BYE, BYE BONSEU? Metros ready to release Ugandan defender
Ugandan international Tenywa Bonseu is on his way out as a MetroStar. MetroStars photo
By Michael Lewis
BigAppleSoccer.com Editor
The MetroStars revolving door keeps spinning and spinning.
The Metros are close to releasing Ugandan international defender Tenywa Bonseu, according to relliable sources close to the team.
That will allow the club to sign another attacking foreigner player, most likely a forward.
Bonseu, 28, struggled and experienced a sub-par season with the Metros after he was acquired with a third-round pick in last year's MLS SuperDraft from F.C. Dallas for defender Steve Jolley in December, 2003.
Bonseu, who was sidelined a month late last season by a partially torn left Achilles tendon, performed in 14 games and started 13. He played 1,164 minutes without registering a goal or an assist. He also committed 13 fouls and was awarded four yellow cards. He was fouled six times.
Three of the Metros' four senior international slots are filled:
* MVP and midfielder Amado Guevara (Honduras)
* Recently signed midfielder-forward Youri Djorkaeff (France)
* Underachieving forward Sergio Galvan Rey (Argentina), though the club is still shopping him around South America.
The Metros hope to find a quality forward after their three foreign strikers -- transitional internationals Cornell Glen (Trinidad & Tobago) and Fabian Taylor (Jamaica) and Galvan Rey -- combined for only 13 goals in 2004. Transitional internationals are not counted against the senior quota.
Coach Bob Bradley said none of the players on in the Ecuador training camp is likely travel with the team to Trinidad & Tobago next week.
The trialists include Brazilian midfielders Thiago Costa, Lopez Ederson, Vagner Nobre and Fernando Silva, Bronx resident Ramon Bailey and French forward Pascal Nouma, 33, who played with Paris St-Germain and Besiktas (Turkey), among other clubs.
Bradley wouldn’t say which trialists impressed him. "It's not always easy for players to come in to a different situation," he said via a conference call from Ecuador on Monday. "Sometimes we have to give it a little time and try figure out and who may be in the best position to help the team."
Michael Lewis can be reached at SoccerWriter516@aol.com. He will only answer e-mails that have names.
