FC Tampa Bay Sign International Striker Baptiste; Buy Out Jarun Contract
FC Tampa Bay announced on Tuesday the acquisition of 29-year-old forward Kerry Baptiste. The Trinidad & Tobago international is looked to for help in scoring goals for his new team that is third lowest in the league for goals scored, with 16, and before last Monday’s 4-2 win over Ft. Lauderdale was only 12, a .9 goals per game average.
Baptiste is a player who knows a thing or two about scoring goals. He has scored 69 league goals in 92 appearances for Joe Public where he has played since 2007 and had scored 12 goals in 50 appearances for T&T.
Baptiste will now be reunited with his former coach Ricky Hill who led San Juan Jabloteh when the forward played there from 2003-2006.
FC Tampa Bay also announced they have bought out the contract of defender Omar Jarun and released him from the team.
The Palestine international was in the center of controversy a month ago when FC Tampa Bay attempted to release him for breach of contract which the NASL quickly overruled.
Jarun is currently gone on international duty with Palestine as they attempt to win a play-in spot for qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup.
Ironically, CNN and the Daily Mail both featured Jarun in recent articles on US Independence Day, July 4th, highlighting the Kuwaiti-born soccer player, who is a US citizen and grew up in the States but is playing internationally for his father’s country of Palestine.
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Anyone hearing the rumors about financial problems with Tampa FC?
I think this is a good move for the team.
I like how they are willing to go out on the transfer market and find players.
Good work.
Plus, can’t imagine that Jarun really wanted to be in that locker room anyways!
Rumors are untrue. The reason the rumors were started is some are jealous that FCTB has the most players who play for their current international teams.
WSW: C’mon Bro. Seriously?!?! The “jealous(y)” card???
I don’t think that there’s too many fans staying up late, plotting conspiracy theories about the (alleged) dysfunctionality of FCTB. And definitely not because of the bevy of curennt internationals.
At least, I haven’t met any yet. Maybe you have.
Or maybe you were just yanking our chain or using sublime sarcasm and I completely missed it.
Admittedly, I’m not that bright.
Rook: I agree with you. That relationship was torched. The club didn’t want Jarun and I’m sure that he didn’t want to go back there given how they tried to can him.
It was like going back to live with the chick who tried to kick you out, only to have the cops explain that you had been living together long enough that she couldn’t just convict you without giving you 30 days written notice.
Sure, you can go back after you take some time to vistit your relatives and handle some family business–But in the end, do you really want to live under that roof, not knowing how miserable she might try to make your life those final, long 24 days.
Best exit strategy for all involved since D2, the commish “checked” TB, and told them “Step back, take a breath and get a grip”, putting the kibosh on their plans to send him packing for missing a couple rehab and a handshaking session.
The player mover on. The club moves on. (and the questions remain…)
It seemed to be the only way forward…
“Anyone hearing the rumors about financial problems with Tampa FC?”
No, just hearing the usual suspects trying to start rumors based on nothing.
Where can I go to find up to date avg attendance figures per team?
NASL.com and click on the Stats tab. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
http://nasl.com/index.php?id=228
Also, Kenn Tomasch always gives a nice little revue monthly of all the leagues in the US.
Here are May’s numbers: http://www.kenn.com/the_blog/?p=4277