Real Salt Lake signed defender/midfielder Lovel Palmer on Thursday, inking the Jamaican international to a contract about three weeks after selecting him in Stage 2 of the MLS Re-Entry Draft.
Palmer has lined up against RSL six times in Major League Soccer, playing against the Claret-and-Cobalt three times each for Houston and Portland. Interestingly, Palmer played one match against Real Salt Lake before he came to MLS, donning the armband and scoring a goal for Jamaican side Harbour View in a 1-1 draw in a friendly match on Aug. 24, 2005 at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Former RSL defender Nelson Akwari scored the Claret-and-Cobalt's lone goal in that match.
Sadly, I couldn’t manage to dig up a very descriptive account of the then 21-year-old Palmer’s goal. The best I found came from The Salt Lake Tribune, which said that the strike came “on a breakaway, and got a cheer from a smattering of Jamaican supporters spread throughout an announced crowd of 6,240.”
