Photo by Brad Smith/ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
We've seen the last of Santino Quaranta as a professional soccer player.
Quaranta has called it a career after 11 seasons in MLS, according to the Washington Post. Feeling that there's nothing left to accomplish, Quaranta ends his time as a player with 27 goals and 29 assists in 180 MLS matches and 15 caps and one goal for the U.S. men's national team. He is expected to work full-time with a youth club that he founded while also assisting with the substance abuse program that helped rehabilitate him from his own addiction.
The 27-year-old was set to become one of the more intriguing names available in the MLS Re-Entry draft after D.C. United opted not to exercise his option, but he decided to retire despite reported interest from five other teams in the league.
In his final season, Quaranta started in 10 of the 21 league games he played in and scored one goal while notching four assists.
Here are a few more MLS notes from Monday:
MULLAN AGREES TO NEW DEAL
The Colorado Rapids and midfielder Brian Mullan have reportedly agreed to a new multi-year deal, though terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The 33-year-old midfielder endured a topsy-turvy 2011 season, having to serve a 10-game suspension and pay a $5,000 fine for a malicious tackle that broke the leg of Seattle Sounders winger Steve Zakuani. Mullan played in 25 league games this year.
WHITECAPS MAKE SEVERAL TRANSACTIONS
The Vancouver Whitecaps were busy on Monday morning, as the club announced several offseason moves. Vancouver re-signed midfielder John Thorrington and goalkeeper Joe Cannon, while trading goalkeeper Jay Nolly to the Chicago Fire in exchange for a first-round pick in the 2013 MLS Supplemental Draft.
The Whitecaps are also on the verge of signing former South Korean international Lee Young-Pyo, a defender.
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What is your best memory of Quaranta's career? What do you think of Mullan agreeing to a new deal with the Rapids? What do you make of the Whitecaps' moves?
Share your thoughts below.
I thought he retired years ago.
I’m pretty sure only Jeff Agoos has more rings than Mullan…He has a ring for every finger of his right hand…..Bling Bling.
Sounders fans are new to the league and think that they have been a part of the league forever… They may bring 35 thousand people with free ticket/scarf give aways… but they have no idea yet what it is to be a 96er… In footballs standards, the still dont have an identity… and they try sooo hard to create something, any sort of tradition, when it has yet to form. Thick-headedness.. Just like toronto, there fans will learn to shut up and quick acting like they are the toughest ones in the yard… cuz they are certainly not.
Here we go again….a Mullan article followed by Sounders fan’s negative comments. If they wont ever forgive Mullan for one reckless tackle that sadly ended in breaking a player’s leg then why the HECK DID THEY NOT DEMAND TYRONE MARSHALL to never play a minute for their team?
I have always enjoyed watching Quaranta play. I wish DC United would have used him more. The match always seemed to change when he came on the field. He always brought new energy to the team. I believe he was a much better player than people gave him credit for. I will miss him.
+1, two wildly different scenarios.
You’re an idiot
“The situation in D.C. was handled in all the wrong way,” he said. “I never talked to the front office guys, never knew what they wanted to do, just got a phone call from Benny [Coach Ben Olsen]. It did reiterate to me the business and selfish nature and the bubble we’re in.”
I don’t know which is more shocking:
1) Quaranta retiring from soccer at age 27
2) Quaranta is still only 27 years old
Why don’t DC bring him back at a reduced salary? He’s not worth six figures like he’s made the last few years, but he can still play, and DC could use the depth on their bench. Why not sign him for $60-70k?
Quaranta, why?! i still think DC should have exercised his option. he made is very clear he didn’t mind a pay cut, he just wanted to stay in the area with DCU. d!ck move by DC.
So if Mother Teresa only murdered one person one time, she should get a pass because of all her other good deeds? One brutal act could and should ruin at least one’s reputation.
Much respect for Santino – as a player and a person. Wish him all the best, but wish he’d play a few more years.
No, when landycakes peed on the Mexican soccer field that was just funny
One bad tackle that breaks a guys leg and puts his career in jeopardy will do that do a guy.
It is worse because he did break a guys leg.
Still would be wise to keep Mullen out of the game when the teams play in Seattle next year.
Right.. .one bad tackle in a long career with almost a hand full of championship rings makes him such a bad person. Just like Beckham is Satan for the way he got that red card in the World Cup and Donovan is a demon for peeing on a Mexican soccer field
Mullan should be booted out of the league.
Allowed to play when and if Zakuani, who he intentional went after plays again.
Read closely, thats a #1 supplemental pick in 2013 for Nolly. Way less than what LA got for Ricketts.
Mullan is a bad person.
I’ll miss rooting for Quaranta. His comeback from addiction was an inspiration.
Actually, Quaranta could have played longer. But he has strong ties to Baltimore and the DC area. He said 4 MLS clubs contacted him about the re-entry draft and he was being given numbers of around $100k for salary (which would have been a pay cut but not a substantial one).
But it sounded like it was a combination of:
–he doesn’t want to uproot his family
–as a recovering addict, he’s very clear how important his support network is (and to move to another team, likely leave his family behind) would lose that
–he spent a big chunk of this season inactive with a concussion. That gave him a feel for “life after pro soccer” so the transition isn’t as big as it may seem.
–The man’s played 11 pro seasons. For most Americans that would make you 34 years old and at the end of a career…it’s just that Quaranta started his career at 16.
It’s good when a player can end his career mostly on his own terms and that’s pretty much what Quaranta is doing here.
On the other moves, it’s fascinating to me that Chicago gave up a #1 for Nolly. I know the GK class in this draft isn’t that highly rated compared to previous years. Still, Nolly was in the re-entry draft, I thought he was exposed in the expansion draft (so they could have made a deal with Montreal for probably a lot less than a #1 pick). Unless you see this guy a competing for a starting job, it seems like overpayment to me.
Wow, kind of shocked about Santino. I thought he still had more years ahead of him. I wish him well with his new endeavors.