shock. Totally out of the blue. They called me into the coaches' office this morning and told me. I am definitely disappointed. I felt good here and was really settling in. It hurts. I feel like I was deceived. I am sure they will put a spin on it and say that I wanted to leave, but that's not the case." It is of note that later that same day he spoke with Salt Lake media and was nothing but cordial and diplomatic in his interview. He said all the right things indicating that he is excited about the change and is going to give it his all.
If you want any more emperical information concerning the transaction you can find it in the official press release.
Browsing the boards of BigSoccer and such it is interesting reading the fan reactions on both the RSL boards and comparing them to the TFC boards. They both read similiar to "THIS SUCKS! (Enter name of other team) is getting the better deal on this one. (Enter own coaches name) is a moron and needs to be fired. (Enter name of other team) is getting a fan favo(u)rite in (enter player name). We gave up more than we got, though I do like (enter new player coming) I just would rather have (enter player leaving)."
Despite what fans feel it appears that this is a long time coming according to a interview with Coach Jason Kreis during the Coach's show on 700 the zone. It seems as if Mo has been after Cunningham for some time now. Also if you look at Fortaleza Menina's site she has various comments made by Jeff showing his affinity for Canuckland. It also was clear that Jeff and Coach Kreis didn't see eye to eye. Kreis is a scrappy hard worker that earned his way in the league. Jeff is a talented and exciting star who takes plays off.
Esky fits the Coach Kreis mold and Kreis even told Esky that he reminds him of himself and that is why he wanted him. Though we all just take it as lip-service Kreis was upfront when he said that he would be bold as the RSL coach. RSL fans demanded change, but it seems like they didn't want it as bad as they thought.
Surprise to nobody...I'm not going to get down on anybody yet. I really like Esky and want him to succeed here. He has had some beautiful goals over the years and is scrappy in the box. His downside is that he doesn't create a goals out of nothing like JC could, but he is amazing when receiving crosses high and low.
For this trade to be of any value though RSL has to continue to add to the roster. The trade frees up almost $100,000 to add to about $200,000 or so that RSL has for salary cap room. That must be used to improve the midfield and defense. There is no doubt that our front line is no longer as dangerous which is only okay if we can improve the rest of the team.
Two of the options that RSL has are to either use the money to acquire two or three new guys to fill spots like FC Dallas did (they got a few guys for relatively little money out of South America and it is paying dividends). Or they can bet the farm on a single 'designated player' spot like the Galaxy did with David Beckham. While I prefer the first option I'm fearful that RSL will prefer a single flashy name. In that case I hope they go after DeMarcus Beasely moving Freddy Adu to center mid and Medhi Ballouchy to right wing. I could play the speculation game with about a hundred players right now, but I'm pretty sure things will start to pan out in the next week or two. Until then...
Also...what are your thoughts? I'm curious how my readers feel about the deal...leave comments below. I feel that JC wasn't doing us any good this season...am I wrong?
Jeff gone...Esky in...Esky is more fun to say.
