AC St. Louis signs nine more players.

Wilfrid Loizeau brings some more French influence to the team.

Since the signing of Steve Ralston at the beginning of the month, AC St. Louis has been announcing, on a daily basis, more of the players that will make up this year’s squad. Nine players have been announced for the squad today, yet none of them are from the walk-on tryouts there were held three weeks ago.

With these nine signings, AC St. Louis now has 12 players under contract. While this is a start, we should start seeing what the team might look like in the coming two weeks.

Most noticable to me was the addition of Wilfred Louizeau. Louizeau is a French midfielder who has spent a few year in France’s Championnat National, the league under Ligue 2, which is a combination of professional and amateur players.  As a youth player, he came up through the Auxerre (Ligue 1) and Le Havre (Ligue 2) systems. He started his professional career with Créteil and then moved to Paris FC (my favorite team in France, too bad they can’t land David Pollet).

I was wondering if Claude Anelka was going to look at former and current Championnat National players to make up his squad, and I am glad to see that he is.

Here is a list of the players, and some short bios, that was provided by the club moments ago:

Dillon Barna most recently played for the PDL club the Ventura County Fusion. Barna was a four-year starter at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. The 6’4” central defender played in all but two games of his collegiate career. Barna was a member of the Fusion team that won last year’s PDL national championship.
 
Troy Cole most recently played for the FC Atlanta Blackhawks. Cole played collegiately at Mars Hill College in North Carolina where he also served as an assistant coach in 2009. Cole played two seasons for Mars Hill College, starting 37 of 38 games while recording seven goals and two assists.
 
Manuel Kante is a midfielder with years of professional international experience. Kante has played professionally in Croatia, Greece, Portugal, and Scotland.
 
John Lesko is a 6’3” central defender from the University of South Carolina – Aiken. Lesko was an all-conference selection in his senior year. He scored three goals and added two assists from his defensive position.

Wilfrid Louizeau is 24-year old French midfielder with professional playing experience in the Czech Republic, Romania, Portugal, and Belgium. Louizeau most recently played for the FC Atlanta Blackhawks. He is also a product of the youth academies at French clubs Le Havre and Auxerre. Louizeau has played for France’s Ligue 2 side Creteil and for Paris FC, which was then in the Championnat National.
 
James McCarthy is an 18-year old midfielder and winger who is a member of the IMG Premier Development Academy in Bradenton, Florida. McCarthy was a recipient of the Best Player Award at the U-15 level of Manchester United’s Soccer School, and has had a pro trial with English league side Scunthorpe United FC.
 
Anthony O’Garro is a 24-year old left back from Trinidad & Tobago. He played collegiately for Shorter College in Rome, Georgia. O’Garro proved to be an offensive minded defender in college, scoring 12 goals with nine assists.
 
Christopher Salvaggione is an attacking midfielder that played for the PDL Austin Aztex and DFW Tornados last year. Salvaggione played collegiately at UNC-Charlotte before being drafted by the New England Revolution in the third round of the 2009 MLS SuperDraft. Salvaggione played professionally last year for Real Colorado in the PDL. He made 13 appearances with the Foxes and scored seven goals.
 
Brad Stisser is a native of Highlands Ranch, Colorado who played collegiately at Loyola Marymount University. Stisser played last season for the PDL Real Colorado Foxes. The 23-year old midfielder played two seasons for Loyola Marymount and one season for Coastal Carolina.