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Photo: Getty ImagesFC Dallas has acquired forward Jeff Cunningham from Toronto FC in exchange for a third round pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft.
Cunningham joins FCD as the 4th leading goal-scorer in league history with 99 career regular season goals. He began his professional career in 1998 with the Columbus Crew, where he became the co-leader in goals scored for the club (62) and earned his first MLS Best XI honor (2002).
After seven seasons, he was traded to the Colorado Rapids in 2005, where he finished third in MLS with 12 goals scored. He then led the league with 16 goals in 2006 as a member of Real Salt Lake, earning a place on the MLS Best XI team and becoming one of three finalists for the MLS Most Valuable Player award. Cunningham has also made 10 appearances with the U.S. Men’s National team.
UPDATED (12:10 pm CT)
Schellas on Cunningham: “Jeff’s going to help the team tremendously, because now we’ll have two legitimate goal scorers with him and Kenny Cooper. You win games by scoring goals, and Jeff’s a proven goal-scorer. We feel this could be one of the strongest attacking duos in MLS soccer.”
After seven seasons, he was traded to the Colorado Rapids in 2005, where he finished third in MLS with 12 goals scored. He then led the league with 16 goals in 2006 as a member of Real Salt Lake, earning a place on the MLS Best XI team and becoming one of three finalists for the MLS Most Valuable Player award. Cunningham has also made 10 appearances with the U.S. Men’s National team.
UPDATED (12:10 pm CT)
Schellas on Cunningham: “Jeff’s going to help the team tremendously, because now we’ll have two legitimate goal scorers with him and Kenny Cooper. You win games by scoring goals, and Jeff’s a proven goal-scorer. We feel this could be one of the strongest attacking duos in MLS soccer.”
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49 comments:
welcome jeff! fun jersey number time
He's a proven goal scorer over his career. I hope he has some left in him.
There goes the locker room...
Does he come in and start? Will he be a complement to Cooper? I hope that both are yes but we will wait and see.
Welcome to Dallas Jeff!!!
Welcome aboard Jeff. Please score goals.
I hope Dallas doesn't have to pay his full salary. I believe he is making around $250,000 a year at Toronto.
I see this trade as two-fold in its motive:
a)I'm thinking this is a move to try to help the team win the cup this season. Afterall, he's a proven scorer.
b)This will also help Oduro in his growth as a forward. Perhaps he can impart some of his experience over the years. That and maybe Cunninghan and Oduro will sub in for each other.
And one other thing, maybe a player of this caliber will also compliment Cooper in his style of play or at least the way the coaches want Cooper to play.
He'll be 32 in a few weeks so I don't see Cunningham staying here long-term. But I'm glad he's here.
This guy has scared me more than just about any other striker playing against FCD. Anybody remember his performance at the All Star Game a few years ago? I think it was against Fulham and if I remember correctly, I believe he scored twice. One goal was a move he put on a guy at midfield and there was no way anybody could catch him.
At 32 he should have something left. I am now worried about the salary cap implications, though. If it's really $250K, do we still have room for more additions?
The knock on him at other venues - even when he was successful - was that he was selfish, even for a forward.
I think he will be effective here in the way he has been in the past because of his past relationship with Ellinger and the fact that he is out of Toronto.
The question is whether Cunningham and Cooper are effective as a tandem, and that is a whole 'nother kettle o' fishes. Answer "no", and we lose some momentum. Answer "yes", and it is "hold on to your britches, Molly."
Dom has 5 goals this year Cunningham has 3.
"We'll have two legitimate goal scorers" - aren't those words pretty insulting to Abe Thompson and Dominic Oduro? The way that a lot of the players on this team are payed, you would think the organization would at least try and be sensitive to the things that are said about the respective players publicly.
I'm very underwhelmed by this move.
he's much better than abe and dom....he scares me when he's on the field, so I feel good about this trade. Who knows where the dutchman plays...certainly not taking away time from avi
I have more confidence in this team than I did a few weeks ago.
