Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/USA Today Sports
By DAN KARELL
Unable to ink an MLS contract this winter, Heath Pearce has gone against the strong current of Americans returning from Europe and signed with a club in Sweden.
IFK Goteborg announced on Thursday that they’ve signed Pearce to a five-month contract, with an option to extend. Pearce was a free agent, after his contract with the Montreal Impact expired at the end of the season and no teams selected him in the MLS re-entry draft. Pearce had recently been training with Orlando City.
“He can play at any position in the defensive line,” Goteborg sporting director Mats Gren said in a statement. “He’s experienced, strong, skillful game, great physics and has a good pass.”
The 30-year-old Pearce spent 2005-2009 abroad, playing for FC Nordsjælland in Denmark and Hansa Rostock in Germany, before joining FC Dallas in late 2009. He helped lead FC Dallas to the MLS Cup final in 2010, and since then has played for Chivas USA, the New York Red Bulls, and the Impact.
Goteborg finished second in the Swedish Allsvenskan last season, qualifying for the UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds. The 2015 Allsvenskan season begins in early April.
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What do you think of this news? Do you like the move for Pearce? Do you see him returning to MLS this summer?
Share your thoughts below.
What the hell happened to this guy? I thought he had tremendous potential.
Very interesting
is this news to anyone else?
Scandinavian clubs now taking our lesser players or older vets. Looks like this isn’t 2005 anymore.
5 month contract? Way to stick it to the man, Heath.
Heath Pearce was selected in the Expansion Draft by Orlando City. He wasn’t available to be selected in the Re-Entry Draft.
You will know when soccer has finally arrived when the soccer sites can afford editors. I think that they type all of this stuff off the top of their head and on their iPhones. Accuracy and correct spelling are definitely not high priorities for most of them.
“He’s experienced, strong, skillful game, great physics…”
I’d question Gren’s judgment here. Pearce’s classical mechanics are sound but he can’t solve a quantum wave function to save his life.
BUT WHAT ABOUT STRING THEORY!?
At 30, better to be playing than not.
Hard to believe he is only 30, he’s been around forever it seems.
Good for him on this deal…hopefully getting paid much better than what MLS offers may have been if they came.
in a totally unrelated story, JK has already added Pearce to his Gold Cup 2015 and Copa 2016 rosters…
So Sweden is now a retirement league for older Yanks?