The Union announced on Monday night that they have waived goalkeeper Brad Knighton.
Knighton did not practice with the team when they opened training camp on Monday. Knighton started eight games last year, stealing the starting role from Chris Seitz for the last two months of the season. He posted a 1.10 GAA and was between the posts for the Union’s first ever clean sheet in league play.
With last week’s signing of Faryd Mondragon from FC Koln, and recent first round draft pick Zak MacMath joining the team, the Union apparently felt that Knighton was expendable. Another goalkeeper is on trial, and currently training with, the Union. While, as per club policy, he has not been officially identified, reports indicate that he is former Trinidad & Tobago U-20 goalkeeper Thorne Holder.
The release of Knighton is somewhat surprising (at least to most of us at PSP). The return of the reserve league in the MLS had us assuming that Knighton would back up Mondragon for the senior club with rookie MacMath seeing most of his time with the reserve side. Maybe this is a sign that MacMath is MLS ready now and will be the back-up for the Union.
After the announcement from the Union, Knighton tweeted, “I just want to thank everyone for their continued support! I really appreciate it! As one door closes, another door will open!” He continued, “Determination, patience and courage are the only things needed to improve any situation” shortly after the announcement was made.
I can’t say this was a total surprise, seeing as the team brought in a definitive #1 in Mondi, and MacMath is the future, not really giving BK18 any time between the pipes. He had his flashes of brilliance when giving the opportunity (team’s first SO versus Chicago, snuffing Donovan on a breakaway at PPL, etc), but he also has his howlers, namely the red card/PK at FC Dallas. I wish him the best wherever he ends up, except when/if he plays the Union.
Brad Knighton was not protected during the expansion draft. The protectees were Califf, Caroll, Gonzalez, Harvey, Le Toux, Mapp, Nakazawa, Orozco-Fiscal, Stahl, Torres, and Williams (and then Seitz after Salinas was selected by Vancouver).
I liked Brad, but the combination of him being unprotected and Nowak bringing in two goalkeepers (all we need) makes this decision disappointing but unsurprising.
“All we need” is a matter of opinion, and I guess one that’s determined on a team-by-team basis, but it seems the new rule of thumb (with longer schedule, reserve league, etc) is for teams to carry 3 keepers.
I don’t know why I had it in my head that they protected Knighton initially. I’m going to chalk it up to writing a 200 word post in about 4 minutes last night. Thanks for pointing that out and I have edited the post accordingly.