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El Paso Locomotive FC has signed Joshua Castellanos (United States) and Chiro N’toko (Belgium), bringing a wealth of soccer experience to the new club.

According to club officials, Castellanos will find his place in the midfield and comes to El Paso from Jacksonville Armada, the former Club of El Paso Locomotive FC Head Coach, Mark Lowry and forward, Derek Gebhard who was signed earlier this year.

During the 2018 season, Castellanos saw ten starts in 12 games played and netted four goals and one assist. Chiro N’toko, center back, has spent the majority of his professional career in the Eerste Divisie and the Eredivisie which is the highest level of professional soccer in the Netherlands.

N’toko will be an integral component of the defense and is coming from the Fortuna Liga in Slovakia, where he played with FK Senica. With these two signings, El Paso Locomotive FC’s roster is officially five players signed with more announcements to come.

Head Coach, Mark Lowry has brought two players from Jacksonville Armada thus far and said, “Having worked with Josh this past season, I was eager to continue our work together. He is a very exciting young player; he is an extremely hard worker, comfortable receiving under pressure and has that extra bit of creativity in the final third that is hard to teach. He will be a great asset to the group. I am very excited to see where we can go on this journey because he has a lot of talent and is far from his full potential.”

With over ten years of professional experience playing in Europe, N’toko brings with him invaluable experience and knowledge of the game.

“When building a winning team, I believe the center backs are a critical piece, and no stone was left unturned in our pursuit to bring the right one to this Club. In Chiro, we have a center back who is comfortable building our possession from the back and is aggressive and athletic enough to defend in the manner with which we plan to play this season. His experience and character are second to none. Playing at the highest levels in Holland he has been drilled on playing out from the back; he is a born winner and will be a great leader for us on and off the field,” said Mark Lowry.

On Wednesday the city of El Paso got some pretty exciting news. Mountain Star Sports group made an announcement today that they will bring a United Soccer League team to El Paso in 2019. The city was awarded one of the expansion teams for 2019. The team is currently know as El Paso USL.

So what is the USL? Major League Soccer or MLS is where the big time professionals play, the United Soccer League is only one step under that. This is Division 2 professional soccer. The USL is the fastest growing league in the United States. With more than 100 million dollars being invested in 2016. They currently have a partnership with world wide leader in sports, ESPN. They also have a partnership with Sirius XM radio.
The league has doubled in size since 2014. With four expansion teams set for 2019 including:

Birmingham, Alabama

Austin, Texas

Memphis, Tennessee

El Paso, Texas

Apart from league play, the USL also regularly features international exhibition games against Premier League, Liga MX, and the Bundesliga clubs.

The schedule is highlighted by a regional approach to create rivalries. The USL has a western and eastern conference. At the end of each season, the top 8 teams from both conferences make the playoffs. In the next 4 weeks are used to crown a champion.

This is a list of the current teams:

With two teams set to join after the 2019 expansion. Chicago in 2020 and East Bay in 2021

•    Atlanta United 2
• Bethlehem Steel FC
• Charleston Battery
• Charlotte Independence
• Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
• FC Cincinnati
• Fresno FC
• Indy Eleven
• LA Galaxy II
• Las Vegas Lights FC
• Louisville City FC
• Nashville SC
• New York Red Bulls II
• North Carolina FC
• OKC Energy FC
• Orange County SC
• Ottawa Fury FC
• Penn FC
• Phoenix Rising FC
• Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
• Portland Timbers 2
• Real Monarchs SLC
• Reno 1868 FC
• Richmond Kickers
• Rio Grande Valley FC
• Sacramento Republic FC
• Saint Louis FC
• San Antonio FC
• Seattle Sounders FC 2
• Swope Park Rangers
• Tampa Bay Rowdies
• Toronto FC II
• Tulsa Roughnecks FC

Fans for the United Soccer League fall under two major categories. 64% are ages 18-44, and 79% are male. This falls perfect with the demographic of El Paso, Texas with a median age of 32 in the Sun City.

The USL has a partnership with the MLS since 2013 designed to enhance the development of professional players in the United States.

The name, the colors and the mascot is still to be determined but El Paso is as excited as ever. Fans in the Sun City proved that the Chihuahuas was a perfect choice for the city. USL shouldn’t be any different.
El Paso are you ready for 2019?

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Author – Diego Sanchez – Special to the Herald-Post