Real Salt Lake’s latest addition, Juan Manuel Martinez joined the team on Friday and was on the bench on Saturday for RSL’s 2-0 win over Seattle Sounders FC. His whirlwind tour has him meeting with the media on Monday before his first training session with the club on Tuesday.
RSL Head Coach Jeff Cassar addressed his arrival and inclusion on the bench after the match.
“It was really just to get him into the group, to be honest with you. If things worked out it would have been nice to put him in at the end, but we had guys that deserved to be out there, and I wanted to do what the right thing for the group was, but there was a scenario that Juan would have gotten into the game,” Cassar said. “But Luis [Silva] came out with cramps, so we wanted to go a different route. He didn’t even train. I didn’t want to throw him in harm’s way either. You don’t know if he goes out there after 17 hours of travel yesterday, not even training with the team, pulls a hamstring. Thought it was the right decision at the time.”
In case you missed it, here is a look back at Martinez’s signing and arrival.
Martinez signs HERE.
The pipeline from Argentina to MLS HERE.
Jeff Cassar responds to his arrival HERE.
Fellow Argentines Javier Morales and Sebastian Jaime HERE.
Photos from his first day in Utah HERE.
