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Rapids bolster attack, sign Castrillon

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The Colorado Rapids are shifting their philosophy after going through a front office and technical staff overhaul, and that change is spreading to the field as well after the club announced the signing of Colombian attacking midfielder Jaime Castrillon from Independiente Medellin.

The 28-year-old Castrillon, who is not going to be a Designated Player, adds a different dynamic to the Rapids' central midfield, which has been centered around the hard-tackling, ball-winning pair of Pablo Mastroeni and Jeff Larentowicz.

Castrillon has spent all but one year of his career in his native country. He played for Medellin from 2002-2008 before bolting to China for a year. He returned home to join Once Caldas in 2010 (where he played under former Chicago Fire and New York Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio) before going back to Medellin and scoring 11 goals last year.

He also has experience on the international level, taking part in 2010 World Cup qualifiers. He's gotten the best of the United States back line as well, scoring the lone goal in Colombia's 1-0 victory in the 2007 Copa America.

Video of that goal is after the jump:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmqCDSdvNM4]

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What do you think of the signing? Like the direction in which the Rapids are headed?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. It’s difficult to beat the value of the Colombian league players, even before their teams started going quasi-bankrupt.

    The real clincher is that, in my opinion, players from Colombia are not valued highly enough by the other top South American leagues (Bra and Arg). And only a few make it to the Mexican league compared to an endless number of Argentines.

    This undervaluing of the Colombian player in the Americas helps MLS out a lot, I think.

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  2. +1 their league is emptying out into ours.. there must be 2-3x as many Colombian internationals than Mexican internationals in MLS!

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  3. Ok, i’ve seen it posted jokingly before, but is there something going on with the Colombian Premier League? There has been a stream of good Colombians to MLS to be sure, but this winter seems crazy.

    I’m all for it, as these players are all super-talented. I was just curious why the floodgates opened.

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  4. After all of the recent frustration with the Rapids, I am very happy with the hiring of Pareja and Cabrera and now also with this signing. If Conor Casey can regain form and pair back up with Omar, this could be an exciting season ahead.

    Reply

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