Soccer Watch: Game On!

Courtesy of Austin FC

It's official: There's now competition for playing time at Austin FC. When we went to press last week, AFC had just added nine players to their roster – five in cash trades, then four in the MLS Expansion Draft – to go with the two they signed over the summer. Since then, the press releases have been coming fast and furious. The team acquired midfielder and NYCFC Captain Alex Ring in another cash trade on Thursday, announced their first free agent signing Monday in midfielder Hector Jiménez, who just won the MLS Cup with the Columbus Crew, and as we go to press Tues­day, Dec. 22, they've just added Colom­bian defender Jhohan Romaña, who's been playing in Para­guay at Club Guaraní with those two summer signings, Rodney Redes and Cecilio "Cecigol" Domínguez. By the time you read this there may be more, but as of now, AFC has 14 men on the roster – if they play the expected 3-4-3 formation, that's enough to have a defender, midfielder, and forward on the bench.

Here's the roster as it stands now, with age, nationality, and former team. Check for updates at www.austinfc.com/rostertracker.

Goalkeeper:

Brady Scott (21, USA, Nashville SC)

Defenders:

Julio Cascante (27, Costa Rica, Portland Timbers)

Nick Lima (26, USA, San Jose Earthquakes)

Jhohan Romaña (22, Colombia, Guaraní)

Ben Sweat (29, USA, Inter Miami CF)

Midfielders:

Joe Corona (30, USA, LA Galaxy)

Hector Jiménez (32, USA, Columbus Crew)

Alex Ring (29, Finland, NYCFC)

Ulises Segura (27, Costa Rica, D.C. United)

Jared Stroud (24, USA, New York Red Bulls)

Forwards:

Cecilio Domínguez (26, Paraguay, Guaraní)

Jon Gallagher (24, Ireland, Atlanta United FC)

Danny Hoesen (29, Netherlands, San Jose Earthquakes)

Rodney Redes (20, Paraguay, Guaraní)