The San Francisco Deltas continue to fill out the roster for their inaugural 2017 season with the announced signings today of Danny Szetela, Greg Jordan, and Reiner Ferreira. They are the second trio of players announced by the squad in the past two weeks.
Danny Szetela had been rumored to be heading to San Francisco from New York after the Cosmos released all of its players earlier this month.
Szetela was once a rising star for the US Soccer national team. In 2004, he was signed by the MLS’s Columbus Crew as a 17-year-old but never became a regular for the squad. After suffered a severe knee injury in 2010 he was out of the sport for the next few years. He joined the NASL’s Cosmos after a tryout for its inaugural campaign in 2013.
“Danny brings passion and commitment to the field,” said Deltas head coach Marc Dos Santos. “We want players like him to represent this club and city with a very high level of intensity and work ethic.”
Szetela’s partner in the defensive midfield may be Greg Jordan, another NASL veteran. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Union in the MLS Superdraft in 2012 but never played for the first team. He then joined Minnesota United where he has played the last three seasons. “He’s a fantastic midfielder with a great work ethic,” noted Dos Santos. “He’s the type of player that always gives everything and has the right mentality for the full 90 minutes.”
“When I’m on the field I’m totally in the zone, adrenaline is going, so I don’t really hear much going on on the sideline,” Jordan told NASL.com in an interview earlier this year. “I think, just my style of play, some people enjoy that kind of put-your-body-on-the-line kind of player.”
Thrilled to be joining @sfdeltas for their inaugural season! I won’t have to use this to stay warm anymore. pic.twitter.com/W4RBhapOfe
— Greg Jordan (@gregjordan90) December 21, 2016
The Deltas also added another Brazilian player with international experience in defender Reiner Ferreira. He previously played for Academica in Portugal, then the Suwon Bluewings in South Korea in 2014, and the past two seasons in Turkey for Adana Demirspor. “We wanted a left-footed center back with experience not only in his country but also abroad,” noted Dos Santos. “He can play two different roles and has the experience that we need.
The Deltas now have six announced players for their 2017 squad and four training camp invitees that earned a spot in the Deltas open tryouts last month: Jonathan Arellano, Adrian Iniguez, Julien Melendez, and Saalih Muhammad.
Dos Santos is sticking to his game plan bringing in experienced veterans and mixing them together with young players to develop. “You don’t develop good players if they are not around experienced players that could help them,” he explained to the SFGATE during an interview earlier this year.
“We want to be a team that is very compact, a team that is very aggressive without the ball, a team of players that are very determined, so the character and personality is important here,” continued Dos Santos. “Our forwards are going to be needed in the defensive process, our wingers are going to work hard without the ball, our midfield will work hard without the ball. We want players that nobody is going to think they are a star or above the club. These players are going to have a high level of commitment.”
