Pequero to the Rapids? Pluse more on Carrieri & Suarez

spook · Mar 19, 2004

From today's MLS Confidential from Soccer America:

1. HAITIAN AUDITION: Jean Phillippe Peguero, who played for Haiti against the USA last Saturday, is due to arrive today for a trial with the Rapids.

Peguero, 23, holds a green card and thus is exempt from league restrictions on international players. He plays in Haiti for Don Bosco.

"He didn't have many chances but he showed some ability to hold the ball and was up against [Eddie] Pope and [Carlos Bocanegra]," said Colorado coach Tim Hankinson, whose team was in Spain last weekend and didn't see the USA-Haiti game until this week. "We'll see how he does and how he fits in with the group and should know more in a week or so."

By then, Hankinson will have taken care of the team's salary-cap problems. Colorado is about $35,000 over the cap and Hankinson wouldn't reveal how it will meet the league's threshold of $1.73 million per team.

Not on the agenda is a trade for Galaxy defender Ryan Suarez. "That data is way out of date," said Hankinson.

The team has been shopping around fiery attacker Chris Carrieri ($55,125 salary) but with teams knowing the Rapids must make a move soon, no deal has been done. Colorado may be forced to waive him, as happened with Milton Reyes in D.C.

Click to expand...

Peguero looked pretty good against the US. Doesn't sound good for CC, though.

Overall, I'm not at all happy with this news. I'd prefer to figure out how to keep CC. If he has to go, I sort of liked the idea of getting Suarez in return. Peguero is unproven so I don't like that if we have to lose CC.

Do TIs count against the cap? Is 23 too old to be a TI?

Tony Cheval · Mar 19, 2004

If the blurb's right, he's not an *I period, having a green card.