This was another exciting week for FC Tucson fans. Not only were some of their players involved in another friendly against an MLS opponent, there were more roster additions as well. By the end of the week there were four more player signings, bringing the roster up to thirteen players. This means that FC Tucson officially has enough players for a starting XI. Although the bench is a bit sparse, and it seems that is a missing winger or two.
F – Roy Abergil
Roy Abergil is a 28 yr-old forward from the Israeli Premier League. He played college soccer for 3 years at Colorado Mesa University and is a former teammate of Moshe Perez. In his college career, he scored 49 goals in 65 appearances, earning him the 2016 SCR Player of the Year award. Abergil has an eye for goal and tends to shoot from distance. His highlight reels are full of long range strikes, along with plenty of beautiful goals off of free-kicks. Moshe Perez said he’s looking forward to playing with his old teammate again. Lets see if they can pick up where they left off at CMU.
CB – Kyle Venter
Kyle Venter is a 27 yr-old center-back with 4 years of USL Championship experience. He has spent time with the Tulsa Roughnecks, Ottawa Fury, and most recently, Penn FC. Kyle is a physical defender with a strong aerial presence. Kyle boasted an impressive 74% tackle success rate last season, for comparison, Kevon Lambert’s was 75.6% (USL Stats). He is also very deliberate and makes smart decisions. Kyle has only accrued 5 disciplinary cards in his four-year USL tenure. He brings knowledge and leadership to FC Tucson, he captained 3 games for Penn FC last season. With his experience, Kyle could be in contention for the Captains arm-band this year.
CB – Gilbert Oord
Gilbert is a 21 yr-old defender from the Dutch club AVV Zeeburgia. He was signed to the team after being noticed at the open tryout, and following an impressive performance in the friendly against Minnesota United. In the 75th minute, Gilbert replaced Wakasa at center-back. He looked comfortable with the ball at his feet, which I believe is a key to the system that Rising FC and FC Tucson are implementing. When faced with Minnesota’s press, Gilbert made smart passes to evade the pressure and move the ball forward. He showed good awareness, and always seemed to be in the right position. His best moment came in the 90th minute where he made a perfectly timed slide tackle that stopped a counter-attack. Gilbert then immediately won a standing tackle, and made a clever move to slip the ball past an attacking player. The battle for the two starting center-back spots is heating up.
LB- Jose Carlos Terron
Jose Carlos Terron is a 27 yr-old left-back from the Spanish club Barreda. He has spent most of the last six years playing for various teams in the Spanish third and fourth divisions. He played briefly In 2016 for Lane United FC, an Oregon based team in USL League 2. Jose was a part of the Barçelona youth system, and went on to play for their Academies. The Spanish leagues are known for having offensive minded full-backs. Jose is no exception, last year he notched 3 goals and 6 assists. Expect to see Jose move forward in the attack and make runs to draw opposing defenders out of position.
FC Tucson’s Roster now stands at 13 players: 1 Goalkeeper, 6 Defenders, 4 Midfielders, and 2 Forwards.
The start of the season is less than 50 days away and the roster is rounding out nicely. Expect to see another Goalkeeper and Forward signing in the near future. I am still holding out hope that we will have an Evan Waldrep sighting in the Tucson area.
#WaldrepBackToTucson
