photo by Nick Turchiaro/ISIphotos.com
The good news just continues to pile in for Real Salt Lake.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Alvaro Saborio and Javier Morales have received green cards, making them both lawful residents of the United States. That also means that the duo no longer count toward the MLS roster limits, and RSL can used the freed up international roster spots on other players.
Real Salt Lake's six international roster spots are now filled by Fabian Espindola (Argentina), Enzo Martinez (Uruguay), Paulo Jr. (Brazil), Terakazu Tanaka (Japan), Diogo de Almeida (Brazil) and Emiliano Bonfigli (Argentina).
Saborio is a native of Costa Rica. Morales was born in Argentina.
What do you make of this development?
Share your thoughts below.
So they have 8 slots now???
I think it would be great to see Morales called up to the US national team if he could get citizenship, since I don’t believe he’s played for any other national team.
Everyone needs to be concern about this moves, becuase at this rate all international will have green cards which is going to stop the development of our players.
On top of that 8 international slots are too mnay for a league.
Im talking about the amount of spots and the fact that they are tradeble take your bullsh!t somewhere else
That is absolutely ridiculous…
MLS needs to start getting really young players from Brazil and Argentina (like Paulo Junior) so they get their citizenship at a young enough age that they can play for the US team….
The trade of a slot to the Rapids was a permanent slot. They never get it back.
What does this even mean?
Green card holders can’t be treated differently from US citizens. So it’s not MLS, it’s US immigration. Which is enough of a pain in the @$$ as it is without people saying it’s “way too lax”… look at guys like Zakuani and Mwanga who have to wait 4-5 YEARS before applying for US citizenship, and that’s AFTER getting their green cards. But the point is if you have a problem with it, don’t blame MLS, go join the tea party or those nuts patrolling the Arizona border or something.
To answer about Diego Fagundez, his parents were here legally, they could have started the process YEARS ago but they didn’t. He has no one to blame but his own parents. If they had gone for green cards when they could and then applied for US citizenship when they could, he would already be a US citizen. As it is he has to wait years for his citizenship, which means he no longer gets called in to the US youth national teams as he did when he was in his early teens (he seemed disappointed that he doesn’t get called up, blame your own parents dude).
Work visa = lawful temporary resident
Green card = lawful permanent resident, like a US citizen for MLS roster rules
5 year wait until process starts for citizenship
4 year wait for refugees (relevant for Danny Mwanga, who should be starting his US citizenship process this year)
Citizenship process (a few months)
US citizenship, eligible for US national team
You’d have to think if Saborio and Morales already got their green cards, that Espindola is not too far behind.
Questions:
1. When does RSL get their other international spot(s) back (foolishly traded away by the previous regime)?
2. Are other MLS teams also working to get their international players green cards to free up slots? You only seem to hear about this in relation to RSL…
“have received green cards, making them both lawful residents of the United States.”
Apparently whoever wrote this for SBI doesn’t know what a green card is. They were already lawful residents of the US. What’s the alternative, they were illegals? Visa = lawful resident also, which is what they had before this. Green card = lawful PERMANENT resident of the US.
Well considering without the USSF the MLS wouldnt exist and that it was implemented as a way to improve US Soccer, yes MLS teams do have a duty to develop players
Thats the problem training can only take you so far. Playing in only 10 reserve games a year is not going to help anybody. Players need first team minutes and not alot of americans are getting that opportunity right now. Teams would rather sign has beens for their “veteran presence” then give any young promising talent a shot. And continuing with the MLS Academies, which i do not agree with your belief that most future talent will come from those considering most non MLS affiliated academies are producing just as much top talent as well, potential pro talents arent getting offered contracts because there is no roster spots. There are already top prospects that have to enter college because teams would rather buy second rate europeans instead of developing and building a team.
Thanks for the clearing up. I was not sure on the citizenship time line.
American employment laws require employers to treat green card holders, refugees, etc. (essentially anyone who doesn’t require a work visa to work in the U.S.) just like an American citizen to prevent discrimination. you are allowed to differentiate between people with the ability to work and people who need a visa due to the added cost and hassle of dealing with the visa paperwork. Thus MLS’s rules for internationals are really rules for players that need visas vs. players that don’t.
You want “our boys” who are coming up through the MLS Academies–where most future U.S. talent is going to come from–to train with and learn from the best players possible.
I’ll echo what someone else already said. MLS isn’t an american soccer charity employment service. Why should you get to play, just because you’re from the U.S.? What does that have to do with anything?
Ah. Thanks for the clarification!
John Elleinger is a curse word around here. I just punched a wall thinking of all those crummy games I attended at Rice Eccles those first years. So many bad bad moves by that guy.
Why? How? Being residents does not make them eligible for the national team, they would have to wait 5 years before becoming citizens.
How is it possible not being considered foreigner who is taking an international spot on the roster? I mean, the problem I have with this is the fact that this is terrible news for American players on RSL because the club can get two more foreigners. The other day ESPN had an article where it was brought up the fact that less Americans are seeing minutes on the pitch.
They both are good players and sure, their talent helps MLS but, what about our boys?
Just to add a bit to soccerroo’s correct answer, they are now lawful permanent residents (that’s what green card means) and they can apply for citizenship five years from now assuming they live here more or less continuosly during that time.
