Nagbe Shipped to Gateway United

In a move that's sure to spark some league discussion, Rose City is prepared to announce that they're shipping Darlington Nagbe to Gateway United in exchange for Gateway's second round pick. That second round pick falls as the 21st player taken in this year's BSL Draft and, as the manager of the Flyers indicated, the talent level in MLS has risen to the point that that could be a valuable spot.

Nagbe puts one in versus the 'Caps.

"With this move, we now control two of the first twenty three draft slots for the coming year," the spokesperson for the Flyers FO said. "Our manager is right. There's an incredible depth of talent in MLS and the pool only got deeper with the BSL's new rules about defenders. We think that we're going to do well."

Nagbe was one of the team's stand out young players, scoring five points in the regular season and two more in the playoffs to help Rose City lift the BSL Cup in their inaugural season. In addition, he could carve an even deeper path through defenses this season with his mentor, Caleb Porter, arriving at the helm of a reinvigorated Timbers team.

"Yeah. Parting with him's tough, no doubt about it," the Flyers manager agreed when asked about the controversial move. "We all sat down and had a chat and the conclusion was that, outside of our DP selections, that the only way to succeed in this league is to have a strong draft. Although he's a good player, he hasn't really hit enough of a stride to be in the discussion for our final DP slot so we took the value where we could find it. We wish Darlington all the best and would love to see him playing for the Boys in Red again in the future."

How many more moves will be made before the deadline for the Flyers? Will they look to move up the draft charts once again? Can they successfully defend their hard won silverware? Stick around. It's going to be a wild ride.

Working on Next Season

It's still early in the offseason but if you ask the Flyers Front Office, it's never too early to get to work. The biggest problem the team suffered last season was inconsistency. Sometimes the team would go off  like in their 7-0 BSL Cup Semi-final stomping of Gateway United. Other times, the whole team would fizzle like in the numerous games in which they scored only one or two points. This is the reason that the Flyers finished what was an otherwise impressive first season with only a 2.5 APG. So what can be done to improve the squad overall while solving this problem as well? Let's break it down.

Step One - Improve the overall quality of the squad.
The big names on the Flyers' roster definitely delivered this season. First and foremost, Mauro Rosales put up 13 points through the regular season and BSL Cup play. Marvin Chavez put up 9 points of his own.  Finally, Marco DiVaio managed six points from his first start during week fifteen onward.

On the other hand, the squad had several regular contributors who either failed to score, or only found the back of the net once. Guys like Steven Beitashour, Adam Moffat, Justin Braun, Alejandro Moreno, and Kosuke Kimura regularly took up starting spots but never seemed to put up points.

This is the big rub. Having stars who put up major points can send you far in this league. But it doesn't get you far enough. Stars get hurt, they don't make their MLS team's lineup because of CCL play, or their MLS team simply has a bye week and you have to make do without them. That's where overall squad quality comes in. Having a whole roster of guys who can score on any given week, even if they don't score every week, makes the difference. They win you games your stars aren't playing in. And they win you games against teams who can match you star for star, but don't have the squad depth you do. Darlington Nagbe scored five times during the regular season and added two more during the post season. Mike Magee put five on the board as well. These types of journeymen players do the hard work behind the scenes.

Step Two - Stay Spread Out
One of the ways a team's stars don't play is if their MLS team has a bye week. Nobody from that team's playing. Sometimes this plays to a team's advantage if they get to dodge the opposition's big star. Sometimes it goes the other way. In any case, when combined with an all around quality squad, making sure the team doesn't take a major hit from any given bye week a team can put up more points than its opponents. Generally, having more than a couple players from a single MLS team on the roster is a poor idea. As a result, not only is putting together a BSL winning squad about finding quality for your full squad of players, it's about finding it among many different MLS teams so that you have access to that quality all the time.

What it boils down to is learning how to evaluate players at all levels of the game. How much playing time can they expect with their club? How often do they score? Are they assist machines and so, score in BSL play as often as many of the top level strikers in MLS? These are all questions that budding managers for BSL clubs would do well to pay attention to. Sometimes it's hard, but spending time to become a great talent evaluator is one of the best ways to end up at the top of the table.

Looking Forward

By all accounts, the Flyers have had a dream season, especially as an expansion franchise. However, the team's failure to qualify for the Majors Cup means that football season is over in the Rose City. Is it too early to start thinking about next season? Never. Let's take a few moments and look at what next year's team might look like.

