Union Release Gabriel Gomez, Porfirio Lopez And Krystian Witkowski

Three players will not return to the Philadelphia Union in 2013, as the team parted ways with Gabriel Gomez, Porfirio Lopez and Krystian Witkowski. All three will be available in this afternoon's Major League Soccer Waiver Draft, which will happen at 3:30 EDT.

Of the three who will not come back, Gomez was the most notable release. The Panamanian international was brought in to revamp the Union's midfield, which did a true attacking force or solid player alongside Brian Carroll in 2011.

Gomez started off with a bang for the Union, jumping out early as the team's leading scorer and main threat on set pieces. Then May rolled around and Gomez's troubles began, as he scored against FC Dallas, but was injured at the same time when Kevin Hartman collided with his thigh.

From then on out, Gomez had difficulties maintaining his role in the team's starting lineup, and also getting into game day rosters at all. A high salary and waning production over the second half of the season most likely led to his exposure to the Waiver Draft.

Unlike Gomez, Lopez had little success to speak of after coming to the Union as an international player acquisition during the offseason. Expected to fix the Union's problems defensively at left back, which have plagued the team since the trade of former starter Jordan Harvey,

Lopez failed miserably and drew comparisons to the disaster that was the quick David Myrie experiment in 2010.

Witkowski was never given much of a chance to perform on the field, mostly due to his concussion symptom problems. However, he showed enough promise to warrant getting looks from the coaching staff prior to suffering the original concussion that caused the symptoms.