Keita and Wayne Rooney's brother...

Geoffrey Arnold,  the Big O's sometime soccer writer,  posted at Oregon Live that last year's scoring star,  Keita,  has been missing from Timbers' activities including match days and has been placed on personal leave.  A commentator suggested that the start of Ramadan,  earlier this year than last, might have something to do with this.  And I like the possibility because it suggests a complex and spiritual man struggling to balance his faith and his public life.  What is sad to me is that the current version of the Portland Timbers are more or less ciphers to their fans.   We know something about their vitals,  where they came from,  occasional publicist reviews,  but not much about the real people on and off the field.   Wherever Mandjou goes,  I wish him well.  He did a good job up front last year.  Hard to say what the season at Salgaocar in Goa was like from this distance.  Their club crest shows them to be relatively young club at fifty-four.  They are in Goa which, if I recall correctly was the Portuguese colony on the Subcontinent.  Somewhat different than the rest of India I believe.

Arnold also has a piece noting that Wayne Rooney's brother spent some time in Portland so the Timbers' coaching staff could take a look at him.  He is on something of a tour apparently, having just come down from a similar visit with the Sounders.   If nothing else,  his name is buying him a nice tour of the Pacific Northwest,  never something to sneeze at.  Hope he at least had time to go out to Vista House and see Multnomah Falls.  Reminds me, is there any family resemblance between Wayne and that other Rooney?  Mickey?  Not so much I guess.