Kenny Cooper

[hristo]

Luckily it isn't his father we're going after! Based on the interviews and press conferences I've seen, the football playing part of the Cooper family seems to be quite reflected and honest.

[Gerrit]

I only saw some highlights and goals on YouTube. Seems a very efficient targetman although of course some highlights may be too short to make a judgement. I would love to sign him though, even if we would need to rise our price a bit. He is wanted by several European clubs but we could probably launch his European career and then whatever price we pay would definitely be recovered once he is ready for one of the big leagues. And for him RBK would be a much better stepping stone (European football and such) than an obscure team from a more famous league.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[2mas]

A deal is still on. Hamrén watched Cooper score both goals in the 2-2 match against Toronto on Saturday.

“In Rosenborg, I have seen all of his goals. I just wanted to see Kenny in person,� Hamrén said.

“Kenny (Cooper) is only going to get better,� he said.

“He is just 23 and he won’t hit his prime until 26, 27 or 28. He has a tremendous future. Physically, he is in top shape now. But, mentally, he will mature and get smarter from experience.�

Read more: Erik Hamren in town to scout Dallas forward

[Gerrit]

Eek, visiting Texas

I would really encourage Cooper to sign for Rosenborg though. We can always europeanise him anyway in terms of attitude, Americans are easy to brainwash (just look at their politics ). I follow the MLS a bit, I wont say it is comparable to the better European leagues but definitely on par or almost on par with the European leagues other than the biggest 5. Cooper has been shining for a long time in the MLS now, and many Americans posting on soccer forums say he is one of the brightest prospects in the USA football scene.

We can probably get him for a relatively affordable price since he is not that well known yet, and we can be his stepping stone to make career in Europe. We would get a highly motivated player, a player with an instinct for scoring goals. Imagine how lethal he could be with Iversen by his side, this may be just what we need to get the championship again next season.

I would go for it, I have a good feeling about this transfer. I would not rate it as a big risk. It is not like we would be buying a guy coming from a very low rated league, or coming from an amateur team in the third division of a far away country. This player has already proven himself in the highest level in the USA, and I do believe those who are too sceptic may be underrating the US soccer. I think we should go for it if the transfer is financially realistic.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[2mas]

Kenny Cooper has turned down an offer to join the US National Team for Wednesday’s qualifier against Trinidad and Tobago in Port of Spain.

Read more: Cooper Snubs Bradley

[ssjovold]

The MLS is absurd in this regard, and I do not understand it one single bit. MLS shows a complete disregard and lack of understanding for how important having BOTH a healthy, competitive league AND a strong national team co-existing. The MLS time and again schedule league games around or on international dates, so that the teams with solid players (LA Galaxy with donovan and Beckham for instance) are ribbed for their best talent and have to play with a B squad when important matches are on the line to make the play-offs. In the long run, this will only hurt MLS, although the motivation of short term gain for owners and just pure bullish pride above FIFA causes this to happen!
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Svein Sjovold

[2mas]

Yep, if MLS wants to be taken seriously, they should stick to the international FIFA calender.

[Gerrit]

The problem is also a bit that the USA and Mexico have it so easy in the CONCACAF zone. They always qualify because the opponents like Costa Rica, Jamaica, Canada etc are very inconsistent. As a consequence, USA and Mexico often take only their games against each other seriously, while they will often use subs in games against Trinidad, Guatemala, etc because "those are easy wins anyway".

Anyway, that impression I do get when talking to some American soccer fans. The games vs Mexico are very important, the others are not taken that seriously because the US usually qualifies very easily anyway.
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[Bakklandia]

Personaly, I can't understand why Canada has such a louzy national team.

After all, it's a big country with lost of people and quite a few good players.
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Det er bedre å stupe ut i smørøyet enn å gå rundt grøten!

[Gerrit]

Three reasons:

- no national league of any decent level, every attempt to create a national league failed due to the travel distances and costs. The official league of canada only includes teams from Alberta and Quebec right now, so it is hardly a national league. The only really professional club, FC Toronto, plays in the MLS because in the US it has decent opponents and no semi amateur teams. Having no league of your own means fewer chances for domestic talent to develop.

- Canadians care mostly about ice hockey and to lesser extend the US orientated sports such as basketball. Soccer is still not that popular in Canada and is mainly popular in cities like Toronto where 50 percent of people are immigrants from soccer-loving countries.

- the canadians that do have a heart for soccer seem to care more about the Gold Cup (Canada won it quite recently) than about other tournaments. Somehow the Canadian team performs a lot better in the Gold Cup than in world cup qualifiers.



Also, it is the biggest country in the world apart from Russia, but has a population of 24000000 only. There are a few big cities but the rest of the country is sparsely populated. Nunavut for example (in the canadian arctic) is bigger than Western Europe but has 24000 citizens only, scattered across very isolated tiny towns.



USA is smaller than canada but the population density is much bigger so they have a lot more citizens. Also, soccer in the USA grows in popularity while the Canadians have only FC Toronto to get excited about, this means ice hockey and basketball will remain more popular than soccer in the foreseeable future.
I would love to see the Maple Leaves at the world cup though. Canada to me comes across as a great country I would not mind living in. The US however is politically so wicked... Canada comes across as a liberal and politically healthy version of the US. But well, if Obama wins the elections, the US may make things right in the end
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Rosenborg, forever pride of the North!

[Hedning]

The conservatives won the election in Canada, didn't they? Still, that's not the same as the US conservatives. Obama is a step in the right direction for sure, but he is no saviour.

[Eru]

As Jon Stewart put it:

Of course, canadian conservatives would be equivalent to the american party: "Gay Nader fans for peace"

[media]

largest countrys in the world:
russia
canada
usa
china
brasil
australia
india
argentina
kasakhstan
sudan
algerie
kongo
saudi-arabia
mexico

... as you see, there is no resemblence between a large country, and large football-nations

[Billabong]

I can see why this is relevant to the thread topic -- I think

[media]

well, cooper is from top of this list ... ok, a bit off topic

[Øystein]

[Gerrit]

[Saparius]

It also have a lot to say about how rich the people in the country is.
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-- Høh, pitabraud, hørt slikt!

[fubar]

Like Brazil and Argentina?

[Saparius]

Like sudan, algerie, kongo they are big countries, but not in the football world.
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-- Høh, pitabraud, hørt slikt!

[Kjello]

Well, football was a poor man's sport. That's the main reason football isn't popular in USA. Most of the european immigrants that went to america was children of wealthy farmers and so on.

[Gerrit]

[Henri]

[Kjello]

[2mas]

Last Wednesday he played for the United States national team in a 2-0 victory over Guatemala under the watchful eyes of scouts from the German clubs Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Mönchengladbach. Cooper’s contract with M.L.S. expires after the 2009 season, and he is seeking to renegotiate his deal and garner designated-player status, which would mean a minimum salary of $400,000 a year. Cooper could be sold during the January transfer period or could play out his contract and leave M.L.S. on a free transfer next year.

Read more: Major League Soccer’s Best XI

Following his solid performance last week on the international stage, rumors once again surfaced, as they did at last July's MLS All-Star Game, that Cooper leaving for Europe was virtually a done deal. Cooper downplayed that speculation.

"I'm contracted with FC Dallas for two more years," Cooper said.

"That's where my focus lies right now for the offseason. Just looking at things on a day-to-day basis, I want to use the offseason to improve and come back a better player in preseason for FC Dallas."

Read more: Cooper caps special season at Gala

Video: Comeback player of the year