Guatemalan soccer clubs sign numerous foreign players ahead of new season

Guatemala City, June 30 (IANS) Guatemala's first-division soccer clubs have signed experienced players from Costa Rica, Uruguay, Argentina and Mexico ahead of the start of the Apertura tournament, which is the first of the 2018-2019 season and gets under way on July 29.

Defending champion Guastatoya, fresh off winning its first-ever title in the 2017-2018 Clausura competition, has beefed up its line-up by signing a trio of midfielders: Costa Rica's Jose Alfredo Sanchez Barquero and Jorge Gatgens and Mexico's Isaac Acu?a, reports Efe.

But that club looks less formidable heading into the Apertura than some of its rivals.

Antigua, which has won three titles in recent years, strengthened its roster by bringing on board Argentine Pablo Mingorance, a key member of Guatemalan club Siquinala in the recently concluded Clausura; Colombian Juan David Osorio, who last played as a defender for Marquense, a team that has been relegated to Guatemala's second division; and Costa Ricans Anllel Porras and Rafael Andres Lezcano.

The two most successful teams in the history of the Guatemalan league, Guatemala City sides Comunicaciones and Municipal, seem determined to bounce back after their failure to reach the playoffs of the last Clausura tournament.

Municipal's foreign signings include Costa Rica's Irving Calderon and Andrey Francis, Argentines Walter Acevedo, Jonathan Hansen and Omar Zalazar, and Uruguayan defender Matias Malvino.

Comunicaciones has added several foreign players to its roster, including Costa Rica's Michael Uma?a, Uruguay's Maximiliano Lombardi, El Salvador's Alexander Larin and Mexico's Abraham Dario Carre?o.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)