Alex Mendoza, Damani Richards Cut By The Philadelphia Union

The Philadelphia Union made an interesting move today, parting ways with two players who the team had signed only last month.

Alex Mendoza and Damani Richards were let go by the Union in a short press release posted to the club's official website. Neither had much (public) participation in Philadelphia's 2013 preseason.

Mendoza came to the Union from Mexico, where he went to try to make the first team of UNAM Pumas, which is one of the top clubs in the top league, Liga MX. He fell off of the radar for a bit in the United States because of the move, but the former Red Land High School star's local notoriety with Philadelphia's USL PRO affiliate Harrisburg City Islanders brought him to the Union.

Richards was highly thought of by head coach John Hackworth after a month trial last October and the signing in January, but was reportedly sick during throughout much of the preseason. Hackworth had the following to say in a January 21 "The Final Whistle" post on the team's site:

Damani is a true left back and we feel as though he had more potential to be developed than any left back we saw in the draft. Yes he's young and we need to develop him, but this is a player with international experience, who is extremely gifted athletically. The chatter of us needing to draft a left back was laughable because we knew what we had in Damani.

SuperDraft selection Don Anding appears to have moved into the back-up left back slot behind starter Gabriel Farfan.