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God bless Twitter. We get news marginally faster than we used to, and not just from official sources. Players can break stories about their own call ups to national teams (*cough* Eddie Johnson) or trades, as we saw with James Riley. But their management agencies can break news, too. That appears to have happened this weekend, as Kudos Management, the agency representing Canadian trialist Kyle Porter, tweeted the following:
We confirm Kyle Porter has agreed to terms with DC United. The Kudos family wishes @kyleporter19all the best with his new team.#MLS2013
— Kudos Management (@KudosM) February 22, 2013
This news should surprise basically nobody. Porter has impressed in his preseason appearances with United, Ben Olsen saying his play "has been pretty good - pretty damn good." When news came out that Lewis Neal (LEWIS NEAL!) had been granted his Green Card and would no longer occupy a scarce international roster slot, there was little doubt that the 23-year-old Porter, who made his debut for the Canadian Men's National Team this winter, would be joining the Black-and-Red for 2013.
Besides his exceeding expectations in preseason, Porter's signing also provides depth behind Chris Pontius on the left side of midfield. While United has players who can step into that position, Neal and rookie fullback Taylor Kemp among them, none bring the attacking qualities that both Pontius and Porter possess. Having another attacking option in reserve, particularly one who looks likely to carry a very small salary cap hit, makes good sense. Here's the updated roster table (which of course is a work in progress):
|
|
No. |
Pos. |
Player Name |
Age |
Ht. |
Budget Status |
International? |
|
1 |
2 |
D |
James Riley |
30 |
5' 10" |
||
|
2 |
3 |
D/M |
Robbie Russell |
33 |
6' 2" |
||
|
3 |
4 |
D |
Brandon McDonald |
27 |
6' 1" |
||
|
4 |
5 |
D |
Dejan Jakovic |
27 |
6' 2" |
International |
|
|
5 |
6 |
M/F |
Syamsir Alam |
20 |
5' 8" |
Off-Budget? |
International |
|
6 |
7 |
M |
Dwayne De Rosario |
34 |
5' 10" |
Designated Player |
Green Card |
|
7 |
8 |
M |
John Thorrington |
33 |
5' 8" |
Naturalized |
|
|
8 |
9 |
F |
Rafael Teixeira de Souza |
20 |
6' |
Designated Player |
International |
|
9 |
11 |
M |
Marcelo Saragosa |
31 |
6' |
Green Card |
|
|
10 |
12 |
M |
Raphael Augusto |
21 |
5' 11" |
Off-Budget? |
International |
|
11 |
13 |
M/F |
Chris Pontius |
25 |
6' |
||
|
12 |
15 |
D |
Ethan White |
22 |
6' |
Homegrown |
|
|
13 |
16 |
F |
Casey Townsend |
23 |
5' 11" |
Off-Budget? |
|
|
14 |
17 |
M |
Conor Shanosky |
21 |
6' 4" |
Homegrown |
|
|
15 |
18 |
M |
Nick DeLeon |
22 |
5' 10" |
Off-Budget? |
|
|
16 |
20 |
F |
Carlos Ruiz |
33 |
5' 10" |
Green Card |
|
|
17 |
21 |
D |
Daniel Woolard |
28 |
5' 10" |
||
|
18 |
22 |
D |
Chris Korb |
25 |
5' 9" |
||
|
19 |
23 |
M |
Perry Kitchen |
20 |
6' |
||
|
20 |
24 |
M |
Lewis Neal |
31 |
5' 11" |
Green Card |
|
|
21 |
26 |
F |
Lionard Pajoy |
31 |
6' 1" |
International |
|
|
22 |
28 |
GK |
Bill Hamid |
22 |
6' 3" |
||
|
23 |
29 |
F |
Michael Seaton |
16 |
6' |
Homegrown |
Naturalized |
|
24 |
31 |
GK |
Joe Willis |
24 |
6' 5" |
Off-Budget? |
|
|
25 |
33 |
D |
Taylor Kemp |
22 |
5' 11" |
Off-Budget? |
|
|
26 |
50 |
GK |
Andrew Dykstra |
27 |
6' 4" |
||
|
27 |
-- |
M |
Kyle Porter |
23 |
6' |
Off-Budget? |
International |
|
28 |
-- |
M |
Marcos Sanchez |
23 |
5'9" |
Trialist |
(International) |
|
29 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
30 |
UPDATE: The team just announced that Lance Rozeboom is no longer with the club. The table above has been updated, and you'll notice that the team just might get the allocation bonus for both of the last two roster slots after all.
