As the season opener is less than a month away teams in the East are beginning to look to some offensive players for help, as many teams in the East need help up front. Recently both Chicago and Columbus addressed those needs with some recent acquisitions at the forward position.
Chicago Signs Polish Striker Frankowski
The Chicago Fore recently announced that the team had signed Polish forward Tomasz Frankowski. Frankowski (33) was the top scorer in the Polish Premier League three times. Frankowski began his soccer career in 1991 with Jagiellonia Bialystok and since then has played professionally in France, Poland, Japan, England, and Spain.
Frankowski was recently with CD Tenerife in Spain being on loan from England’s Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Polish forward has spent most of his long career with Wisla Krakow of the Polish League, as he helped the club win 5 Polish Championships and 2 Polish Cups. Frankowski has recorded 10 goals for the Polish National Team in 22 appearances.
Frankowski said about the signing, “I am happy to sign with the Chicago Fire and I want to thank them for their faith in me. After a couple days in training camp I realized the high standard of play and the quality of the organization and its players. I believe I will fulfill everyone’s expectations, and I realize how large the Polish community is here in Chicago and hope that they will give us all their support.”
Chicago has a radical new look up front, as the recent signing of scorer Frankowski along with rookie Patrick Nyarko should be an exciting tandem to watch on a team that made it to the conference finals last year. The big question mark in the Windy City is still at Keeper, as Job Busch has been given the reigns and it will remain to be seen if he can be the main guy in net for the Fire.
Chicago head coach Denis Hamlett said about the recent signing, “Tomasz is a very experienced forward and we are excited to have him on the roster. We saw a lot of positive play from Tomasz in Bradenton, he is clinical around the box and we feel he will fit in well with our system.”
Columbus trades for Nicolas Hernandez
The Columbus crew recently traded defenseman Tim Ward and their 3rd Round draft pick in the 2009 Super Draft to Colorado for forward Nicolas Hernandez. In his 2 seasons in the MLS Hernandez has notched 8 goals and 7 assists in playing in 51 games. Hernandez is 28 years old and in 2006 was the Colorado Rapids MVP. Defenseman Tim Ward has played in 17 games for the Crew after coming over from New York.
This looks like a good trade for the Crew, but as the season approaches their main concerns are still on defense, where they will be relying on a lot of rookies.
Author: Jason Green
