Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Rapids Sign Kamani Hill/Pablo Update

As I expected when Emory was waived last week, Colorado added on of their trialists today.  Midfielder/forward Kamani Hill has been signed and will be available as soon as his ITC is received from Germany (don't worry, there's no spurned club to throw a wrench into this one).  Hill is a former U.S. National Team forward who got 2 caps in 2007.  He hasn't played regular first team soccer since about 2007 so I'm not expecting big things but h provides some needed attacking depth.  Ives reports that the Rapids got him through a lottery, which is the typical route for a returning National team player, but neither the MLS or Rapids press release says anything about a lottery.  Ives has been a bit hit and miss with his Rapids coverage in the past so take it for what its worth.  If he did go through a lottery it means that Colorado is ineligible for any other lotteries for returning non-allocation/DP Nats or unexpected college signings this season.

Also today we got an update on Mastroeni's post-concussion symptoms:
And while Pareja can now count on having midfielders Jeff Larentowicz and Martin Rivero available, he didn't sound optimisitic that captain Pablo Mastroeni would be ready to play. 
"Pablo is undergoing exams," Pareja said of his captain. "Our medical staff is observing him to make a determination of what amount of time Pablo needs to recover."
That's not positive news. I'm really starting to think that Pablo is going to be out long-term, if not forced into retirement, from these problems. The important thing though is that he does what he needs to do to take care of himself long-term. There's no reason for him to rush back for the team if it risks his health.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"The important thing though is that he does what he needs to do to take care of himself long-term."

Absolutely this. The press release I read mentioned he's having headaches. Were he to suffer chronic migraines or, even worse, cluster headaches from these injuries...knowing from personal experience, not any mount of salary or pride could make that worth it.