Rogers to Columbus
Columbus has won the MLS lottery for Robbie Rogers.
Details to come...
[UPDATE] As we reported here first...
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Columbus Crew won the rights to U.S. Under-20 National Team forward-midfielder Robbie Rogers Thursday afternoon in a weighted lottery conducted at Major League Soccer headquarters in New York. The 19-year-old Rogers has been signed to a developmental contract and will not occupy one of the Crew's 18 senior roster spots.
Special lotteries are conducted by the league among interested teams for players who are not eligible to be discovered and who were not drafted. It is the same mechanism by which the Crew won midfielder Danny Szetela's rights on July 22, 2004. All 13 teams participated on Thursday.
"It is always exciting to acquire a bright, young talent the caliber of Robbie Rogers," said General Manager Mark McCullers. "Left-footed players are always a hot commodity and he adds another youth national team player to our roster, joining Danny Szetela and Tim Ward."
Rogers recently secured his release from Heerenveen of the Dutch Eredivisie, with which he had signed in August 2006 following one stellar season at the University of Maryland. He scored seven goals and added five assists on the Terrapins' 2005 National Championship squad, which also featured Crew teammates Jason Garey and Marc Burch. Rogers was named to the All-Tournament team and earned All-America laurels that season.
"It is tremendous to be able to add a young attacking talent who is going to be a mainstay for the U.S. in the upcoming U-20 World Cup," said Head Coach Sigi Schmid. "He is going to provide great speed and excitement to our fans and he'll be a lot of fun to watch."
Rogers played the full 90 minutes of all three games, scoring one goal and adding three assists, in the recent CONCACAF Qualifying Tournament in Panama, through which the U.S. advanced to its sixth-straight FIFA U-20 World Cup. He was a two-time Parade All-American in high school and spent a year in the U-17 residency program.
Single-game tickets for the 2007 home season go sale to the general public on Saturday (March 10) at the Crew Stadium Box Office, all Central Ohio Ticketmaster retail locations, via Ticketmaster phone at 614-431-3600 and on-line at TheCrew.com. Fans can still become Crew Soccer Nation members, as well, by purchasing full-season ticket packages or partial plans. Group tickets are also available for all 15 home games. All ticket packages and plans are available by calling 614-447-CREW and at TheCrew.com.
Founded by Lamar Hunt, the Columbus Crew is Ohio's Major League Soccer club, anchoring a diverse sports and entertainment enterprise. One of the league's Charter Members, it will open its 12th season overall and ninth in first-of-its-kind Columbus Crew Stadium on Saturday, April 7, when it plays host to Claudio Reyna and the New York Red Bulls.
ROBBIE ROGERS
Position: Midfielder/Forward
Height: 5'-10
Weight: 165
Born: May 12, 1987 (Age 19)
Birthplace: Huntington Beach, Calif.
College: Maryland
Acquired: Via weighted lottery on March 8, 2007
By Steve Goff |
March 8, 2007; 4:37 PM ET
MLS
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Posted by: Rocko | March 8, 2007 4:42 PM
I wanna go back to Holland!!
Posted by: Robbie Rogers | March 8, 2007 4:44 PM
Hhhhhhaaaahhh. Well, let's hope he follows the needle in a turd stack model that McBride provided before him.
Posted by: Logan Circle | March 8, 2007 4:45 PM
Would we (DC United) trade a d-mid or something else for him?
Posted by: Anonymous | March 8, 2007 4:47 PM
At least he didn't end up NY.
Posted by: Anonymous | March 8, 2007 4:48 PM
If there's one thing Columbus doesn't need, it's a d-mid. Szetela, Oughton, O'Rourke.
They could use a flank player or a forward, so perhaps Gros, Casal, or Fred would work :)
Posted by: Jonny | March 8, 2007 4:51 PM
"At least he didn't end up in NY."
...NY is in such disarray that they can no longer even win MLS' New York Lottery Give-Away.
Posted by: Jared | March 8, 2007 4:53 PM
We'll take Freddy Adu.
Posted by: Columbus | March 8, 2007 5:03 PM
YES!!!!! sorry DC. dont worry though, i'm sure this will be about the only thing we win this year...and next...
