konstantinl Wrote:
Nope. Is it Sparta Rotterdam? Cos they are really crap!
Feyenoord Rotterdam of the Dutch Eredivisie...
Quote:
FC Dallas' Gibbs leaving for Dutch league
09:02 PM CST on Thursday, January 20, 2005
By STEVE DAVIS / The Dallas Morning News
FC Dallas' hopes of launching an MLS title chase in its new stadium took a huge blow Thursday with the departure of U.S. international Cory Gibbs.
Gibbs, the centerpiece of last year's vastly improved defense, signed a 4 ½-year deal with Feyenoord Rotterdam of the Dutch Eredivisie.
The lanky, athletic defender helped last year's club improve by 19 goals allowed (from 64 in the 2003 season to 45), although it remained next to the last in the league in that category.
Gibbs, 25, went to Feyenoord in December on what was ostensibly a short training stint – a common practice among MLS players looking to keep sharp in the off-season.
Cory Gibbs FC Dallas general manager Greg Elliott said he knew Gibbs "in some respects was just visiting" MLS, and that he hoped one day to re-enter a world where soccer was more prominent. Gibbs joined Dallas 12 months ago from Germany's St. Pauli.
Elliott had expected Gibbs, who remained in Holland and could not be reached for comment, to remain here at least through this season and hopefully through the 2006 World Cup. But the defender recently began talking about a transfer.
"This was very much something he wanted to pursue," Elliott said. "It came out of nowhere, then the next thing you know, it was something he was mentally committed to."
FC Dallas will receive an allocation asset for Gibbs, who started 21 games in 2004.
"This is not ideal, but it doesn't put us in a significant deficit position," Elliott said. "It would be different if we didn't have anyone else back there, but I believe we do."
His departure makes last week's weighted-lottery acquisition of young U.S. defender Alex Yi that much more fortunate. It also improves the chances that Dallas' Drew Moor, a first-round pick in last week's MLS draft, can land a significant back-line role.