South Korean legend Lee Young-Pyo said last week that he was "99 percent sure" 2013 would be his last season of professional soccer. And that leaves the Whitecaps in something of a bind, considering that Lee wasn't just a standout defender, but also led the team in chances created in 2012.
Enter mystery man Andres Fresenga. The Uruguay-based Canadian U-23 international (yeah, he was the dude who shut down Brek Shea in Olympic qualifying) is reportedly set to join Martin Rennie's squad in January for an extended trial.
“I had sent Tony Fonseca an email to congratulate him on his new position as CSA technical director and, all of a sudden, the next day, I got an e-mail from Vancouver that stated that they were looking for a right back and that Tony had recommended me,” Fresenga told RedNationOnline.ca. “So I’m going to take advantage of the opportunity and hopefully it works out. I’m going on trial in January, but, if everything goes as planned, it will be a year long loan. They want to see me because outside of my playing with the U23s, they have not really seen me play. The trial will start the first week of January.”
It could be a double win for Vancouver if Fresenga is up to the job. Not only would he help take some miles off of Lee's legs in 2013, but he'd help give a bit more Canadian flavor to a team that was sorely lacking in that department last year.
