Portland Timbers 2012 Player Rankings #36: James Marcelin

It was easy to forget about James Marcelin, the now FC Dallas midfielder who began his career with the Portland Timbers in 2010 with the USL side. However, he did actually make a handful of appearances for the Timbers during the 2012 season and, for that, he was eligible to make the list!

Truthfully, however, there's not much to say about Marcelin's time with the Timbers in 2012. Appearing only 3 times all of which as a substitute, he simply wasn't able to make any sort of impact for the Timbers this season. This made him less useful than even some of the current Timbers players who are perhaps a bit more disliked by fans.

However, for those that were around in 2010 (or even 2011) you might remember a center midfielder who was a bit chippy and not afraid to push players around. During the 2010 USL play offs, Marcelin actually scored the game winner against rivals the Vancouver Whitecaps. It wasn't enough to keep the Timbers in the play offs, but it was certainly a noble effort.

Still, with a supposed attitude problem -- being waived for "non-soccer related reasons" -- and continued frustrations in Dallas, I can't see any reason why Marcelin shouldn't be #36. There simply wasn't a worse player for the Timbers organization in 2012.

Should He Have Been Waived?

Yes. All the reports that came out boiled down to Marcelin having an attitude problem in the locker room. What that means exactly, nobody except the players and coaching staff can really say. Additionally, seeing as how problems persisted in Dallas after he signed with them a week lately confirmed as much that he's simply not a team player. Luckily for him Dallas has decided to keep him on the roster... for now at least.