The Columbus Crew announced Friday that they have declined contract options of six players, including once-prized Costa Rican international forward Jairo Arrieta and rugged defender Danny O’Rourke, one of the last roster holdovers from the team’s 2008 MLS Cup run.
Arrieta, 30, joined the Crew in 2012 and scored 12 goals in 41 regular-season appearances over two years in Columbus. He scored nine goals and added four assists in just 18 appearances during his first year in the league in 2012, but his numbers trailed off in 2013, finishing with just three goals and four assists as the Crew missed the postseason for the second consecutive year.
Arrieta has made 13 appearances for the Costa Rican national team since 2011, and appeared in one of the team’s 10 World Cup qualifying matches in 2013 and four in the CONCACAF Gold Cup last summer.
O’Rourke, 30, joined the Crew in 2007 and appeared in 147 regular-season games with the club before he was let go. He started and played 90 minutes in each of the team’s four postseason games in 2008, including a 3-1 win over the New York Red Bulls in MLS Cup.
With O’Rourke’s departure and the surprise early retirement of midfielder Eddie Gaven earlier this season, defender Chad Marshall is now the only player left on the roster from the 2008 team. Goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum – who was a backup during the MLS Cup run five years ago – is currently out of contract and the club has not said publicly if he will return in 2014.
