PHOENIX — The offseason departure of Jimmy Conrad left a crucial hole in the Sporting Kansas City defense.
[inline_node:316394]To fill it, the Sporting coaches are looking at multiple options this preseason, including third-year defender Matt Besler, MLS veteran Shavar Thomas, and Trinidadian trialist Daneil Cyrus.
One of the best options, though, could be Brazilian Julio Cesar Santos Correa. The 32-year-old native of Saõ Luís, whose resume includes stints with such European powerhouses as Real Madrid, AC Milan, Benfica, and Olympiakos, played 60 minutes in Sporting’s 0-0 draw with Colorado on Saturday and looked perfectly capable.
“He’s a very sound, experienced defender,” assistant coach Kerry Zavagnin told MLSsoccer.com after the match. “He knows how to work his way through the preseason, so he doesn’t go out and play in the World Cup final every day. He’s tempered his level and his output from day to day and game to game, and it appears that he continues to get better week in and week out. He could be a very good defender for us.”
Santos Correa is not the prototypically imposing MLS centerback—he’s no Jamison Olave or Chad Marshall—but he has good skill and the sharp positional sense of a 16-year pro.
“He’s very composed on the ball,” Zavagnin said. “Obviously the primary duty of the centerbacks is to limit the opponents’ scoring. But if your model of play is to play the ball out of the back, certainly he has that maturity, that experience, and the presence that we’ve been looking for in that part of the field. So he could be the solution.”
