Edmonton call up Kareem Moses
T&T Express
Trinidad and Tobago and North East Stars central defender Kareem Moses is set to pick up a one-year contract with North American Soccer League (NASL) club FC Edmonton for the 2014 season.
“He (Moses) has signed for one year,” confirmed Stars head coach Angus Eve. “And once they (Edmonton) like what they see in the season, they would sign him further.”
The NASL is the second tier in US soccer behind Major League Soccer (MLS) and in front of the United Soccer League Professional Division (USL Pro). FC Edmonton are only heading into their fourth season of professional football when the season kicks off in April.
Moses, 23, will jet off to Canada in early February.
“It is every player’s dream to play abroad … to see other places and make your family proud. So I’m really excited,” he said. “It’s a great step coming from the Pro League and going to the next level, which will help me develop my skills and level of thinking towards reaching the highest level of the game. That’s most important to me, and I’m also hoping that his move might even help me get a recall to the national team, being an international (based) player.”
Moses, who represented T&T at youth and Under-23 levels before making his senior team debut in 2012, played his last North East Stars match in December and will not be used this month, as Eve prepares to do without the defender.
However Moses has been training regularly with the Sangre Grande club and will continue doing so until his move in February.
Moses has also received a bit of guidance from T&T centre back Carlyle Mitchell, who served Edmonton on loan from MLS outfit Vancouver Whitecaps FC in 2013.
“He (Mitchell) told me a bit on how the team trains and what the coaches there would like,” said Moses.
“He told me a bit about the players and the system of play. He also talked about the cold weather conditions. He said it is going to be tough at the start, but once I have the right mindset, it will be comfortable after a while.”
Eve added: “We are hoping that once he plays in that league (NASL) and get that sort of exposure; teams in the MLS would look at him and hopefully want to sign him.”
Moses set to join Canada’s FC Edmonton
T&T Newsday
TRINIDAD AND Tobago and North East Stars central defender Kareem Moses is set to pick up a one-year contract with North American Soccer League (NASL) club FC Edmonton for the 2014 season.
“He (Moses) has signed for one year,” confirmed Stars coach Angus Eve. “…and once they (Edmonton) like what they see in the season, they would sign him further.”
The NASL is the second tier of the US soccer pyramid, behind the Major League Soccer (MLS) and in front of the United Soccer League Professional Division (USL Pro), while FC Edmonton are only heading into their fourth season of professional football when the season kicks off in April. Moses, 23, who will jet off to Canada in early February, said, “it is every player’s dream to play abroad … to see other places and make your family proud. So I’m really excited.
“It’s a great step coming from the Pro League and going to the next level, which will help me develop my skills and level of thinking towards reaching the highest level of the game. That’s most important to me, and I’m also hoping that this move might even help me get a recall to the national team, being an international (based) player.”
Moses, who represented TT at youth and Under-23 levels before making the international debut in 2012, played his last North East Stars match in December and will not be used this month, as Eve prepares to do without the talented defender. However Moses has been training regularly with the Sangre Grande club and will continue doing so until his move in February. “We are hoping that once he plays in that league (NASL) and get that sort of exposure; teams in the MLS would look at him and hopefully want to sign him,” added Eve.
“We tend to try and be specific where we send players, unlike a lot of other teams who send a lot of players on trials and they come back because they don’t get through (something Eve believes can negatively affect the players’ CV).
The former national midfielder and captain, and TT Under-23 coach, added, “we had Sheldon Bateau (KV Mechelen in Belgium) out (in 2012) and Cornell Glen (Shillong Lajong FC in India) out (in 2013). We try to send the older players to those Asian countries, and we try to send the younger players to North America and hopefully Europe. We deal specifically that way, so that when we send a player, he is not just bouncing around from trial to trial to trial. We send them to specific places for specific reasons.” Earlier this month, Stars forward Anthony Wolfe joined India’s reigning I-League champions Churchill Brothers SC for the remainder of the 2013/2014 season, following a successful trial.
Wolfe, 30, is now the third TT 2006 World Cup player to ever play in India after Cyd Gray (Pune FC in 2008) and Densill Theobald (Dempo FC from 2011-2012).
Eve signed San Juan Jabloteh forward Lemuel Lyons during the December/January transfer window as a quick replacement for Wolfe, but is yet to fill the void being left by Moses.
“It’s a massive loss for us and that’s why I’m looking for a stopper now,” said the North East Stars coach. “We have replaced Anthony Wolfe. But we don’t have a quick centre back. We have two that are very sturdy and very strong in tackles, but we don’t have that player that gives you that yard of pace that could recover. That’s where we are probably lacking.”
Meanwhile Moses is looking at all the positives he can gain from Edmonton. “Hopefully when I go there (Edmonton) and do well, I can encourage the team and other teams in the league to come to Trinidad see other players,” said the former Joe Public and St Ann’s Rangers footballer.
Edmonton football club is coached by Scotland-born Canadian, Collin Miller, who formerly coached Canada, after the firing of present TT-coach Stephen Hart.
Moses has also received a bit of guidance from TT centre back Carlyle Mitchell, who served Edmonton on loan from MLS outfit Vancouver Whitecaps FC in 2013.