Extension for Espindola!
The player personnel moves continue to fly fast and furious for Real Salt Lake, but the latest transaction this time involves locking down one of its own, as the MLS Cup 2009 champs and striker Fabian Espindola agreed today to a contract extension that will keep the wily Argentine a member of the Claret-and-Cobalt through the 2013 season.
The deal with Espindola – who returned to Real Salt Lake in May (on his 24th birthday) after a brief stint in Venezuela – follows on the heels of similar four-year extensions signed by fellow Argentine Javier Morales, Jamison Olave, and Chris Wingert over the last 14 months, keeping in line with the RSL Technical Staff’s oft-stated intention of keeping team’s talented core of players at Rio Tinto Stadium for years to come. After re-acclimating himself to his RSL teammates during the first third of the 2009 season, Espindola would become a regular member of the squad’s first XI, starting 17 of his 22 appearances and notching three goals and assists each. Fabian also saw significant time in each of the Utah side’s four MLS Cup Playoffs appearances, starting both victories over Columbus and playing 48 and 45 minutes against Chicago and Los Angeles, respectively, in helping Zion’s Lions to lift the Cup.
02 Dec 2009 02:43 pm RSL HQ 24 comments
positive development
Well done.
Thats Sweeeeet!
YES! Now play him in the right position.
Agreed. He reeks havoc for opposition in left forward space. Love Espi!
Sweet Fabi is the man.
Great to have Espindola back.
Zion’s Lions?? Please do not let that title get any traction.
What are you guys thinking?
GREAT to have Espindola back, lets make sure to use him with Findley. Please not so much outside though, right at goal.
No brainer.
That is great news!
I say we rename our supporter’s groups to Zion’ Lions.
oh ya, super exciting
@georg
Have you not heard the Marley song with the chorus, “we’re iron, like a lion, in zion.”
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bob+marley/iron+lion+zion_20021821.html
instead of asking “what are you guys thinking?” you should be asking, “where was I?”
They play this song at the end of almost every home game.
I think its “Royal Army”. At least that is way better than Zion’s Lions or whatever.
I do agree that Espy and Findley next year in a 4-4-2 should give us some goals. These 2 dudes need to spend the offseason and preseason learning to work better together.
Id also like to see some 4-3-3 with Espy left Campos center and Rek right.
Those 2 forward lineups may be really good. I liked what I saw from ReK last season and wondered why he didn’t play more. his ability to center the ball on target is unreal. At least that is what I saw.
The Zion Lion thing is too Mormon.
Zion Lions? Seriously?
The Zion that Bob Marley is referring to is quite different from the Zion in Utah…
So we agree that Zion’s Lions it is then. Did ya hear that front office?
Thank You Jank2
Chris you have to see why some in Utah would have a problem with our team being referred to Zion’s Lions
Its not just “some” that would have a problem. The percentage of mormon pro athletes in the world? .00001%.
Number of mormon soccer players on our team? 0.
The name basically says “the mormon team”. We aren’t mormon.
We don’t need the world laughing at us in the future…
Jank2
Maybe we can change Leo’s name also, Lets start calling him
Zion the Lion??
Zion is a Hebrew word, not a mormon coinage. I’m not saying change your name. I just want to know why you think “the world” would laugh at you for using a very common word?
Great news for the team! I hope everything goes well with the rehab. Fabi at 100% = Lethal!!!!
O.K. I started this Zion Lion stuff, and still feel the name is not right for our team, Enough said.
But this artical started with RSL re-signing Espindola and for that I say “Thank You Fabi for sticking with us, You will again be a huge part of RSL’s success next season.
All of you mormons know what i’m talking about…
You wonder why if you say your from utah, people ask (immediately after) if you are mormon? Its because they assume its all mormon here (mostly true). If we have a name Zion’s lion, they are going to think oh great… joseph smith bringing the momo’s to the promised land. Now they have control of the team.
Go on the bigsoccer.com boards and ask what they think. Don’t be shocked when they reply “hahahahahahaha”.
George, hahaha. Zion the Lion—> nice.
Five, zion’s lions refers to one thing. People are not stupid.
It does not refer to bob marley’s song-just plain stupidity.
It does not refer to zion in a jewish sense.
It DOES refer to the mormon’s zion. utah.
I hope Espy develops into the quality striker that we need to replace Yura. Dude does cause a lot of problems for defenses with his hussle and effort. However, who believes he can actually score goals? He had 3 this year, one of which was so awful and off-target it hit a fulback(Dynamo) and went in. I’d be curious to see the RSL stats of how many goals we scored when Espy was playing. His passing leads a lot to be desired. He was playing for his contract this year, and he inexplicably got a long one. These contracts arent guaranteed, right? I like his hussle and hope that he will develop into a great striker.
As for those debating the term “Zion”, really? really?