CP Baltimore's Players Out and About

Crystal Palace Baltimore's Mathew Mbuta is now, officially, part of the NY Red Bulls, a fair reward for a heck of a performance against the team on a high school pitch in Annapolis.

Not similar outcomes, I think, for CP Baltimore's Pat Healey and Shintaro Harada, who were not able to convert their loan spells with the Chicago Fire into a longer term run with the MLS team. Healey, the runner up for USL2's rookie of the year (and a player who can also lay claim to a great family cheering section at CP Baltimore's home matches) was not able to win himself a roster spot after playing on DC United's reserve team at the end of August. Not great news for either, but at least they got a look based off of what they managed to do with the third division team.

As did Val Teixeira, who managed to win a trial with the parent club in London but did not manage to impress Warnock enough to merit a deal. As the linked article notes, Teixeira has not left the UK and participated in a reserve match for fourth division Chesterfield FC, where he managed a hat-trick as a first impression against Wolverhampton's reserves. His performance was not, however, sufficiently impressive to lead the club's official web-site to actually learn his name (designated as "unnamed trialist"). (Wolverhampton, on the other hand, gave credit where it was due). Nevertheless, it was a heck of a first impression:

Palace's loss is Chesterfield's gain as Teixeira has made an immediate impression after netting a hat-trick in their 4-0 reserve win over Wolves on Tuesday.

Spireites boss Lee Richardson is likely to have been impressed with the striker's display, although he has refused to state whether a contract will be in the offing.

"I was impressed with the lad and it was our best performance of the season. We could have had seven goals," Richardson told the Derbyshire Times.

So all that is left is for Teixeira (and it is spelled "Teixeira" not "Tiexeira"), is for Val to prove that he is capable of "coping with the physical demands of League 2 football" as the Spireites seem terribly concerned about hiring out a fragile player regardless of his skill.

Val was a highly entertaining footballer to watch stateside and should Chesterfield decide to extend him a contract, their supporters will find much to enjoy from the flair with which he plays the game.