D.C. United technical director Dave Kasper won’t take credit for this season’s league-wide trend of acquiring South American talent — Argentineans, in particular — to bolster Major League Soccer rosters.
“Honestly, I don’t pay attention to what other teams are doing,” said Kasper. “Certainly, we’ve had success there. It’s a good place to look for players — they’re professional, they’re technical, and you can find players of good value.”
Despite the impending arrival of English midfielder David Beckham, the rest of MLS is catching the Latino wave, including United’s next opponent, Columbus, which last week signed Argentine forward Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who has won 15 different titles with Boca Juniors. (Schelotto is not expected to play this weekend.)
“The more global we get, the better, differentiating teams even more,” said D.C. midfielder Ben Olsen.
United has always paid attention below the equator. The club’s history began in 1996 with notable Bolivians Marco Etcheverry and Jaime Moreno, but the influx has been considerable since the arrival of Christian Gomez in 2004 and three others from Argentina since — Facundo Erpen, Lucio Filomeno and Matias Donnet. D.C.’s newest big names, Luciano Emilio and Fred, hail from Brazil.
Whether or not these players work out remains the biggest question — for different reasons, Filomeno and Donnet each lasted less than half a season.
Crew midfielder Ned Grabavoy’s first introduction to Schelotto came informally earlier this week when he ran into his newest teammate at a Columbus hotel.
“I just expressed to him that I was excited to play with and I was glad that he’s here,” said Grabavoy. “We’re excited to have a player with that experience, who’s played in some real big games to come to our team. We hope he can produce for us.”
New Arrivals:
Juan Pablo Angel
Forward • New York
Country » Colombia
Carlos Marinelli
Midfield • Kansas City
Country » Argentina
Pablo Ricchetti
Defender • FC Dallas
(signing not yet complete)
Country » Argentina
Guillermo Barros Schelotto
Forward • Columbus
Country » Argentina
Juan Carlos Toja
Midfield • FC Dallas
Country » Colombia
