A Few Questions With Brandon Manzonelli

Brandon Manzonelli was nice enough to take some time out of his day to answer a few questions for our blog. Thanks to Brandon for the time and answers.

Me: Would you mind giving a small background of how you got to be where you are?

Brandon:
While I was playing at Scott Gallagher, Manchester United came and put on one of their soccer schools. The coaches really liked my style and told me if I ever came to England to contact them and they would get me a trial with the youth team at Man. Utd. I went to England a few months later and the coach who told me this had moved to Blackburn Rovers. I trained with them for a few days and they told me they wanted me to come back in a few months for a full trial. When I returned I trained for a full week and they wanted to sign me. Before I signed anything I had also trained with Manchester City and had plans to go train with Bolton and Preston North End as well. Before further exploration in English clubs, Villarreal called and said they wanted me to come over to Spain in 2 days. I went to Spain, trained for a week, played in a tournament, scored against Barcelona, and after a total of 2 weeks in Spain, signed a 3 year contract. I played in Spain for a year but was not able to obtain a European passport so I was not able to play there anymore. I came back home, trained at a couple mls clubs, a couple belgian clubs and ended up signing with the New England Revolution last May.

Me: Who has had the biggest effect on your career so far?

Brandon:
I think my mom has had the most effect on my career as she has helped me achieve my goal of a professional soccer player at such a young age. She flew everywhere from Spain, to England, to Belgium, to France in order to help me get where I want. She allowed me to leave my family and my hometown of St. Louis to Spain for a year at just 16 years old. She believes in me the most which helps me perform.

Me: Your fans know that you have trained in Europe. Which country's league do you think is best suited to your game? (Apart from MLS)

Brandon:
MLS is a nice league, but I don't think it suites me as a player. My style is more technical and face paced. I believe Spain was a great place for me as well as England as there is such great skill in each of these leagues and I am a very skillful player myself.

Me: Which professional player do you model yourself after? Whose playing style do you try emulate?

Brandon:
I used to try and emulate Cristiano Ronaldo during his early years at Manchester United. After viewing his achievements as World Player of The Year, I think it was the right choice. HAHA. I enjoy the way he plays as well as it creates a major impact on the game which to me is the most important thing.

Me: Which part of your game do you have to improve the most?

Brandon:
I need to improve mostly on my left foot. I wish I would have practiced on it a bit more when I was younger but it can still get better the more often I use it.

Me: How have you enjoyed your experiences at the Milk Cup with the current Under 20 National Team? Which players impress you from your time playing with them? Who should we (the fans) be looking out for?

Brandon:
The Milk Cup was a great tournament. I think Perry Marosevic who had just been drafted into the MLS and Anthony Wallace who plays at FC Dallas. Another is Vincenzo Bernardo who plays at Napoli in Italy. There are many talented players on the team but these are players who stood out the most to me.

Me: I’m sure you saw the recent USMNT match against Mexico. How did it feel to make an impact in the game (providing two assists in a 3-0 win) against their U-20’s in July?

Brandon:
It was one of the best feelings playing against Mexico in July. I was very proud to represent the USA against them and I was happy to do well in that game.

Me: What do you think you would be doing if you weren’t pursuing a professional soccer career?

Brandon:
I'm not sure what I would be doing if I wasn't playing soccer. I had wanted to play professionally since 6th or 7th grade so I didn't think about too much else. I even promised my teachers and friends that I would play professionally before I finished high school and it just stuck in my mind as what I wanted to do.

Me: Would you advise young players to take your route (straight to the pros) to the top or go to college?

Brandon:
Playing professionally as soon as I did is not for everyone. There is a lot of sacrifices you must make in order to achieve this and some people may regret not going to college or leaving home and everything they've been around all their life. You've got to have a certain passion and love for the game to play professionally and I think this is how many players excel to the highest levels of soccer.

Me: Do you have any trials lined up? Where will we be seeing you in the next few months/years? Where do you see yourself in five years?

Brandon:
I am currently talking to a few clubs in Europe but we'll see where I end up. In 5 years I hope to be playing in Europe and making my way to the top.

Thank you Brandon!

The Felix Garcia Conundrum

Apologies for being away for so long, I have moved countries and restarted my education in a new (extremely hard) school.

I think that many soccer fans look at problems and fail to understand the complexity of them. Hence the use of the word "conundrum" in the title. According to Meriam-Webster dictionary it is defined as " a question or problem having only a conjectural answer b: an intricate and difficult problem." This is crucial to understanding the scope of Felix Garcia's situation with the Houston Dynamo. It is an extremely intricate problem, and as we are fans with little inside knowledge we can only use what we know to express an opinion on the situation.

Here is what I wrote about Felix in September:

Felix Garcia
Club/College: PDL Laredo Heat
Age: 18; July 30, 1990
Position: Forward
Squad Chance: Almost a lock.

Felix Garcia is a wonderkid. He has been a favorite of Thomas Rongen's so far in this cycle. While all reports say he is "raw," he is a 6 footer with a lot of skill that is waiting to be honed in a professional environment. Apparently he is only a senior in HS this fall, so unless he drops out or graduates early he could still be an amateur by Summer 2009. He is reportedly getting looked at by MFL teams and I'm sure Rongen has been called about him by MLS teams.

To give you a rundown on what has been going on with Felix I suggest you read this article by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/soc/6248997.html

Basically the very talented Felix signed with Houston, then went AWOL: "Since last week’s introduction, Garcia has walked out of an informal practice and skipped a meeting and mandatory physical. He also left town without notice, which caused him to miss the first week of training camp, actions that might hurt his chances of ever stepping onto the field donning the orange jersey."

No one knows for sure what the problem is. Apparently he is very close to his family and girlfriend saying this at his signing ceremony: "I feel very happy to be here. I came here to play soccer and enjoy my life with my girlfriend. I want to take the opportunity to thank those that had something to do with this. It's a dream come true, and I can't wait to get on the pitch." (MLSNET.com)

It's obvious that the desire is there, and he has never had problems before with the U-20's otherwise the very professional Rongen would have dropped him without a second thought. He has a reputation of being humble and hardworking. Whatever the problem is, it is complex, but it is nothing that should stop Felix from fulfilling his dream.

I hope that fans are patient and realize that Felix can be a great player for the Dynamo. I hope that Houston are in constant contact with Felix and make arrangements to help his family and girlfriend move to Houston if needed. I hope that they involve Rongen (who seems to be Felix's professional mentor at this point) in this transition. I hope that Felix realizes that the best thing for himself, his family, and his girlfriend is for Felix to make his way back to Houston and start his professional career. And mostly, I hope that this is not the last blog post you read about Felix Garcia.

Contact me at USvsIreland AT gmail.com

American Boomerang: Cam Weaver

Soccer By Ives is reporting that San Jose has signed young American striker, Cam Weaver, from Norwegian club FK Haugesund. Does that name ring a bell? Back in 2006 he flirted with MLS after finding success with USL club Seattle Sounders. He trained and played with the Rapids reserves and as a Rapids fan I was excited by the prospect of a strong American striker. Then he signed in Norway. I was extremely bummed at the time. Now I'm excited to see him come back to MLS to see what he can do.

According to Wikipedia he's had a successful couple years in Norway, scoring 21 goals in 51 matches. You've got to assume similar production in MLS will bring him into the US National Team spotlight at a critical time during the run up to the 2010 World Cup.

I think this is a great signing for MLS and San Jose similar to some of the other boomerangs like Robbie Rogers and Kenny Cooper. We'll see if he can bring some of his Norwegian scoring back to the USA.