Positives

First lets look at a few things that Rose City did right this year. Primarily, the strength of this team was in having a large number of strong, young players who could put up points during any game. The team wasn't one dimensional, relying on one or two players to provide all of the offense. The Flyers had eight different players add at least five points over the season and Mauro Rosales added thirteen all by himself. Marco Di Vaio's six looks like it could have been a similar total had he played MLS all season. This is the type of offense this team wants to continue building next year, looking for strong contributions across the lineup so that missing any one player doesn't prove to be a problem.

The keys to achieving this will be twofold. One, retaining the top performers from last year including Rosales, Chavez, and Di Vaio will be of prime importance to the continued success of the team. Two, retaining or acquiring dangerous young players who can, at any time, have a breakout game will also be important. This year that included Darlington Nagbe and Mike Magee. Adding more players like this to the lineup while avoiding players who show promise but fail to deliver will be important.

The Flyers also capitalized on being a team that drew very few cards this year. While their opponents racked up a total of 27 cards (red cards count as two), the Flyers were only responsible for 18. Though stats for the whole league haven't been compiled, it's fair to say that this was a big contributor to the Flyers winning as many games as they did while scoring relatively few points in the early going part of the season.

Not So Much

We've discussed what went right for Rose City but just as important, if not more for a team is looking at what went wrong. Far and away, there are two things that the Boys in Red need to get better at if they want another successful season next year. The first is an issue that only the Front Office can work on, and that is Lineup Failures. The Flyers started out the season with one in Week One and, though it didn't cost them the win, it did set a poor precedent. Lineup Failures are like spotting your opponent points before the game even kicks off and sooner or later, you'll get burned by one. The Flyers expect to see ZERO LFs listed in the box score during the 2013 BSL season.

The second issue that needs work was much more widely discussed this season and that is Rose City's low PPG. The average number of points the team scored was a point of league discussion as early as halfway through the season. The early middle part of the season was dominated by wins with scores like 2-0, 2-1, and 1-0. That's luck and while it's good to have, it's no replacement for skill. The Front Office addressed the issue and it did get somewhat better by the end of the season with Rosales returning from early season injury, the addition of former La Liga player Marco Di Vaio, and the heating up of Darlington Nagbe. However, it's almost impossible not to improve on 2.2 PPG for the first half of the season. The team finished at 2.5 PPG for the regular season and 2.7 for all games played. The one bright spot here is that the team was only shut out once all year (and that was the result of a Lineup Failure).

Improving the PPG issue is part luck and part science. Finding and acquiring players who regularly put points on the board is easier as a second year team. The expansion system leaves a front office with limited options before the draft and poor draft positions. Having a roster to choose DPs from could potentially have a big impact on this statistic. It is worth noting that the team's regular season average is well within the norm for expansion franchises. It's also considerably better the the 1.0 displayed by fellow 2012 expansion franchise KC Quest. The other teams that made the playoff cut had strong DP choices like Theirry Henry, Landon Donovan, Kenny Cooper, David Beckham, and Robbie Keane. Above and beyond that potential, increased planning immediately before the draft (especially with a low draft position once again) will be required to solve this issue.

With all this said, it goes without saying that Rose City is fully expecting another strong season next year. Major club goals include defending the BSL Cup and qualifying for the Majors Cup. As of this moment, the club intends to acquire the maximum number of allowable DP slots and trade aggressively to build a club with just as much luck, but much more consistency for its second season. The Front Office is happy to entertain any and all trade offers in the off season.

Flyers Win! Flyers Win!

Rose City 4 - 2 Pennsylvania

Rose City wins! The Flyers claimed the BSL Cup this weekend through their trademark combination of good play and good luck. There was No Pity on the Stoners this time as the Boys in Red doubled up for a score of 4 - 2. Points came from all sorts of places including goals from Marco Di Vaio and Mauro Rosales, an assist off of the streaking Darlington Nagbe, and a clean sheet for Josh Saunders. Pennsylvania got a Save Point from Gspurning and an assist from Robbie Keane but players who are normally dangerous like Kei Kamara and Emilio Renteria were strangely quiet.

This is the second playoff game that Rose City has dominated against a team they failed to beat in the regular season. Both Pennsylvania and the vanquished Gateway United got maximum points off of the Flyers during regular season play. Rose City remains undefeated in Playoff play at 2-0-0.

