RSL Cup: January 2014

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Houston Dynamo, Colorado Rapids break new ground with first intra-MLS loan

(by Avi Creditor soccer.si.com 1-21-14)

http://soccer.si.com/2014/01/21/dynamo-rapids-intraleague-loan-tony-cascio/

The UConn guys are making all sorts of history this MLS offseason.

Days after former Huskies standout Andre Blake became the first goalkeeper to be selected first overall in the MLS SuperDraft, another former UConn star, midfielder Tony Cascio, will forever be the answer to this trivia question: Who was the first player loaned within MLS?

The Colorado Rapids loaned Cascio, an attacking wide player, to the Houston Dynamo Tuesday, marking the first intra-league loan in MLS history. The player-movement mechanism was introduced last season, in an effort to get young players first-team time when their current playing situations were bleak, but no team took advantage of it. Until now.

The stipulations for players to be loaned within the league, according to MLSSoccer.com, include players having to be 24 or younger (Cascio will be 24 in March) and that the loans last through the end of the season (According to the Dynamo and Rapids, it is a year-long loan, with the Houston sending an international roster spot to Colorado).

Cascio enjoyed a successful rookie season with the Rapids in 2012, accounting for three goals and three assists in 29 games (18 starts). His playing time diminished considerably in 2013, though, as he appeared in just 13 games and played just 530 first-team minutes.

With Houston potentially losing Brad Davis and Oscar Boniek Garcia during the World Cup, Cascio offers a viable option on the wing while also adding to Houston’s overall depth. According to a Rapids spokesperson, Cascio will not be eligible to play against Colorado while on loan. The Rapids and Dynamo are due to square off on June 1 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

“I watched him in college and his first two years with Colorado and I enjoy the way he approaches the game,” Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear said in a team statement. “He is not afraid to take on players and he has good versatility. I think when he has the ball at his feet he is not afraid to try and be productive, whether it be an assist or a goal. With what we have coming up this year, we think he is going to be a great addition to the team.”

NASL Player Traded for Limo Rides and Hotel Rooms

(by Ian Stewart Palmer soccerly.com 1-9-14)

http://soccerly.com/article/IanStewartPalmer/nasl-player-traded-for-limo-rides-and-hotel-rooms

There have been a lot of strange soccer transfers over the years. Some players have been swapped for their weight in shrimp, tracksuits, a set of weights, 30 lbs of sausage, a set of encyclopedias, two tons of meat, 40 gallons of paint, a pair of goal nets and even a barrel of beer. We can now enter a new addition to the list as a player was swapped on January 7 for several hotel room reservations and transportation.

This one took place in the NASL when the Fort Lauderdale Strikers sent Walter Restrepo over to the San Antonio Scorpions. In return, the Strikers received arrangements for transportation to their match in San Antonio this June 7 as well as hotel accommodations for their club. The Fort Lauderdale team will be put up at the Crockett Hotel, which is a business associate of the Scorpions. Double rooms at the hotel typically cost $169 each night.

If you figure the club needs about a dozen rooms for the players, medical staff and coaches etc, then the rooms are worth about $2,028 a night, plus taxes. Restrepo had an off year in 2013 as he scored just a pair of goals. The season before he had six goals and eight assists and was named as one of the league’s best 11 players even though he missed the rest of the season after tearing his ACL in August. However, some sites have him listed as having scored seven goals and nine assists in 2012. Either way, the player from San Diego, California is pretty good.

The San Antonio club released a statement which said, “The Scorpions would also like to thank Bill Brendel of the Crockett Hotel and Mark Thronson of Shark Limo, two long-term, great partners, for their incredible assistance. It was only through their assistance that we were able to get this deal done.”

Nobody is certain how much the transportation part of the deal is worth since there are no prices listed on the Shark Limo website. The 25-year-old Restrepo hasn't said anything about the deal up to now and reports say he has signed a contract with the Scorpions for next season.