Union Acquire Costa Rican Left Back Porfirio Lopez, Not Cedric Fabien
by Scott Kessler on Dec 22, 2011 9:37 AM EST
in Offseason Content
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PrintThe Philadelphia Union revealed today that the team has acquired Porfirio Lopez, the first transfer in a long time that the club has managed to keep secret before the official announcement. The signing will go through once the team receives Lopez's International Transfer Certificate and P-1 visa.
Lopez has played mostly in Costa Rica, his native country, throughout his career, after debuting with Santos de Guapiles in 2005. He has also spent time at Puntarenas, Dalian Shide (a top league team in China) and Liga Deportiva Alajuelense. The 26-year-old played against fellow new Union signing Josue Martinez in Costa Rica's top league playoff semi-finals, with Lopez's side progressing to the finals.
At 5 feet, 11 inches, Lopez brings some height to a defense that head coach Piotr Nowak declared was needing some taller players. While not currently playing internationally for his country, something that is unlike most of the Union's recent additions, Lopez brings a left foot at the left back position and allows Philadelphia to push Gabriel Farfan into his natural attacking midfield role on the left side of the midfield.
The signing of the left back comes out of nowhere after the team was linked to French fullback Cedric Fabien. Already at 11 internationals, it seems highly unlikely that the Union will sign another international player due to the league's restrictions on international players on rosters.
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GS
Awesome news for the club………….Probably our biggest need has been addressed.
Hopefully he will own that left side and be a lovely compliment to Williams on that left side.
How many flags are going to be on that wall now?
I cannot wait to see who is going to leave the club now. There’s got to be about 45 players on the team now. I’m liking everyone they’ve picked up this winter. Very excited for the season.
Definitely
a terrific Latin American contingent now, which I think speaks to wise hires in the front office, the ascent of MLS overall, and the presence of a respected player like Faryd Mondragon.
He seems like an aggressive defender a la Valdes, which should be effective in MLS since combination play isn’t abundant. Should be a significant upgrade over Garfan, who was pretty passive in his defending. Not sure what to think of his attacking ability based on the highlights. Some long balls, some simple passing. Guess we’ll have to wait and see what he brings to the team.
I wouldn’t mind seeing the Union draft Hunter Jumper to add competition for the LB spot though.
Torres?
I am really excited to see that we have an actual defender to play left back this year, but the Union are way over on their international spots. I fear that the Union are going to let Torres go, especially since he was only here on loan. It’s great to see the Union filling needed positions, but it would also be great to see Torres come back.
Three things from that video
He plays physically, with decent speed, and gets up for balls in the air. Agree with the post above that there isnt enough to evaluate him as an attacker though he seems a capable passer out of the back. Time will tell on this one.
Can we get an official unofficial international player count? Does this put the Union at 3 or 4 over the limit?
by Dean_Moriarty on Dec 22, 2011 1:30 PM EST via iPhone app reply actions
Three over.
11 total.
Managing Editor for Brotherly Game, SBNation's Philadelphia Union blog and contributor for SBN Philly. // @scottdkessler
"College is only 4 years, but the Eagles are for life." - Ironhank
by Scott Kessler on Dec 22, 2011 6:42 PM EST up reply actions
I believe this is now 12 of 8 spots
Something tells me the Union aren’t showing there hand. They could be unable to get Keon (which I would hate) but that would bring us down to 11. Joe Tait is likely to get the boot since we now have lopez, garfan, ryan richter and gomez to fuffill a potential CB injury. That brings us to 10 and if Torres unfortunately doesnt get bought by the union then we are down to 9. Also I have heard rumours that Levi Hopeau is due to get his green card which according to MLS means he is an “american” same as le toux
Who are the 12, I keep coming up with 11. Mondragon, Levi, Tait, Valdes, Lopez, Gomes, Matinez, Torres, Paunovic, Daniel, Khalfan. Who am I missing?
by Dean_Moriarty on Dec 22, 2011 1:59 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
Scott’s article says 11, and after looking at the roster on the team’s site it appears you got them all.
Yupp.
11, with Cedric Fabien still technically a possibility.
Managing Editor for Brotherly Game, SBNation's Philadelphia Union blog and contributor for SBN Philly. // @scottdkessler
"College is only 4 years, but the Eagles are for life." - Ironhank
by Scott Kessler on Dec 22, 2011 6:43 PM EST up reply actions
trades
don’t forget that the draft and mls silly season is coming. They could possibly trade players and or draft picks for additional international slots. All indications are that this draft isn’t very deep with impact players and they are picking much lower then usual. Interestingly enough, there is decent depth (but not impact) at cb this year so that in addition to the intl spot situation could really push Tait out the door. Never saw him play, but he was nice enough to sign my daughers’ jerseys and spend some time talking to them. i wish him luck if it doesn’t work out here.
Since when does 5’11" constitute having height?
"Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?"
by PraiseMartyMoose on Dec 22, 2011 1:58 PM EST reply actions
On this team.....
They will have to build the guy a custom locker, lol
World class full backs are typically 5'8"-ish.
5’11" is quite tall for a fullback.
Managing Editor for Brotherly Game, SBNation's Philadelphia Union blog and contributor for SBN Philly. // @scottdkessler
"College is only 4 years, but the Eagles are for life." - Ironhank
by Scott Kessler on Dec 22, 2011 6:41 PM EST up reply actions
Houapeu had better hope he can get naturalized, because he’s gotta be the first international riding out of town. Tait could be spared by the fact we don’t have center back cover…but if we were to trade Paunovic for a domestic defender, we could probably cut Tait and solve the entire international slot problem (I’m assuming Gomez could play CB in a pinch).
Theoretically, you’d prefer to have players in those international slots that offer something that you can’t find in a domestic player.
Scouting new players??
Does anyone know how Union are scouting for players in C & S America. Does the team have an active scouting presence or it this through word of mouth? they seem incredibly active for such a new team?
Visibility
Gomez has long been a panamanian NT mainstay despite a rocky club career. Martinez was a youth star for Costa Rica and made a bit of noise at the full NT in the last two years. Both guys would be well known to former US NT asst. coach Nowak and former US U-17 coach Hackworth from CONCACAF competition. No idea how Lopez got on the radar though.
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