MEET MARKUS SCHOPP

By: Dave Martinez | July 28th, 2007

Full name Markus Schopp
Date of birth February 22, 1974 (1974-02-22) (age 33)
Place of birth Graz, Austria
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position: midfielder

With 14 Days and Counting till TFC, we are going to have a ton of speculation time, spawned by the boredom of the lay off (I gotta watch FSC for my soccer fix tonite . . .HEY! WHAT DO YA SAY! YA GOTTA GET IN THE GAME!)

Todays topic: Markus Schopp

If I havent beaten around the bush enough here, I think it is time to give Markus Schopp his shot.

The man has been capped with the Austrian team 56 times, scoring six goals. As we heard when first transfered, he has an excellent reputation as a hard worker and distributor.

But, since we haven’t been able to see anything yet (I mean, do 4 or 5 games really tell you much?), people tend to write off the big Austrian.

Listen, there are really three things I think we should try out before we scrap the Schopp project:

1 - Start him over DANE RICHARDS in a tough away game @ TFC. Though Schopp has proven nothing from the wings this season or last, we do know what Dane Richards has to offer - exciting runs that lead to nothingness. And that isnt a shot at Dane - he is a young man after all! Which gives me even more reason to beg the question - why not Schopp?

In my last pregame column, I suggested him on the Right wing, working a little more central than traditionally given. Have Freeman make those long runs and have Schopp and his 6′2″ frame head some shots in! Get creative. We know what Dane has got, and as of this moment, there isnt much immediate help in his contribution. Schopp deserves a look, and a gameplan that would ease that transition back into regular playing time.

2 - Give him a shot at Central Mid if possible. Like I said before, he hasnt shown much, but at the same time, it is difficult to judge a man in such a small amount of games. Centralize Schopps attack, as I suggested above, and see if it enables to mobilize and encourage him more. We can spark a fire in this guy that can break the mans true game through.

3 - Have him play 2-3 90 minute games. Dane Richards is a youngin - he has time to play for the rest of his career, and that career may be very bright. But right now, the old Lion needs to show why he is an international star (and having that many caps for ones country DOES make them a star, whether its Austria or Argentina). This is the perfect opportunity. Have Schopp show what he can do. If he becomes a liability after his first 120-150 minutes of play, then consider other options. But the man needs one shot. Not one MORE shot, his one and ONLY shot.

With the weeks ahead, we will have speculation and rumors up the wazoo. For now, we should look at the real - at what we have - to see what we can adjust to better our performance.