When Mauricio Castro left the Revolution there wasn't much known about him. From 2008-2010 he made only 30 appearances for the Revs and never really made a mark on the team. In the Rev's final playoff game of 2009 against the Chicago Fire, Castro had a run in with the Fire's Cuauhtemoc Blanco, while at the time he didn't seem to be hurt too badly he later realized it was much more serious than previously thought.
In an interview with Honduran newspaper La Tribuna he states that come January he had problems running and had apparently torn ankle cartilage in the incident with Blanco. Obviously an injury like this should have been something that he should have spoke up about as soon as he realized there was a problem but he did not, however what is even more damning is the way according to him that he was treated by the Revolution.
Castro states that he did not feel the injury was serious and thought that it was nothing that ice and rest couldn't fix. When he went home for the holidays he realized it was serious, when he returned to preseason training he realized he had difficulty running. The team did not believe his story and thought that he injured himself during the off-season and would not cover his medical expenses and apparently did not want to pay his salary. Castro paid for his own surgery to repair the torn cartilage. Castro appealed to the league who sided with him and Castro won his case.
We approached the Revolution for comment...
“Mauricio agreed to and signed a separation agreement when he parted ways with the team and MLS. We’re surprised he has decided to make these recent comments in light of that agreement.”
We have also been told that MLS handles all contracts and medical expenses; it is possible that this may have been a Players Union vs. MLS issue instead of MLS vs. Revolution issue. We are still unsure if this is a league issue or a team issue, and elements may be lost in translation, however if this is a team issue it is another story in a line of stories discontent from past and present Revolution players that has become more and more frequent (See "What Larentowicz's Comments Mean For Revolution Fans".
Needless to say, I'd be the first to say it's probably the team screwing a player...but until all the facts come out, if ever, there's 2 sides and maybe even more, to the story...
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Yeah, and it would be one thing if it were an isolated incident, but like the article says, when you start hearing more and more stories involving the same team....where there is smoke, there is usually fire.
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