Top pick Omar Salgado cleared to join Whitecaps

Published Friday, Mar. 25, 2011 12:53PM EDTLast updated Friday, Mar. 25, 2011 1:20PM EDT

1 comment

Vancouver Whitecaps FC, after thumping Toronto FC in their Major League Soccer debut, has just scored the most important goal of its young and increasingly promising season.

In a surprise move, international soccer officials have approved a special exemption to let 17-year-old Omar Salgado play for the Whitecaps before he turns 18 in September.

The addition could significantly bolster the Whitecaps already-seemingly impressive offensive, which netted four goals at home against TFC last Saturday. Salgado scored the first goal for the Whitecaps in a March 6 exhibition win against the Seattle Sounders.

Salgado’s official Whitecaps debut will probably be at home at Empire Field in east Vancouver on April 16, against Chivas USA in the Whitecaps’ sixth game of the season.

Until then the young striker is on international duty, training with the United States U-20 national team in preparation for regional championships in Guatemala, which end April 10. The U.S. is favoured to advance, which means Salgado will be away for the U-20 World Cup, missing as many as a half-dozen Whitecaps matches in July and August.

Still, it’s a big boost for the Whitecaps to have Salgado in their arsenal earlier than expected. He had otherwise been set to play on his 18th birthday on Sept. 10 on the road against the New York Red Bulls.

“Omar is a great talent and will be an important player to the club,” coach Teitur Thordarson said in a statement on Friday morning. “To have the news that he will be able to play from this point on is great for us, as Omar has already showed us that he can play on this level.”

International soccer rules prohibit the international transfer of players younger than 18 to professional clubs outside their home country. Salgado is from El Paso, Tex.

In January, Salgado became the unlikely No 1 pick in the MLS SuperDraft. The Whitecaps, ahead of the draft, made it clear they were looking to pick Darlington Nagbe, a college star in the United States. But Nagbe, a Liberian, was concerned about playing in Canada and how it could affect his application for U.S. citizenship. So the Whitecaps picked the raw yet intriguing Salgado first, and Nagbe went No 2 to the Portland Timbers, the Whitecaps’ expansion rivals.

Salgado will be paired on offence with Eric Hassli, who was imported from FC Zurich in March to add scoring firepower- and in the game against TFC delivered immediately, scoring the first goal in the 15th minute to put the home team up 1-0 and again in the 72nd minute to extend the lead to 4-1.

Salgado, who like Hassli stands 6 foot 4, has been antsy to play official games for the Whitecaps. “It’s very frustrating for me,” he said on the wait in an interview with The Globe and Mail in early March after a practice.

On Friday, in a statement, Salgado said: “I am excited for the opportunity to contribute to my club on the field and I will continue working hard, so that I am ready when that day comes.”

View the original article here