Ngwenya on trial with Bayern Munich, was Klinsmann rumor true?

Former Houston Dynamo and Zimbabwe international striker Joseph Ngwenya is on a three week trial with Bayern Munich, which seems to prove a rumor that circulated back in January when Ngwenya moved to Austrian side Kärnten. The rumor had Jurgen Klinsmann 'hiding' Ngwenya in Austria until he took over as manager of Bayern.

If this all pans out, this could prove to be a brilliant move by Klinsmann. Then again, if Ngwenya fails to perform, it might all be for not.

By the way, Klinsmann noticed Ngwenya while watching him train with the LA Galaxy back in 2005.

Jurgen Klinsmann looking to baseball for help with Bayern Munich

Soon-to-be Bayern manager Jurgen Klinsmann was in Phoenix yesterday to watch baseball's Oakland A's train. His goal, pick team manager Billy Beane's brain on how to find quality talent.

Beane, who has a very low budget by Major League Baseball standards, is incredibly good at finding unknown talent by using a large set of statistics (called sabermetrics) to evaluate them. Klinsmann and other soccer managers are very interested in finding a way to creating a similar system for soccer.

Of course the biggest problem for soccer in trying to replicate this model is the lack of statistics, but Beane wants to change all that.

Beane is interested in finding statistical models that can help soccer teams evaluate talent, much the way the A's have used stats to target players to draft and sign. Beane has talked to several Premier League officials, among other soccer bigwigs, about combining resources to find inequities in the market that might be exploited. Because the A's ownership group also controls Major League Soccer's San Jose franchise (an enterprise that will involve Beane somewhat), any findings would benefit the Earthquakes.

If a stat system is every discovered for rating players, it would probably be a boom for the game, especially in developing markets like the USA where team's don't have a huge scouting budget. Not only would it give the team's a way on paper to compare players, but it would also give fans and sports writers endless numbers to throw around, which is one of the best things baseball has going for it.

That said, there is something really nice about not being able to reduce a player to a set of stats. I say that, but I don't have to run a team.

Is Klinsmann the force behind Ngwenya's move to Europe? Is Bayern Munich in his future?

Former Houston Dynamo Joseph Ngwenya has landed in the Austrian Bundesliga, but is this just a quick stop in route to Bayern Munich? Here's the speculation:

The group of people trying to help Ngwenya's career include German coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who was impressed by the striker's performance when they met at Major League Soccer side Los Angeles Galaxy.

Klinsmann was the vice-president of an American consultancy firm when he began to work within the structures of the Galaxy leading to his meeting with Ngwenya.

Sources have revealed that while everything is being kept wrapped in secrecy, Klinsmann is the driving force behind Ngwenya's move to Europe.

Klinsmann is set to take over as coach of Bayern Munich when this season ends.
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Klinsmann's move to Bayern Munich is likely to coincide with Ngwenya's move to the German giants and the apprentice at Karnten in Austria is meant to give the striker a feeling of the tough world of European football.

That is a long way to go just to get a player, but not completely crazy.

The team Ngwenya moved to are only in their second year of existence and currently sit bottom of the table. If Klinsmann was hoping to find a holding spot for Ngwenya, Karnten is a pretty good one.

Ngwenya is a very talented player and deserves a chance at the big time. It would be interesting to see if this turns out to be true and if there are any other MLSers Klinsmann has his eye on for his new club.

One other note of interest from the article, they describe Ngwenya's move as 'leaving the circus of the Major League Soccer in the United States for the tough world of European football.' Always interesting to see how others see you.

Klinsmann settles for Bayern Munich job

Devastated by his inability to land a coaching job in the US, Juergen Klinsmann settled for the top spot with little known German side Bayern Munich. Klinsmann had desperately wanted to take control of either the US men's national team or the LA Galaxy, but he failed to impress either of them, forcing him to turn tail and run back to Germany.

All right, that was a lot of fun to write. Anyway, Klinsmann will take over Bayern starting next season, which should give him just about enough time to figure out how to convince Oliver Kahn to stay so he can bench him (I hear Jens Lehmann is available).

If there is a downside to all this it's that his name can no longer be thrown around whenever a top post becomes available anywhere in the world.

MLS looking at top European clubs for 2008 All-Star match

Rumors have it that MLS has their eyes on four teams for the 2008 All-Star match in Toronto. Those clubs, in no particular order, are Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid. Yes, the All-Star game is a bit of a joke based more on marketing then anything else, but if it has to be done (and it does), might as well get some top-level competition.

My favorite part of the article concerns the teams MLS has faced in recent years:

The MLS All-Star format typically pits the best of the North American league against a top European club. In the past three years, Chelsea and Fulham of the English Premier League and Celtic of the Scottish Premier League have appeared. Those recent participants pale in terms of quality and/or pedigree with any of the four now being considered.

Now my heart might not bleed Chelsea blue, but to say that they are not on the level with the four teams being considered for '08 is a little shy of the truth.

Anyway, as stated in an earlier post, I would guess Liverpool would be at the top of MLS's list, especially if the tails of George Gillett Jr. and a Montreal expansion team are true. However, I'd be willing to watch any of these four take on the best of North America.

Oliver Kahn to leave Bayern Munich

Oliver Kahn has made it official, unless backup keeper Michael Rensing is seriously injured, he will retire from Bayern Munich next summer.

“Next year I will be 39 and it will be time to take the shorts off. After that I have a few things planned in Asia.”

Kahn chose Asia as his retirement destination during the 2002 World Cup.

“I have often visited those countries and have many friends in China, Japan and Korea. I like the mentality of the people. My work there will take a few years” he revealed.

Kahn has ruled out playing for another side and hopes to use this season to go out on top.

“The team has the chance the win everything, that is my goal. If you’ve played 13 or 14 years like me, then you don’t want to end your career with a season like last year.”