Tina-mommy
I'm with skeeter. He's had a challenging go of it at TFC and am hoping it was just the result of a bad fit. Prior to TFC he had a good run with the Crew and RSL. Cooper and Oduro have been working well together these days...I know someone has a plan, but I can't figure it out at this point.
awesome deal, nice move hitch
Dom has 5 goals, Cunningham 3...Dom has gotten better over the season, he's still learning and growing...Cunninghma is, well, on the downhill side of his career. I like our lineup with Oduro paired with Cooper better.
So.. what are we going to do with those two international spots that we traded for?
This is another stupid move by the Front Office. This guy is OLD he has done NOTHING this season. He makes more money than Coop and that is wrong -
Total incompetence by Hitch !
Bad move. This is not the type of player we need. One more RSL forward.
I like how we keep the two 30 year old players and send the young river plate players home. Good move guys. Dom has been great all year and earned his spot. I would hate to see him benched for this over the hill guy. Plus i have heard that he creates distractions off the field. If he walks in here and gets the start he better deliver. I will say i am excited about seeing Victor play. Hope he can deliver on the wings. I just hope there is going to be room now for our young guns who are doing well. Avi, Dello, Shea, and even Dax now. I really hope there potintal is not wasted. Oh well hope this is for the best. Lets keep this unbeaten streek going.
Go Hoops
Dallas till i die
I'm not entirely sure what to make of this, but I'm intrigued.
The River Plate guys were sent home already?
Now that I have had time to digest this move, I don't think that I am in favor of it. Oduro is tied for 10th in the league with 5 goals and he hasn't even logged 900 minutes this season. To Put that in perspective, he is only 2 goals behind Alejandro Moreno of the Crew who has logged over 1700 minutes played (and he is their team leader). Unless we are bringing in a true superstar (which Cunningham is not) I would rather roll with Birdman. He works hard and is a bargain compared to Cunningham.
I thought SH wanted a player that could hold the ball up front. Jeffs whole game is speed. Just like Dom. But Dome is faster and getting better and better. This just smells like RSL.
Look at it from this angle: Both Cooper and Oduro have both been injury-free so far this season. Our history shows that to be unusual. Does it really hurt to have another proven striker in the mix? I think not.
From a previous post: "awesome deal, nice move hitch"
I would think the GM is above commenting on the teams blog...
i like this deal. cunningham was in a terrible situation with tfc and carver. 2 seasons ago with RSL he won the golden boot with 16 goals and added 11 assists. i like the idea of oduro coming off the bench and running hard late in the game.
This makes no sense. This guy has a problem in the locker room, he is over the hill and he is expensive.
Birdman has earned his starting spot, and he and Cooper have chemistry.
I cannot believe the total incompetence of the Front Office. We have a lot of young talent and yet are farming for a bunch of has beens. We are going to become the Arizona Cardinals of the MLS.
Anyone need season tickets for next year ? I am giving mine up.
Whats a ticket to Houston cost on Southwest ?
Obviously not a true FCD fan^
Please move to HOustank. We don't need you.
And here comes another cancer right after we have gotten rid of all the rest. Sikora is fine as he is a winger and we havn't had a true one since Ronnie left, but this is just a really stupid move by the FO, espicially when you consider that you let the youngsters go from River Plate.
- ZRS
Do none of you read 3rd Degree? The River Plate kids were not good enough and did not impress in practice to be worth using international/senior roster slots on.
Not sold on Cunningham, but under the circumstances, he probably is at least a better move than the Lucas's
People who would even consider moving to Houston over a decision that hasn't even proven to be good or bad can f*** right off to Houston. We don't need that crap at PHP. No true FCD supporter would ever consider that, rough times or not. I'd rather wear a bag on my head with a hooped jersey on, than be a Poopstain Crynamo fan with some hideous orange thing on my shoulders.
What a stupid comment by SH - what was Oduro - an ILLEGITIMATE striker ? I don't think so. He has more goals than this OLD guy. We have one washed up guy playing in the back, now we have an old guy up front.
