The Seattle Sounders FC announced today that forward Fredy Montero has received his U.S. Green Card, granting him permanent resident status in the United States, effective immediately.
As a resident, Montero will no longer occupy an International Player spot on the club’s roster. There will be seven International Players remaining: Alvaro Fernandez, Leo Gonzalez, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Miguel Montaño, Sanna Nyassi, Steve Zakuani and Blaise Nkufo.
“Fredy has worked extremely hard on learning English and becoming part of our community. He is very deserving and we would like to congratulate Fredy on earning his Green Card,” said Adrian Hanauer, Sounders FC Owner and General Manager. “This also helps the club, providing us greater flexibility as we build our roster for 2011 and beyond.”
So can he be capped for the US National Team?
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Nope – since Montero has already played for the Columbian National team, cannot switch to the USMNT now.
But, hopefully means he will be around here for a while. Had been concerned that Montero would either want to try his luck in Europe or be snatched up by a bigger european team.
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We spoke to Montero about this today, and I’ll be posting his answers soon. But EC is right about Montero being locked into the Colombian national team. And if he’s planning a long stay in the U.S. … well, he wasn’t saying today.
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