... And Busch Ain't Happy About It

The Dispatch reports today that Jon Busch is very unhappy with the way that his waiving was handled by coach Sigi Schmidt of the Crew.

"We did not have one conversation," he said. "We did not talk about how my knee was doing, how I was training, how I was playing. I assumed either everything was fine or it was a tough-love situation and he had more important things to worry about.

"This wasn’t even on my radar screen that this would happen."

Busch said he had discussions with general manager Mark McCullers about finishing his career in Columbus and eventually becoming the team’s goalkeepers coach. That won’t happen under Schmid.

"I will never work for Sigi again," Busch said. "I will never play for him, never join his coaching staff. He is a very good tactics coach. He knows the game like very few do. But I question his management skills and the way he handles professional players. I think they are poor."

I can't blame Busch one iota for feeling the way he does. And I think Schmidt has made a big mistake in waiving Busch. His reasoning:

"Jon is a tremendous worker and a good pro," Schmid said. "But when Jon plays, it changes how we play as a team. He has a tendency to like to play longer balls out of the back, and that’s different from how we want to play.

That may be true. And if you've paid any attention to my soccer comments on this blog over the years, you know how much I hate long-ball. But goalkeeping comes down to one thing, in all seriousness: keeping the ball out of the net. And Jon Busch does that better than Bill Gaudette or Will Hesmer - especially if they've been injured through the preseason.

I gave Sigi Schmidt the benefit of the doubt last season as his team was basically an expansion team and he had injury problems like I've never seen in any sport. But this preseason is making me seriously question his abilities... getting rid of Busch and Jose Retiz, one of the bright spots of last season, is the primary reason for that.