It truly has been a dream season for the expansion club. The Flyers went all season without losing two in a row and finished 15-7-2 including Playoff play. The club got started slowly following a 3 - 1 loss and a lineup failure in week one but strong play and even stronger luck to finish the first half of the season with several 2 - 0 and 1 - 0 wins kept the Flyers in the midst of the Playoff hunt the whole time. It's hard to say which half of the season was better. The team ended the period before Majors Cup Qualifying in first place. Ultimately the team's APG would be much stronger in the second half of the season but stronger play by the rest of the league as well would deny Rose City a spot in the Majors Cup. They're the first team since the BSL's inaugural 2009 season to win the BSL Cup while not qualifying for the Majors Cup. Asked about it, the teams coach had this to say:

"We went out this weekend and did what we could. Are we disappointed that we didn't qualify for the Majors Cup? Sure. Everybody wants to play as much football as possible and now our season's over. We would have liked to win the Honors Trophy too. But to come into an established league like this and win a major piece of hardware in your first season? That really speaks to the quality of the organization and the types of players we have playing for this team. I'm proud to coach them. I'm proud to lead them. Thanks."

The team also wanted to make clear that they're very open to trade talks and negotiations on the off season. The coach and front office insisted that there was still room for improvement in the Rose City and that this year's champions would be back even stronger next season.

"We know what it takes to play in this league now. We're not just scrabbling in the dark like we were at the beginning of the year. You can be we'll be back and back with a vengeance," the coach offered when asked. "We made do with the tenth spot in the draft order last season. Something tells me we'll make it work again."

BSL Cup Champions - Rose City 2012

Rose City Crashes Honors Trophy Winners' Party

Rose City 7 - Gateway United 0

The Saints may be holding the 2012 Honors Trophy, but the Flyers were on a quest for some hardware of their own this week in their Semifinal match. Not only did the Boys in Red put up a season record seven points, but the usually potent Gateway offense laid a goose egg. In what can only be described as  an overt romp, Rose City put the hurt on a stumbling and unprepared Saints team.

"We've been telling people all season that we're the real deal," the Flyers' coach offered at the post game press conference. "Everyone goes on and on about how we don't put up enough points. But truly, we've got it when and where it counts. I couldn't be prouder of the team. Now excuse me. I have to go wash some Powerade out of my hair."

Saunders dives for a Save

For Rose City's offense, it started early and didn't stop. Marco Di Vaio, the most recent big addition to the squad, put up a point early in the week. Little did he know it was already the game winner. Later that same night Mauro Rosales came alive offering three assists in Seattle's own 6-2 romp over MLS side Chivas USA. Darlington Nagbe came in for his third point in as many games after that. Finally, Josh Saunders put the cherry on the top of the sundae with both a Clean Sheet and five Save Points versus an FC Dallas offense that couldn't seem to find the back of the net. With the win, Rose City has officially pushed past a Semifinals game that has been a stumbling block for many BSL teams.

Next week is the Finals and the Flyers will face a Pennsylvania team that is rapidly becoming a natural rival. Like Gateway before them, Pennsylvania managed to down Rose City twice during the regular season including a first time meeting even more lopsided (8-0) than the Flyers' win this week. You can bet that Rose City will be looking for a little retribution. But more importantly, they'll be looking for some hardware.

Lineup: Semi-finals vs. Gateway

This is it. The Semis kick off tomorrow and Rose City will have another go at Honors Trophy winners Gateway United. They lost both games this year to the club so there's no doubt it'll be a tough road. However, there are some things on the Flyers side. As the Commissioner so kindly pointed out, the boys in red haven't lost two games in a row all season. Granted, week 22 was a win so that might not mean anything. Likewise, Honors Trophy winners are 1-2 all time in their campaigns to take the BSL Cup as well. The really important statistic here however is APG. The Saints average roughly two points more per game than Rose City. It's really going to come down to what sort of night the Flyers have. Will they score one or two points, like they so often have? Or will it be the five or six we know they're so capable of? A lot of that comes down to contributions from middle of the pack guys. In order to snatch a win from the league's top team, Rose City will need production from guys like Mike Magee, Darlington Nagbe, and C. J. Sapong who've been spotty at best all year.

