Ich heiße Paul Stalteri. Ich wohne in Mönchengladbach.
Paul Stalteri goes toe to toe with DaMarcus Beasley of USA (Image by Getty Images via Daylife)
Tip of the hat to OOT for calling this one. Paul Stalteri is leaving the hell that has become his career with Spurs and heading back to Germany to join Rob Friend at Borussia Mönchengladbach.
I suspect this is a welcome Christmas present for Diesel who will, no doubt, see more time on the field in the Bundesliga than he did with Spurs this past year and a half (but not so welcome to Canuck footie fans who now have double the incentive to figure out how the hell you pronounce Borussia Mönchengladbach).
As an Arsenal fan, I can finally heave a sigh of relief.
This is great news for the MNT. I think Stalteri’s (relatively) poor WCQ performance for Canada this year can be directly attributed to the number of minutes he (didn’t) log on the pitch with his club. And I think once you are a pro athlete on the other side of 30, this is especially true. You need the time to keep in game condition.
Paul still has a major part to play on the team, if not for the next WCQ cycle in 4 years (when he will be 35) then at least for the next Gold Cup. Plus, he only needs 10 more caps to pass Randy Samuel on the all time caps list for Canada. Mind you, with the number of international’s Canada plays, it may take him a few years to get 10 more caps.
But maybe, just maybe, he won’t be joining Rob Friend in Germany, Maybe Rob Friend will be leaving Germany and heading to the MLS, perhaps as, oh I don’t know, the DP for Toronto FC?
Yeah, okay, I am just starting some crazy rumours here, but with Ben Knight tossing around names of Canadian strikers as possible DP’s for TFC, then why not add Friend to the list? If the rumours are true that the TFC DP will be Canadian and with JDG officially out of the picture, then why not Rob Friend? If you were Rob Friend and you were potting a whack of goals for a club that was in danger of being relegated back to the second tier of German soccer, would the MLS be an attractive option? Or is Friend still a bit too unproven to wear the DP badge? Discuss…
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