FCD Signs André Rocha
February 12th, 2008 . 6:05 pm . By: Buzz Carrick
FC Dallas today announced the signing of Brazilian midfielder André Rocha from sister team Clube Atletico Paranaense. Let me say up front that I have rarely been this excited about a signing FCD has made. Having watching him for two games at the Shaka Hislop tournament in T&T I can tell you this kid can play. He was the clear tournament MVP and dominated competition FCD only fared well against. When FCD returned form T&T I contacted one of the people who runs Furacao.com, a site similar in nature to 3rd Degree that covers Paranaense, to asked about several players. Here’s what he said about Rocha.
While with the high quality CAP team Rocha had mostly started at right back. But during the T&T tournament he played a deep lying linking midfield role. At 6′1 he’s quite big for a midfielder of his skill. He fits Morrow’s desire for active mobile players, is a terrific long range passer and shooter, and is a tough tackler and ball winner when need be. for Morrow’s new formation, Rocha can play right wingback, holding midfield, or even a higher more creative midfield spot. I believe this is a terrific signing that will really help the team. And I’m not trying to sell tickets. Here’s the PR stuff on Rocha… FCD Signs Brazilian André RochaFC Dallas today announced the signing of Brazilian midfielder André Rocha, who becomes the second player loaned to FCD from partner Clube Atletico Paranaense of Brazil’s Serie A. The 23-year-old joins forward Ricardinho, who is entering his second season with FCD after being loaned by Atletico Paranaense in July 2007. Rocha will join the team immediately for preseason training and be eligible for regular season selection upon receipt of his visa. Per league and team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. “We’re delighted to bring Rocha to FC Dallas,” said FCD Head Coach Steve Morrow. “It highlights the tremendous benefit of our partnership with CAP. He has tremendous qualities, and can play several positions for us. He’s a very talented player and we believe he’s going to have a big impact, not just with our team, but within the League this year. He’s someone we’ve had our eye on for a quite a while and we’re pleased that we’ve reached an agreement with CAP to bring him here to FC Dallas.” Rocha joined the Sao Paulo youth system at age 11, and remained with them through the Junior team. He then began his professional career in 2002 as a right back with fourth-division Sao Paulo-based club, Aguas de Lindoia Esporte Clube. After a short stint with Portuguesa Santista, he was purchased by Palmeiras of the top division, where he played one season. Since joining Atletico Paranaense in 2005, he has played in 47 games in all competitions, including nine appearances in the 2005 Copa Libertadores, in which Atletico Paranaense defeated Mexico’s Guadalajara (Chivas) in the semifinals before falling to Sao Paulo in the finals. He also made one appearance in the 2007 Copa Sudamerica. “We’re excited to add another talented and athletic player from our Brazilian partner club, Atletico Paranaense,” said FC Dallas General Manager Michael Hitchcock. “CAP is one of the best clubs in the world in developing great soccer players, and in Rocha, we’re adding an experienced player who has played against some of the top teams in the Americas.” FC Dallas had the opportunity to watch Rocha play for Atletico Paranaense in person on a few occasions, including: once in Brazil against FCD in a preseason game on March 3, 2007, once at Pizza Hut Park on March 31, 2007; and twice in Trinidad and Tobago in December 2007 during the Shaka Hislop Tribute Cup. In September 2006, FC Dallas and Clube Atletico Paranaense established an exclusive partnership that includes among other elements, the USA-Brazil Challenge; the opportunities to, in good faith, loan players to each other on a free basis; and the exchange of best practices in all areas of business, sport, and youth structures. Current FCD forward Ricardinho became the first player the team signed from Paranaense, when he joined FCD in July 2007. Ricardinho appeared in eight regular season games with Dallas last season, notching his first MLS assist on Abe Thompson’s game-winning goal at Columbus on Oct. 6, which clinched a playoff berth for FCD. Rocha Professional Career Águas de Lindóia/SP: 2002-2003 Name: André Rocha 24 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
So we are picking up a sub, any word on some good players getting signed soon?
Is that a serious comment?
So for comparison, what did you say about Richardinho before he signed? What about Toja?
Wow, tough crowd. What do you guys do for fun? Skin cats…
Call me retarded but I think ill take the word of someone who has seen him play first hand. The point has also been made (I believe by Buzz himself?) that MLS is not really on par skill or depth wise with CAP’s league. An abundance of skillful players would make it hard for anyone especially an MLS caliber or slightly better player to win the starting role.
Just my two cents
I wasn’t trying to be tough. I’m glad Buzz is so excited. I just don’t know how to translate that excitement into expectations in MLS. It sounds like Rocha is a bigger signing than Ricardinho was, but how much?
If I was trying to be tough (and snarky), I’d ask if Rocha is a bigger signing than Denilson, but that would be unfair since nobody expected Denilson to be as poor as he was.
Looks like another player might be on the way? http://www.los-toros.com/2008/02/12/tobias-drops-a-bomb/
Ricardinho’s stock will soar this year…just a personal opinion.
Thanks for the update Buzz…I hope that he performs well for us, but this just seems to further the jumble of players in the middle.
Buzz,
with this signing does someone have to go?
“He’s a terrific long range passer and shouter?” You can hear him, what, mile away? Two miles?
[...] Buzz Carrick has a new favorite Hoop. Now playing (anywhere he wants to), from Sao Paolo, Brazil, standing 5′8″, it’s number 11, André Rocha! Had to share this most excellent pic from 3rddegree (sorry, Carlos, it’s flopping time!): [...]
We need more info about the possible Reinaldo Navia signing reported on in the Startlegram and the mlsrumors blog.
I think what Buzz is trying to say is that this guy is a Toja level signing.
Sorry for the late reply, I didn’t have net access today.
To me this is a starter signing, he outplayed every FCD player at the T&T tournament, including Toja. I like him much more than I do Ricardinho, and more than I did the Toja signing… although that’s mainly cause I had never seen Toja play.
And yes it almost certainly means someone will have to depart.
Cowtown, MLS rumors is reporting nothing, they are just “borrowing” Tobias’ work and reprinting it as their own.
Having seen the highlights from last year’s CAP game at PHP, my feeble memory has been jarred. Rocha dominated the middle of the field last year. He was just bigger, faster, and more skilled than anything we had. And that included Toja.
However the lineup shakes out, we could have the strongest midfield in MLS with Rocha.
FYI: His last name is pronounced “Ho-shah”. In Portuguese, the R is pronounced as a H when it is the first letter of a word/name.
“Ho-shah”? So it’s “Honaldo” and “Honaldinho” as well, is it?
that is correct… R’s are “H” sounding in Portugese… Honaldo is the sound for Ronaldo
We need another picture of our new stud, one where he isn’t on his butt getting smoked.
You better get used to that picture, Ken. That’s what is going to happen to FCD every time you play L.A. If Hitch wouldn’t have made his “paperwork” error you would have had at least Boswell for Fish…now you have no one. Lalas wouldn’t have even made a boneheaded mistake like that.
“We need another picture of our new stud, one where he isn’t on his butt getting smoked.”
Well, my interpretation (and given that Buzz posted that photo) is that it’s Ruiz who’s getting smoked . . . It’s hard to tell quite where the ball is, but I’m betting that Rocha got it (oh, given that CAP beat FCD in this game), and Ruiz is simply getting out of the way.
I wonder if the people that hear portuguese r’s as h’s ASK questions or AX questions.
The R in portuguese is similar to the soft R in spanish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMx684D0sFE
[...] as they could and TFC just waived him. I was also gaga over Andre Rocha from the T&T trip and predicted he was going to be a fantastic signings. That also turned out to be on the [...]