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Around SBN: The Eternal Unpredictability of the 2011-12 Boston Celtics

Rapture & End of the World: Nery Castillo Style

Nery probably didn't make it to this ball.

As of 12:00 AM CST, Saturday, May 21st, 2011 the Nery Castillo Chicago Fire era officially came to an end.  The reports that the Fire would not be exercising the option to complete a permanent transfer came out earlier this week but it was already a forgone conclusion.  Castillo never fit into the organization.  The fans did not like him.  The team has already used all 8 international roster slots and forward is the one position the team is very deep at right now. 

Nery Castillo's signing at the time made sense.  The Fire were stuck in neutral on Saturday, July 17, 2010 and needed something to push the team over the top.  Major League Soccer has not had too many players that can boast Castillo's accomplishments and donned a MLS jersey at the age of 27 years old.  For all the criticism of Castillo, he is a player that took the 2007 Copa America by storm and scored a goal for Mexico in 2010 World Cup Qualification.  In his 11 games for Aris FC, he has scored 2 goals so far.  He may not be worth the estimated $2 million dollars plus that it cost to bring him in and pay his salary but I think the front office deserves credit for taking the risk of signing him and owner Andrew Hauptman deserves credit for putting the money up to bring him on.  It was an expensive lesson but also a very valuable one that has already played a major role in how the Hauptman ownership team looks at team building.  All you have to do is look at the 2011 roster with its core of talented, hard working, economical, no-big name players to see that.  This team will be built from the bottom up, not from starting with a star and crafting the team after that.  That makes the benefits of the Nery Castillo situation priceless.

As we bid good-bye to Nery Castillo one last time, let's take a look at his exclusive Chicago Fire highlight reel videos I have acquired after the break. 

Star-divide

 

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Welcome to Hot Time In Old Town - a Chicago Fire centric Chicago soccer blog. Thank you for stopping by and feel free to tell us how we are doing at HotTimeInOldTown at gmail.com.

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Chicago Fire Roster

Goalkeeper

Sean Johnson #25

Jay Nolly #1

Paolo Tornaghi #70 (I)

Defender

Jalil Anibaba #6

Austin Berry #22

Arne Friedrich #23 (I)

Dan Gargan #3

Cory Gibbs #5

Hunter Jumper #99

Steven Kinney #28

Gonzalo Segares #13

Tony Walls #20

Kwame Watson-Siriboe #4

Midfielder

Sebastian Grazzini #10 (I)

Patrick Nyarko #14

Daniel Paladini #11

Marco Pappa #16 (I)

Pavel Pardo #17 (I)

Logan Pause #12

Victor Pineda #27

Rafael Robayo #88 (I)

Michael Videira #21

Forward

Orr Barouch #15

Kheli Dube #7

Kellen Gulley #94

Dominic Oduro #8

Federico Puppo #9 (I)

Chris Rolfe #18

(I) denotes International player per MLS rules. Chicago Fire are currently allowed to sign up to 8 International players.

Players training with the team but not a part of the Chicago Fire roster:

Lucky Mkosana - SuperDraft Selection

Juan David Duque - Has contract with league

Chicago Fire 2012 Transactions

November 29, 2011

- Declined options on Jon Conway, Alec Dufty and Baggio Husidic

December 5, 2011

- Purchased the rights to Orr Barouch from Mexican club Tigres

- Traded first round selection in 2013 Supplemental Draft to Vancouver Whitecaps for Jay Nolly

December 6, 2011

- Re-signed Logan Pause to two-year contract extension

December 7, 2011

- Released Cristian Nazarit and Gabriel Ferrari

December 12, 2011

- Selected Kheli Dube in MLS Re-Entry Draft

January 9, 2012

- Signed Rafael Robayo on a free transfer.

January 11, 2012

- Signed Federico Puppo on a free transfer

January 12, 2012

- Selected Austin Berry with the #9 pick in the SuperDraft

- Selected Lucky Mkosana with the #23 pick in the SuperDraft

- Selected Hunter Jumper with the #28 pick in the SuperDraft

January 15, 2012

- Parted ways with Diego Chaves

January 17, 2012

- Selected Evans Frimpong with the #9 pick in the Supplemental Draft

- Selected Carl Woszczynski with the #15 pick in the Supplemental Draft

- Selected Tony Walls with the #47 pick in the Supplemental Draft

- Selected Justin Chavez with the #66 pick in the Supplemental Draft

January 18, 2012

- Re-signed Pavel Pardo to two-year contract extension

January 23, 2012

- Parted ways with Mike Banner

January 25, 2012

- Signed Kheli Dube

January 30, 2012

- Traded MLS right of first refusal for Wilman Conde to New York Red Bulls in exchange for allocation money

March 6, 2012

- Signed draft pick Hunter Jumper

March 7, 2012

- Signed Arne Friedrich on a free transfer

March 8, 2012

- Signed Paolo Tornaghi on a free transfer

March 11, 2012

- Waived Pari Pantazopoulos

March 15, 2012

- Signed draft pick Tony Walls

April 16, 2012

- Signed Chris Rolfe

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Chicago Fire International Slots

Major League Soccer has 152 slots for international players leaguewide. These slots are split equally among MLS' 19 teams. Teams may trade slots permanently or for short periods of time. Most MLS teams hold onto all 8 slots.

Number of Chicago Fire International spots: 8

1. OPEN

2. Arne Friedrich

3. Sebastian Grazzini

4. Marco Pappa

5. Pavel Pardo

6. Federico Puppo

7. Rafael Robayo

8. Paolo Tornaghi

Chicago Fire on Facebook

Section 8 Chicago on Facebook

Matt Mason's Appalachian Trail Hike to Benefit The Chicago Fire Foundation

Read more about Matt Mason's hike to raise awareness for the Chicago Fire Foundation here.

Follow Matt's quest here on Twitter or on Facebook.

Donate to the Chicago Fire Foundation in Matt's name here.

USMNT Allocation Order

The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the League after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee. The allocation rankings may also be used in the event two or more clubs file a request for the same player on the same day. The allocations will be ranked in reverse order of finish for the 2010 season, taking playoff performance into account.

Once the club uses its allocation ranking to acquire a player, it drops to the bottom of the list. A ranking can be traded, provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club’s ranking. At all times, each club is assigned one ranking. The rankings reset at the end of each MLS League season.

2012 Allocation Order

1. Vancouver Whitecaps

2. New England Revolution

3. Toronto FC

4. Chivas USA

5. San Jose Earthquakes

6. D.C. United

7. Portland Timbers

8. Chicago Fire

9. Columbus Crew

10. FC Dallas

11. New York Red Bulls

12. Philadelphia Union

13. Colorado Rapids

14. Seattle Sounders

15. Sporting KC

16. Real Salt Lake

17. Houston Dynamo

18. LA Galaxy

19. Montreal Impact (Eddie Johnson)


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