"We've got to put up points, and lots of them. There's no way around that," the Flyers coach said after Monday practice. "We've done it before this year. Six points in week four, five in weeks fifteen and nineteen. We can't leave any points on the bench or allow anybody to come on for the other guys. One thing we've been this year is a pretty clean team. I think we can take this with a lot of effort and a bit of luck."

Starters
Steven Beitashour
Marvin Chavez
Marco Di Vaio
Kosuke Kimura
Mike Magee
Darlington Nagbe
Mauro Rosales (Captain)
C. J. Sapong
Josh Saunders (Keeper)

Subs
Justin Braun
Adam Moffat
Hamdi Salihi

2012 Year in Review

It's the end of the 2012 BSL regular season, and what a season it was! Rose City started the season off as one of the new kids and now they're a respected club, vying for the BSL Cup. The club struggled to put points on the board at times but seemed to have it when it counted. A season average of 2.5 points per game is well below the other playoff clubs but the Majors Cup Qualifying standings indicating that the club is inching toward 3 points in the second half of the season. The Flyers ended the season a respectable 13-7-2 with 41 points from regular season play. It's good enough for fourth place in the BSL and that final coveted playoff spot.

Many different players contributed to the success of the club over the long season but several stand out. Both captain Mauro Rosales and standout Marvin Chavez tallied nine points over the course of the regular season. Dan Kennedy provided six during his stint with the club; and Mike Magee, C.J. Sapong, and Darlington Nagbe all added five of their own. Late comer Marco Di Vaio tallied four himself. You'll find the total for all club contributions below. The club would have finished even better but for a few lineup failures throughout the season. Clearly the club's Front Office has some work to do to improve itself in the off season just as much as the players. Speculation is already running rampant in the Pacific Northwest as to who might stay with the club for next season as its first Designated Players.

Marvin Chavez - 9pts

Given point totals and performance when the club needed it the most, the Flyers Front Office as well as the owner and general manager are proud to announce Marvin Chavez as the first Rose City Flyers FC Most Valuable Player this year. Chavez's handiwork at feeding other player for assists made him invaluable to Rose City. His name is being discussed both inside and outside the organization as a possible 2013 Designated Player.

Mauro Rosales - 9pts

The club's captain was hurt for a good portion of the beginning of the year but more than made up for it with his prolific goal scoring and assist creating abilities. Mauro combined with just about everyone else on the Sounders roster it seems to put points on the board. His creativity on the field is a big reason why he ends the BSL regular season with nine points . He holds the captain's armband well and is also in discussion as a potential 2013 Designated Player.

Dan Kennedy - 6pts

Dan spent only part of the season with Rose City, joining the club when Bill Hamid took off for international team duty. With Hamid injured coming back, Kennedy picked up the slack and provided the team quality points when they sometimes were few and far between.

Mike Magee - 5pts

The Galaxy striker was solid if not outstanding for the team the entire season. He provided a boost to the scoreline regularly while not putting up over the top numbers. The front office suspects that Mike would put up bigger numbers on an MLS team that needed him more. The Galaxy simply have too many big names for a solid but not flashy striker to stand out.

Darlington Nagbe - 5pts

Nagbe had a hot and cold season. He started off with a point in week two and followed it up with a brace two weeks later. Then the Timbers striker/midfielder seemed to go cold. His next points come in Week 22 where he managed a goal in both games that week. The front office remains convinced that the young player has a future in both MLS and the BSL. The question remains though, will he meet his potential? The BSL playoffs and potentially next season are the only way to know for sure. 

C.J. Sapong - 5pts

Another young striker who seemed on and off this season. Sapong scored several times in the early going and then seemed to go dead. The front office would like to see Sapong again next year. Who knows whether it will happen or not?

Marco Di Vaio - 4pts

The Italian striker looks to be the real deal in both MLS and the BSL providing four points in a few short weeks for the Flyers. He's currently under investigation in Italy for any part he may have played in the ongoing match fixing scandal. Conviction could result in a one year ban but it's unknown whether that would extend to MLS play or not. If that's cleared up in a positive way, he might also be DP material.

Josh Saunders - 3pts

The club's current keeper came in when it was needed. Here's hoping he adds to his total during the playoffs.

