San Jose made a bold move to jump start their offensive attack with the announcement that Brazilian Geovanni Deiberson Maurício Gómez signed an undisclosed contract today. Like a true Brazilian Geovanni goes by just his first name and provides much needed class and versatility to San Jose's lineup. With the ability to play forward, wing midfield or central attacking midfield, the former Hull City man gives coach Frank Yallop all kinds of new lineup possibilities.
Geovanni, formerly of Hull City in England, found his greatest success while playing for Portuguese heavy-weight Benfica, winning their player of the year award twice, including during a league title season. He has also seen action for Barcelona, Manchester City and Cruziero. His exit from Hull City had less to do with talent (he appeared in 28 of 38 league games) and more to do with conflicts with his manager and Hull's relegation. Nevertheless, ex-teammate Jozy Altidore has nothing but good things to say about San Jose's newest addition:
Geo is a quality player san jose got a good one and he's a class act. Hope he tears it up out there!
As an Earthquake fan this is incredibly exciting news. I considered midfield to be probably the weakest link in San Jose's lineup, but in the span of a week two new additions have added a great deal of talent and expectations to that unit. Khari Stephenson impressed in his debut against Kansas City and now he'll have the chance to pair with Geovanni in the midfield. When Bobby Convey returns to the midfield that could make for a unit that can maintain possession and get the ball to strikers in dangerous positions - something San Jose has generally failed to do in the past.
Suddenly, with a win and two new players, San Jose's playoff outlook seems much less bleak than it did just four days ago. Certainly one designated player is no guarantee of post-season soccer, but being tied for the final playoff spot with a few games in hand on the teams above them in the standings sounds like a pretty good position to me.
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