Watson Lands in Wilmington
March 22nd, 2009 . 8:00 pm . By: Buzz CarrickFormer FC Dallas striker Jamie Watson has signed with the Wilmington Hammerheads of USL-2. That’s a move that may actually benefit Watson long term as he’s for sure going to get a ton more playing time there than he would in the non-reserve having MLS. He’ll almost certainly make more money there too. Since I made a case multiple times that FCD should have kept him, I contacted Watson via email to see what he thought about joining Wilmington. He must have been taking lessons in long answers from Hyndman.
I still think FCD hosed the kid by keeping him in camp as long as they did and then not signing him. By taking him to Brazil it appeared Watson would be in their plans. By waiting so long before telling Watson he wasn’t, FCD left him with fewer options. Sure, pro soccer is a tough business, but I still think it a bit of a low class move even if Watson won’t throw them under Hyndman’s proverbial bus
Even if no bridges were burnt in his leaving, I still believe someone else should have made way as I think the roster is out of balance. With Peri Marosevic, who isn’t MLS ready, being the 3rd striker and only real striker backup on the roster, FCD reamains very thin up top. Yes, FCD picked up Alvaro Sanchez, that’s a good move. But he’s not a real striker, he’s a midfielder. Using David Ferreira, Andre Rocha, Eric Avila, or Alvaro Sanchez as a striker is a short term solution and does not a real balanced roster make. There are two many defenders and not enough strikers here. Heck, I still think FCD is short TWO strikers cause Marosevic needs to be 5th right not, not 3rd or 4th. 5 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
What happened to Austin? I heard from a friend of friend (so take it for what’s it worth), that Austin thought Dallas was signing him and when he became available, couldn’t offer him much.
What’s your scoop?
I think your info is correct. Most teams, including Austin, thought FCD was keeping Watson. By the time he was told by Dallas he wasn’t going to sign here, not as many options were left. The Hammerheads appear to have made the best offer.
That is unfortunate. Hopefully he can play well this year and if he does not catch on with FCD in the future, hopefully he can get a place with Portland or Vancouver and try impress their coaches to make his way onto their MLS squads in 2011.
This is really too bad for Jamie. He was a real solid performer on the Aztex PDL squad last year, and many of us were hoping FCD were going to retain him. As disappointed as I am to hear of him not joining Austin, I would be surprised to see him come back to the Lone Star state soon. Personally, I hope it’s wearing the red and white…vertically oriented…stripes.
He’s a decent player but not at MLS level. Good hustle though. If I were him I would try and become a defender. This year I bet he will be hungry to prove he is worth a second look.