By Ridge Mahoney
Kevin Nowak (Real Salt Lake) and Jon Busch and Chris Leitch (both Columbus) were among the notable players placed on waivers as MLS teams trimmed their rosters to meet the March 1 compliance date for roster sizes and salary-cap restrictions.
Teams are required to carry no more than 18 players on the senior roster and 10 developmental players, and adhere to the cap of approximately $2.1 million. (The league has not stipulated the exact salary cap figure, as is its custom.)
Nowak started 26 games for RSL last season at right back after making the team as a trialist in 2005. He was one of seven players waived just prior to the team’s trip to Spain, where it will train at the Real Madrid facilities.
The league isn’t stacked deep with right backs, so Nowak has a good chance to be picked up, but with most 18-man rosters filled, a developmental slot may be the best he can hope for at this point.
Coach John Ellinger is experimenting with a 3-5-2 formation in preseason. If he goes with four in the back, the right back might be Chris Lancos, who returned to the U.S. in January after leaving the University of Maryland in 2005 to play in Germany for the Kaiserslautern reserve team.
Ellinger says Lancos can also play the right side in a three-man back line or as a wide midfielder.
Busch came to the Crew in 2002 after playing five years in the lower divisions, but suffered serious knee injuries both of the last two seasons, during which he played just 17 games. He leaves as the team leader in shutouts (25), victories (35) and games played in goal (84).
Leitch had returned to Columbus last year after playing three seasons for the MetroStars. He has five years of MLS experience and has played in 109 games. He’s a decent journeyman defender who can play both outside back slots and has some experience in the middle.
The waiver drafted will be conducted by conference call at 3 p.m. ET Monday.
LEANING LEFT. No more DPs have been signed to augment Claudio Reyna (Red Bulls) and David Beckham (Galaxy), but two teams have added international players of a rare breed, those who can play on the left.
Colorado, which had already added Panamanian attacker Roberto Brown, has acquired Costa Rican midfielder Yherland McDonald.
McDonald, 20, is classified as a youth international and can play left mid or up top. He has experience at the U-20 and U-17 levels for his country and joins Colorado from Fredrikstad of Norway.
FC Dallas has possibly filled its hole on the left side of midfield by signing 21-year-old Colombian midfielder Juan Carlos Toja, who has been on loan at Argentine club River Plate from Independiente Santa Fe.
He debuted for Sante Fe at age 18 and played for Colombia at the 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Toja is the projected replacement for Ramon Nunez, penciled in by Coach Steve Morrow to play centrally this season.