RSL Signs Yordany Alvarez and Nico Muñiz
REAL SALT LAKE ADDS MIDFIELDERS YORDANY
ALVAREZ AND NICO MUÑIZ
Reigning USL PRO
MVP and Second Home Grown Product Inked to Deals Prior to Thursday’s MLS Roster
Freeze Deadline
SANDY, Utah (Friday, September 16,
2011) – Real Salt Lake has announced the signings of midfielders
Yordany Alvarez and Nico Muñiz, the duo officially inking contracts just
prior to Thursday’s MLS roster freeze deadline. Per club policy, financial
terms of the deals will not be disclosed.
Pending receipt of work authorization,
Alvarez – the 2011 United Soccer Leagues Pro Division (USL PRO) Most
Valuable Player – will be available for selection for Real Salt Lake as
soon as tomorrow’s regular season tilt against Sporting Kansas City at Rio
Tinto Stadium (7:00 p.m. MT kickoff). Meanwhile, Muñiz – RSL’s second Home
Grown signing, and the first to come straight from the squad’s burgeoning
RSL-Arizona Academy program – will not officially join RSL’s roster until 2012
but will train with the first team for the duration of its 2011 campaign.
The 26-year-old Alvarez joins Real
Salt Lake on the heels of a successful campaign with Orlando City S.C., which
he helped to the USL PRO title. The former Cuban international, who defected
from his homeland during the 2008 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament in
March 2008, played in 21 of Orlando City’s 24 contests (2G/0A) during the USL
PRO regular season, helping the squad to the league’s top record before
claiming the championship in penalties over Harrisburg City at the Orlando
Citrus Bowl on Sept. 3. Alvarez began his professional career with a three-year
stint with hometown side FC Cienfuegos (2006-08) in his native Cuba before
joining the Austin Aztex of the then USL First Division for the 2009-10
campaigns.
Muñiz’s addition to Real Salt Lake’s
first team makes the Albuquerque native the first to make the voyage directly
from the RSL-Arizona Academy system, which will begin its second full season of
operations this fall. The 18-year-old midfielder was a key part of the RSL-AZ
U-18 side’s successful inaugural campaign in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy,
playing in 26 of the team’s 28 contests (11 goals) during the regular season
and helping the side to a 15-8-5 mark and eventual #2 wild-card seeding for the
USSDA’s postseason. Muñiz started in all three of the RSL-AZ U-18s’ postseason
contests at Pizza Hut Park, where the squad won its first two pool play matches
before bowing out while on the cusp of qualifying for the “Finals Week”
championships in Milwaukee.
With
the league’s roster freeze deadline having come and gone on Thursday, there may
be no changes to teams’ rosters until the day after MLS Cup (Monday, Nov.
21). Any player that is not listed as available after the deadline will
remain ineligible for selection through the remainder of the regular season and
the MLS Cup Playoffs. This includes players that are on the Disabled List
or on loan. Teams may add short term replacements after the roster freeze date
in cases of extreme hardship. In the event a team calls up a player,
including League Pool Goalkeepers, during the MLS Cup Playoffs and the player
appears in a game, he will be tied to that team for the remainder of the
playoffs and MLS Cup. If he is called up but does not play, then he is not tied
to that team.
#14
YORDANY ALVAREZ
Position: Midfielder
Height:
5’10”
Weight: 165 lbs.
Born: May 24, 1985 in Cienfuegos, Cuba
Hometown: Cienfuegos, Cuba
Citizenship: Cuba
College: N/A
MLS
Experience: N/A
Last club: Orlando City S.C. (USL PRO) (2011)
Acquired: Signed to contract on
9/15/11
#16
NICO MUÑIZ
Position: Midfielder
Height:
5’10”
Weight: 155 lbs.
Born: October 18, 1992 in Albuquerque, NM
Hometown: Albuquerque, NM
Citizenship: USA
College: N/A
MLS
Experience: N/A
Last club: RSL-Arizona Academy U-18s (2011)
Acquired: Signed to Home Grown
Player contract on 9/15/11
www.RealSaltLake.com
/ www.RioTintoStadium.com
/ www.ESPN700Sports.com