Rio Grande Valley FC Toros

Rio Grande Valley FC
Full name Rio Grande Valley
Football Club
Nickname(s) Toros
Founded July 15, 2015 (2015-07-15)
Stadium H-E-B Park
Capacity 9,735
Owner Rio Grande Valley Vipers
Head Coach Gerson Echeverry
League United Soccer League
2017 11th, Western Conference
Playoffs: DNQ
Website Club website

Rio Grande Valley FC Toros is an American professional soccer team based in Edinburg, Texas operated by Lone Star, LLC. They joined the United Soccer League in the 2016 season. Lone Star has the same ownership team as the Rio Grande Valley Vipers[1] of the NBA Gatorade League with Alonzo Cantu as majority owner.

The team serves as a hybrid affiliate of the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer.[1] Chris Canetti, Houston Dynamo president, called the relationship "an important and necessary step." The hybrid affiliation, a first for the USL, means that the Dynamo will be responsible for the soccer operation of the club, selecting players and coaching staff. The ownership group, Lone Star, will be responsible for operations and day-to-day management of the club.[1][2]

History

In September 2014, Dynamo officials met with USL officials about creating a USL team and announced their intention to have a USL team in place for the 2016 season.[3][4]

In March 2015, Bert Garcia announced that the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA D-league had been awarded a franchise pending concrete plans for a stadium and a name[5] and confirmed a report[6] on MLSSoccer.com that the Houston Dynamo would likely be the MLS affiliate for the USL team in the Rio Grande Valley.

In December 2015, the Houston Dynamo signed Dynamo Academy product Juan "Charly" Flores as the first player of the Toros.

Year by year

Year Division League Regular Season W-T-L Playoffs Avg. Attendance
2016 3 USL 2nd, Western: 14–9–7 Conference Quarterfinals 1,994
2017 2 USL 11th, Western: 9–8–15 Did not qualify 7,067

Head coaches

  • Includes USL Regular season, USL Play-offs and Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
CoachNationalityStartEndGamesWinLossDrawWin %
Wilmer Cabrera  Colombia December 2, 2015 October 28, 2016 31 14 8 9 045.16
Junior Gonzalez  United States December 15, 2016 November 8, 2017 32 9 15 8 028.13
Gerson Echeverry  United States December 6, 2017 present 0 0 0 0 !—

Stadium

The club has a 9,400-seat soccer-specific stadium in Edinburg, Texas for the team. It was set to open after the Toros played three games at the soccer complex at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley to start the 2016 USL Season.[7]

The stadium was never completed for play in 2016. Construction of the H-E-B Park was completed during the first quarter of 2017 and the Toros played C.F. Monterrey from Mexico on March 22, 2017 to inaugurate their new stadium.[8] The Toros lost their exhibition match against Rayados 0-3.[9] The Toros won their first home game at H-E-B Park on April 12, 2017 against the Colorado Springs Switchbacks. Their current home record attendance is 7,820 which was set on April 29, 2017 against the Oklahoma City Energy.[10]

Players and staff

Current roster

Where a player has not declared an international allegiance, nation is determined by place of birth. Squad correct as of March 16, 2018.

No. Position Player Nation
0 Goalkeeper Nico Corti  Belgium
1 Goalkeeper Matt Sanchez  Puerto Rico
2 Defender Kai Greene  United States
3 Midfielder Luis Gil ([A])  United States
4 Defender Robert Castellanos  United States
5 Defender Manny Padilla  United States
6 Midfielder Jorginho James (on loan from Harbour View)  Jamaica
7 Midfielder Matías Zaldívar  Argentina
8 Midfielder Nicolás Perea  Colombia
9 Midfielder Camilo Monroy  Colombia
10 Midfielder Pablo Aguilar  Guatemala
11 Forward Jesús Enríquez  United States
13 Midfielder David Cabrera  Colombia
14 Midfielder Todd Wharton  United States
15 Midfielder Bryce Marion  United States
17 Defender Victor Garza (on loan from UANL)  United States
19 Forward Mac Steeves ([A])  United States
20 Defender Conor Donovan ([A])  United States
21 Defender A. J. DeLaGarza ([A])  Guam
22 Forward Jordan Jones  United States
23 Forward Aldo Quintanilla  Mexico
24 Defender Derek Luke  United States
26 Goalkeeper Michael Nelson ([A])  United States
27 Defender Adam Lundqvist ([A])  Sweden
28 Forward Wilmer Cabrera Jr.  Colombia
29 Midfielder Brandon Morales  United States
30 Defender Omar Ontiveros  United States
31 Defender Sheldon Sullivan  United States
32 Defender Kyle Adams  New Zealand
33 Defender Jared Watts ([A])  United States
34 Goalkeeper Tyler Deric ([A])  United States
35 Midfielder Romilio Hernandez  El Salvador
36 Midfielder Andrew Wenger ([A])  United States
53 Midfielder Eric Bird ([A])  United States
58 Forward Carlos Small (on loan from Árabe Unido)  Panama
90 Midfielder Monday Etim  Nigeria
  1. ^ Signed to first team contract with MLS affiliate Houston Dynamo.
    2.
  2. ^ Houston Dynamo academy player.
    3.

Staff

United States Gerson Echeverry - Head Coach
United States Brett Uttley - Assistant Coach

References

  1. 1 2 3 Houston Dynamo reach affiliate agreement to start USL club: "It’s an important and necessary step", MLSoccer.com, July 15, 2015
  2. ↑ RGVFC awarded the USL's newest franchise, Houston Dyanamo, July 15, 2015
  3. ↑ Houston Dynamo brass meet with representatives in McAllen, Texas, about creating USL PRO team, MLSSoccer.com, September 9, 2014 .
  4. ↑ Houston Dynamo GM: McAllen One of Many Possible Locations for USL-Pro Team, PlayingFor90.com, September 14, 2014
  5. ↑ USL PRO awards Vipers professional soccer franchise, The Monitor, March 30, 2015
  6. ↑ Lovell, Darrell (March 24, 2015), Houston Dynamo partnering with NBA D-League franchise to form USL team for 2016 season, MLSsoccer.com
  7. ↑ USL soccer stadium to be completed by March (Press Release), Action 4 News, August 11, 2015 .
  8. ↑ RGV FC Toros Take on C.F. Monterrey at H-E-B Park’s Inauguration Game (Press Release), RGVFC, February 13, 2017 .
  9. ↑ RGV FC Toros open H-E-B Park with exhibition loss to C.F. Monterrey Rayados (News), The Monitor, March 22, 2017 .
  10. ↑ "Rio Grande Valley FC Home | uslsoccer.com". www.uslsoccer.com. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
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