Thursday, July 03, 2008

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.

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Monday, January 28, 2008

Houston loses another forward

I guess Nate Jaqua really likes being around Joseph Ngwenya because he is about to move to the same Austrian league (link via SBI). The club that Jaqua will now call home is SCR Altach, who currently stand in eighth place (out of 10).

Jaqua is another quality player leaving Houston, meaning the team is starting to look a bit lost up top. There has been talk about Dwayne DeRosario moving up top with Brian Ching and Stuart Holden sliding into the more attacking midfielder role, which should work well. However, no matter how you look at it, the team has lost some serious depth.

They still need a quality backup goal minder for Pat Onstad and now they could use some help up top. That said, it is nowhere near gloom and doom time as they have an amazing backline and midfield options that I'm sure make other coaches in the league cry.

So to sum up, Houston is not down, but there are a little shaky.

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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.

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