Soccer blogger Ives Galarcep addresses a few rumors swirling around lately. Despite recent comments to the contrary, Fire defender Wilman Conde is not happy and wants to leave Chicago as soon as possible. Galarcep says the Colombian didn’t even dress for Thursday night’s 2-0 win over D.C. United at RFK, nor did he step foot in the locker room. He was also absent from the post-game celebrations. Does this mean Conde is on his way out? Not necessarily, says Galarcep: Conde started in Friday morning’s reserve match and Fire officials sounded reasonably confident they could convince him to stay. One place he won’t be going is New York: “You have a better chance of seeing a Red Bull logo replacing the Best Buy logo on the Fire uniform than seeing Conde reuniting with Juan Carlos Osorio any time soon,” Galarcep says.
Elsewhere, there’s a rumor floating around that American Freddy Adu isn’t getting any playing time at Benfica because of a performance and appearance clause in his contract that forces Benfica to send a large transfer bonus Major League Soccer’s way. Not true, says Galarcep. Freddy’s not playing because Benfica officials have opted for experience over youth late in the season. Benfica is currently fourth, and in grave danger of missing out on Champions League qualifying for next season. Meanwhile, Galarcep says the most likely scenario is Freddy being placed on the transfer list this summer — unless, of course, Sven Goran Eriksson comes in as coach and decides to give the 18-year-old a serious look.