Posted by: brian | March 8, 2007 5:03 PM
Brian...have faith, Columbus is sure to win the top draft pick in next year's draft as well.
Posted by: Rocko | March 8, 2007 5:06 PM
can you find out when the united vs galaxy game tix go on sale? all other single game tix are availible now.
Posted by: david villa | March 8, 2007 5:24 PM
As I reported many weeks ago, DCU-LA tix are only available at the moment to season ticket buyers. Partial plan buyers will have a shot at them in June, I believe, and then all others in July.
Posted by: Goff | March 8, 2007 5:30 PM
they'll be available in july to the general public - or june if you buy a group. i think flex plan holders can buy earlier
Posted by: Anonymous | March 8, 2007 6:10 PM
So what is C-Bus asking for from Toronto in exchange for Rogers?
Posted by: Scott | March 8, 2007 6:26 PM
Rogers should do ok in Columbus, they've got some good young US players, like Ward and Szetela and maybe Gaven. they just need some solid older vets with some international pedigree. Rogers could move right into the first team. If he stayed with Hereveen he'd take about two years at least to catch the eye of the coach.
Posted by: cuzco03 | March 8, 2007 6:32 PM
He will also play with some of his old team mates drinking buddies at Maryland-Marc Burch and Jason Garey.
Posted by: Terp | March 8, 2007 7:45 PM
How exactly is Rogeres a developmental player? If he's making $55K, he has to be either a senior roster player or GA. If he's GA, then MLS would have made a bigger deal out of it, and it would have gone against their previous policies on returning professional players.
Posted by: Jason | March 8, 2007 9:31 PM
Columbus: where young soccer talent goes to die.
Posted by: soccer geek | March 8, 2007 10:13 PM
He was tremendous in U-20 Qualifying. Looked like a younger (and better) Justin Mapp on the wings.
Posted by: Max | March 8, 2007 10:39 PM
Arvizu came in as a Generation adidas cap-protected player.
Posted by: Common sense | March 8, 2007 11:01 PM
Jason -- IIRC, Adu was considered a developmental player for roster purposes, and he made a heck of a lot more than $55k.
Steven -- is MLS ever going to consider the equivalent of the NFL's supplemental draft rules, i.e., rather than do a weighted lottery, set up the draft order based on records but then, if a team takes the player in Round X, they give up their pick in Round X in the next draft? If Rogers is considered a first-round talent, it seems absurd that a team could get him without having to give up a first round pick.
Posted by: aaron | March 9, 2007 4:52 AM
You both missed my point there. Neither Adu or Arvizu played professionally before signing with the league. The league has chosen to "punish" young players who return to MLS after playing professionally elsewhere. There was no mention of him being GA before he was assigned via lottery, which Arvizu and Szetella were. So why did the league make an exception for Rogers?
Posted by: Jason | March 9, 2007 7:34 AM
Just what Columbus needed, another talented young guy who 2-3 years away from helping. I say trade him for something that helps NOW!
Posted by: TED | March 9, 2007 8:57 AM
Mr. Goff: Props again for your outstanding MLS coverage, inside and outside of DC. Any information of offers made to the Crew for Rogers "if any". Sounds like we'll be keeping him, but I'd assume at least a few calls were made.
Posted by: Danzilla | March 9, 2007 11:34 AM
I'm with jason on this one. It makes no sense considering past practice. The only players i've seen above the developmental salary limit and still considered developmental were GA signings. And not a single one I can remember signed from a professional club.
Posted by: JC | March 9, 2007 11:53 AM
I think that DCUnited wanted Robbie Rogers--do you think they'll try to ''get him'' from Columbus --maybe for allocation money
And since Jamil Fearrington was still contracted to the Danish club;
Do you think DCU did not want to spend any money on transfer fees for a young player or was he not a good technical player like DCU likes to have
It's too bad that DCU only gave him a 5 days trial
Great Blog GOFF--keep up the great work--
Some of us in Texas are ardent DC United fans
Posted by: DCSanAntonio | March 9, 2007 2:14 PM
I never played in a "professional" game. Technically, I was a professional, but I never made it in a first team game
Posted by: Rob Rogers | March 9, 2007 3:56 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Poor guy.