March 7 marked the MASL’s roster freeze. Teams had to submit a final 20-man roster to the league and were allowed to designate an additional two players, who can play the remainder of the regular season, but are not eligible for the playoffs.

Many of the players who did not make the cut were either injured or were awaiting visa approval, and Thursday’s deadline extinguished any hope that they would return this year.

Among players who fit in either of the above categories are Baltimore’s Lucas Roque, Orlando’s futsal star Rico Zulkarnain, and Ontario’s David Parente and Tunisian star Ouday Belhadj. Parente played seven games with Fury II while waiting for his P1 visa to process, but like the other three players here, he did not appear in any MASL games this season.

Several players who did see action this year, are officially done for the season, including Baltimore’s Josh Hughes. The Flash’s Omar Santillan was already out for the year with a knee injury, but fellow Monterrey stalwarts Armando Teran and Angel Hernandez also won’t be making the journey, though neither player had seen the field since January.

The MASL has become the cool place for MLS refugees, but we have seen the last of these MLS vets this season. Orlando’s Luke Boden, Tacoma’s James Riley, and the Sidekicks Jose Burciaga, Jr. were not on their teams’ final rosters for various reasons. Burciaga, Jr. did not appear in any regular season games this season for Dallas.

Ontario’s young stud Adrien Perez was one of the last players picked up by LAFC last month, but if things don’t work out he won’t have a spot with the Fury this season as he was left off the team’s final roster, as was Jamaican international Andrae Campbell. Tacoma lost Jamael Cox to the USL’s FC Tucson.

Though goalkeeper Joey Kapinos is not on Baltimore’s final roster, teams are allowed to add a goalkeeper in the event of an injury. If anything happens to William Vanzela, Kapinos could be first on the Blast’s call list.

Thanks to one of several glitches with Soccer Shift, the MASL’s stat platform, Chad Hagerty could end up being the league’s Points Per Game leader. Hagerty was left off the Sockers final roster, despite scoring three points in his only appearance this season, which was still good enough to rank second on the leader board even though he obviously doesn’t have enough games played to qualify. If Nick Perera falters from his current 3.2 points average, Hagerty could slip in to the top spot. Also lacking enough games to qualify is San Diego’s Landon Donovan who has played three games and is shown in a tie with Hagerty.

There were a couple notable signings as well at the deadline. Ontario has reportedly signed USMNT veteran Jermaine Jones. Tacoma signed former Seattle Sounder Lamar Neagle. Orlando signed former Cedar Rapids Rampage midfielder Bobby Hurwitz and former Chicago Mustangs prospect Stefan Mijatovic.

FILL THE ARENA:

Tweet





WhatsApp

Email

Print



Like this: Like Loading...