They are not eligible for a US passport (thus USMNT caps) until then. I know, I know, but someone is going to ask.
yep. including green cards still.
look. there are 19 (soon to be 20) US teams in mls. with 10 Senior domestic spots and 12 Off-budget domestic spots that would make 200 Senior domestic spots and 240 Off-budget domestic spots available in the league.
even if we assume that a full 50% Senior domestic spots would go to GC holders and not USMNT/CNT eligible citizens that is still 100 spots for USMNT/CNT eligible players. that is plenty for national team pools (splitting the 100 between both the US an CAN and obviously taking into consideration that the top 20-25 or so of the pool is playing outside MLS in higher level leagues).
i mean who cares if Brandon Barklage or Josh Suggs plays in MLS? they aren’t part of the NT picture and if they aren’t up to the same high calibre of a potential Int’l player they don’t deserve to be on an MLS roster and them not being there has ZERO effect on the NT picture.
now the “off-budget” roster where most young homegrown and draft pick and GA players reside is a different story … this is where you want a large number of domestic spots available so that teams can carry and test out a lot of young talent and see what develops. but if they aren’t good enough to beat out Int’l players for the Senior roster spots after a few years then they fall into the same category as so many Chris Korbs … the “who gives a crap i they play in MLS or somewhere else or not at all” category …
again … the goal of MLS is to give young talent a place to develop and to give the top level of US player a place to play and compete against top notch competition (and of course mainly to provide the best league and make money). it is not at all MLS’s job to give out soccer obs to Americans/Canadians like an employment charity. MLS doesn’t exist to give the likes of Ryan Guy and Tyson Whal a place to work.
Morales is already 32 or 33. No dice.
That’s apparently not the case. RSL’s were never restored to them. They’ll have to live with Ellinger’s and Pastorino’s incompetence for the forseeable future. It also means that Colorado and whoever the other team was that we traded a spot to get to benefit from our extra int’l slot for the forseeable future…
How old is Moralez maybe he can be for the World Cup 2018 he will be a great asset to the USA. Anyway it just a thought(wishful thinking) But Happy for them they have prove they are great players in this league even tho I’m a Galaxy fan, It make me happy cause Morales have been saying in previous articles in Argentina and even in the spanish network here in the USA that he love the league and he like the style of play but he would like more technical and that he doesn’t want to go back to Argentina cause he is very happy with RSL.
I thought international slots are only available for trade on a season by season basis. Meaning the slots reset and everyone has an equal number at the start of each season.
Concur. I didn’t know the rules either until after reading this article. Seems to make sense, as an allocation of “international spots” would simply mean how many visas per team the league would be willing to sponsor.
Do you mean 10/10 and green cards still count as int’l?
I used to agree but recently changed my opinion. In fact, last night during POR-PHI the commentators were discussing how the English feel the same way about the EPL.
However, the point was made that the increasing % of foreigners playing means “the league has arrived.”
That said, the SuperDraft, HGP program, and allocation for US internationals ensures the league will continue to develop young American players.
Look at the rosters this past week for teams like LA and Houston. Predominantly American.
The thing about this that pisses me off a bit is that there used to be senior intl. slots and junior intl. slots. John Ellenger traded away the two junior intl. slots RSL had, and then the league does away with the senior/junior designation and RSL gets screwed by being short of the more valuable intl slots of today.
Mauro Rosales and Alvaro Fernandez also just got their Green Cards for Seattle.
some teams seem to have a knack for this … getting their players GCs quickly and freeing up the very valuable Int’l roster slots.
the more foreign talent in the league the better in my opinion. MLS is not an employment charity for American/Canadian soccer players. as long as there are plenty of “Off-Budget” spots for young American/Canadian players (drafted or homegrowns) to cut their teeth and get experience i don’t care how many Americans/Canadians are on the senior roster. the top Americans/Canadians will still have spots and play in MLS (those that are talented enough to be part of the NT picture) … as for the rest i really don’t care if they play in D2 or not. either you are good enough to compete with the influx of foreign talent and play in MLS and thus you are likely to be good enough to for the NT or you aren’t … and if you aren’t good enough then you don’t deserve a spot in MLS.
i think the Int’l spots should be 10 Int’l/10 Domestic on the Senior Roster and 2 Int’l/8 Domestic on the Off-Budget Roster … the more talent in the league the better!
My understanding was that they more or less knew they would have a few players getting their green cards (Enzo is pretty close as well). They just left some of the internationals off of their “active” roster.
Since the inception of MLS international players have played a big role and most come from the Americas. The class of players like Morales and Saborio have given MLS the quality soccer we all want to see.
“We’re here for RSL!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX3YzdaKZFs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdcmODIazno
The article is straight forward you just didn’t know the rules. Green card means no international spot. No need for a P1 Work Visa like the one Luke Rodgers is getting denied.
Wocka wocka
Neither qualify for citizenship yet. They qualify for green cards which means they no longer need work visas. So for league rules they are like an American citizen on the roster.
A green card does not mean “citizenship.” All it means is that they are a lawful resident of the USA. A “green card” typically allows an individual to work in the USA. After 5 years with a green card, they can apply for citizenship.
The article is somewhat confusing….since I thought that unless you were a USA citizen, you would still count as an “international roster spot.”
Given that Salt Lake only has 6 international slots (having traded away the other two) how were they allowed to start the season with 8 internationals on the roster?
Freaking awesome news. RSL just keeps advancing and strengthening the roster. This team has always been ahead of the times in terms of signings, fiscal management, coaching, etc.
because they havent applied
I feel the international slots in MLS are way too lax.
Call them up!
Congrats to both players. Immigration law makes no sense to me. How do both of these players qualify for citizenship but others like Bakary Soumaré and Diego Fagundez (who’s been in the country for over 10 years) were reported to be years away. I’m not look for political commentary, just a clarification on the laws.
Are they suspended for the next match?