If he does make more money than Coop then the front office is just plain stupid
i guess you guys realize that this trade can make an end to Cooper with FCD. I told you before that when big doggs flip wallets on Cooper's case all of us here include the MLS and Hitch will be vulnerable. as of now some one offered 12million to get Cooper what about that? so wake up guys and figure out what's next! what team can get this many strikers at once? don't you smell fish around the front office about Cooper? do you guys understand soccer business? no matter what we do or say we are loosing Cooper soon and the seasons in Europe are just about to kick off and Cooper is wanted to start with his new team.
Dom, ask to be traded to HOUSTON we will start you and we will pay you well
well columbus and houston just added forwards. depth is a good thing folks.
I agree this move is nothing more than jockeying to get Cooper over to Europe, and the MLS to pocket the cash. Dom is not losing his job, Jeff is coming in to replace Cooper.
What a shame.
I believe the FIFA transfer window expires August 17. However, FIFA has allowed Ligue 1 (France) to extend that window to August 31. So if FCD and MLS were going to transfer Coops, they had better do it soon.
What are the chances that a deal for Cooper is already done - and a part of that deal is that he finishes the season here in Dallas and then heads over to play in Europe after the season ends ?
The summer transfer window ends August 31. We have a couple of more weeks. He isn't leaving til the January. They are probably holding out for a large club to offer him a contract. He deserves to play in the Premier League or any top League, not for Cardiff.
Yeah, I think you guys need to relax. KCJ isn't going anywhere this season. And, as for the Cunningham move, my opinion of this has changed slightly. It appears that TFC has agreed to keep at least $100k of his contract on their ledger, if that is the case, then this is a good deal. I still hope that Oduro gets the majority of the playing time however.
Why would TFC carry that money on their books ? Whats in it for them ? The plot thickens -
Could it be that there is money coming from the Cooper Deal to TFC to offset this expense ?
The player was not happy there and was a problem in the locker room. So for TFC it was an addition by subtraction move (sorta like our Ruiz trade in the opinion of some). They also were able to free up a roster spot and about $50k in salary space so that they can possibly bring in another forward before the window closes.
after thinking about this move for a few days, it still stinks. just when things were looking up.and dom and abe are legitimate goal scorers coach.
“Jeff’s going to help the team tremendously, because now we’ll have two legitimate goal scorers with him and Kenny Cooper. You win games by scoring goals, and Jeff’s a proven goal-scorer. We feel this could be one of the strongest attacking duos in MLS soccer.”
This is an ignorant comment. I don't like this trade. Dom has more goals than this guy. How can you say he is not a legitimate goal scorer ?
I am very disappointed - disappointed in the teams performance, disappointed in the selection of the coach, disappointed in the coach, and disappointed in the front office. I would ask someone to come over here and kick me but it would probably go wide.
How can this coach look sooo down on Dom and Abe?It Seems to me that he rather base a player's competance on the pass glory.Cunningham has done nothing for TFC he last played against us last game and showed nothing.
We have seen great improvement in Dom only because he has been given more playing time. We have scored 6goals in the pass two games why can't you give time a chance?
IF THIS ORGANIZATION CAN GIVE DOM AND ABE THE SAME OPPORTUNITY GIVEN TO COOPER,YOU WILL SEE THEM EXCEL ALSO.
YOU PEOPLE SUCK............SHUT UP ABOUT DOM SCORING, HE HAS WHAT, 10 GOALS ALLTIME AND CUNNINGHAM HAS 99. YEAH THAT'S NOT GONNA HELP THIS TEAM!!
guys learn from what happens in LA Alexi Lalas fired! Gullit is out Cobi J is in! Hitch must go!!
You anonymous fool do you know how many years Cunningham has played in the league compared to Dom's two and half years? Can you compare minutes and game played?
Do you expect Dom to score 99 goals in 3yrs.?Stop living the pass and let us develop our future young players after all Jeff was given the chance some times in his life to develop.
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