Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Is Cary the new Casablanca for world soccer?
You'll recall that in Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart ran a club that was a refuge for a polyglot collection of refugees from the Nazi menace.
Things aren't quite so dire in Cary (but with this economy, one never knows). Still, the RailHawks are showing a penchant for picking up veteran players from the farthest reaches of the globe.
Case in point: today's announced signing of Mustapha Sama, a 29-year-old defender from Sierra Leone. In the past nine years, he has played in Syria, Vietnam, Indonesia, Belgium and Norway.
How did he find his way to Cary? Well, he heard about the club from his friend Sallieu Bundu, a fellow Sierra Leonean who signed with the team last month.
"After speaking with [Bundu] and with Coach Rennie I had decided I wanted to come play in America where soccer continues to grow," Sama said in the press release.
Bundu, as it happens, is a real-life political refugee who survived fearful conditions in his war-torn country to make it to America—first, to the Cleveland City Stars, then to Cary.
The Sama signing was the second of a foreign national in two days. Monday, the RailHawks announced the signing of Gavin Glinton, a midfielder from Turks and Caicos Island who played an energetic second half against the New England Revolution two weekends ago.
With these two signings, there now seem to be at least 10 nine foreign players associated with the team. The USL limit is seven, so it seems that the roster for the March 14 game versus the Revolution, which contained eight seven foreigners (including Glinton but not Sama and Matt Watson, an Englishman) is still in flux.
Comments (4)
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well the railhawks now have lost another one except watson from last year.I would saw again it should be like and expansion team year. they have at least 35-40players in camp and still have not made a roster of there first 11. it will be interesting year for the railhawks.it takes a couple of years to work and play together. I wish them the best and hope there chemistry works for this new coach. rumor holds true , new coach new players. go railhawks
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A conversation with a RailHawks representative clarified the issue. The team has six internationals: Matt Watson, Joseph Kabwe, Marcelo Romero, Paul Ritchie, Hamed Diallo and Mustapha Sama.
I waffled on Patterson before counting him because he has a little Australian flag next to his name on the wikipedia page. However, I also noticed that he was born in Tennessee. (Moral: Remember that anyone can edit a wiki page.) Thanks for the clarification on the green card rule. So, if two of the nine (not 10) players are permanent residents, the Hawks should be good to go.
Are you counting Caleb Patterson in that 10 count? He was actually born in the United States but raised in Australia. I believe he has dual citizenship. Also, not sure if any of the other players have green cards (maybe Santiago Fusilier???) but if they do, they don't count against the 7 player rule either.
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