Maicon Santos - 3pts

Santos initially appeared to be the biggest mistake Rose City could make in the early going. He was dropped from the roster in order to pick up a player who made no impact. Scoring a hat trick in his final game, he went on to add several points to games for other teams before seemingly drying up. This might still be the biggest mistake the Flyers front office made all season.

Kosuke Kimura - 1pt

The one time Colorado backline man had more points than this. The coach always seemed to put him on the bench at the wrong time.

Alejandro  Moreno - 1pt

This was the biggest disappointment of the season. The Chivas striker was supposed to be a prolific scorer for the Flyers, driving them past their competition. Instead, he turned out to be a big flop.

Bill Hamid - 1pt

A good keeper who's schedule just never seemed to line up with the Flyers. He's done well and the team wishes him all the best.

Steven Beitashour - 1pt

Adam Moffat - 1pt

Justin Braun - 1pt

Week Six Results

Rose City 2 - 0 Second City

Rose City got it done once again with some quality from both inside and outside the net. They were aided by a Lineup Failure on the part of Second City, but didn't need it as they shut out Stars. Points came from Kennedy's clean sheet as well as an assist from Darlington Nagbe.



"I'm very happy with where we are at this early point in the season," the Flyers coach said. "We're an expansion club that's getting points both at home, and on the road and that's a big deal. We're averaging 2.5 points a game. That's what I'd like to improve on. All the top clubs average four to five and that's where we need to be if we really want to be considered one of the big boys. We're working on it, and it should improve on its own somewhat as we get Bill Hamid and Mauro (Rosales) back into the lineup. These guys can both bring down multiple points each game. It should help."

Rose City improves to 4-2-0 and sits in fourth place in the standings and fifth place in the Power Rankings. Next week will tell a story as the Pennsylvania Stoners come to town. The Stoners are nipping at Rose City's heels in the standings and actually sit fourth in the Power Rankings.

"It's an opportunity for us to go out there and look good and get a win against a quality opponent," the manager said. "And maybe to show whoever does those rankings how wrong they are."

Diamond in the Rough

Rose City 6 - 4 Union SC

Rose City came up big in week four with six points and a win over the struggling Union SC. A pair of braces, first from the departing Maicon Santos and then Darlington Nagbe made sure the Flyers were in it to win it and Sapong make sure the job was finished.



"We really went out and did the job. I think we're proving that you don't need a big pile of DPs to be competitive in this league," the Flyers head coach was quoted as saying at the end of match presser. Addressing the departure of Santos he had this to say: "Sure, we evaluated Maicon incorrectly. We screwed up and he's obviously capable of strong performances. We appreciate that there aren't any hard feelings and that he went out and played his best game for us knowing it was his last. We wish him all the best wherever he ends up."

Santos was unceremoniously dropped to make way for league newcomer Bjorn Runstrom. "We wanted to find someone we believed could bring the fire up top. Little did we know, we had him all along," a member of the front office said on condition of anonymity. "Now we can only wish Maicon Santos good luck and hope that Runstrom can be the heavy hitter in this league we were looking for."

Rose City is now 3-1-0 and sitting in third in the league tables. Off to a good start.

Week 2 Gets Results

Rose City 3 - 0 CD Gunners

Rose City dropped the defending champion CD Gunners in week two, 3-0. It what was sure to be a tough match, but the Flyers put things together to grab the points they needed while the Gunners struggled to find the net.

"This is the result we've been looking for", the Flyers captain Moreno said. "We got on the board last week and, leaving front office issues aside, didn't put up the numbers we needed. This week, things looked much better."



CJ Sapong is looking to be one of Rose City's MVP players with two goals in two games. Darlington Nagbe followed up with a goal of his own off of a bad clearance, and the assist from Mike Magee cleared things up for good. Asked about how the club was forming up, the coach had this to say.

"I think we're coming along nicely. Even with the loss last week, we put points on the board and knew we had a team that could get things done. We're a young team with a lot of talent and I think that talent showed this week with the scores from Sapong and Nagbe. We're in a good position for the next two weeks because our roster is quite spread out in regards to which MLS teams players belong to. We're not going to get burned by the Galaxy's two week bye. We're looking forward to our meeting with the Quest next week. We're both expansion franchises trying to find our footing and I think we can get the jump on them with a little hard work."

Rose City is now 1-1-0 all time in the BSL and have scored five points total. Bill Hamid will remain on National Team duty for the next two weeks most likely.