Adelaide United coach Rini Coolen on Tuesday unveiled the Reds new signing, Uruguayan Francisco Usucar, a hard and tough midfielder who represented his country at under-17 and under-20 levels and joins United from Central Espanol in Uruguay’s Primera Division.
Usucar, affectionately known as “Pancho”, is expected to make his debut in United’s January 2 game against current Hyundai A-League leaders Brisbane Roar when the international transfer window opens in the new year, but Coolen said he was delighted his latest signing could work with his team-mates immediately.
Coolen admitted Usucar had been on the Reds’ radar for at least a month before they landed his prized signature and there is a strong chance he will stay beyond the end of the season.
“He’s from Uruguay and we’re very happy to have him here,” he said.
“We’ve already spoken about him for a couple of weeks to bring him over and he’s happy to be here now. We’ll use the couple of weeks to prepare him for January so it’s good to have him here now.”
“He’s a defensive midfielder and we’ll have a look at him for a couple of months and see if he can stay for the future, a little bit longer with us.”
“From what I saw he played in the highest level in his country and he has played international games as a youth player. He’s strong, fast, he’s a quick thinker and he can control midfield.”
Usucar speaks little English but Coolen denied communication will be a problem for the 24-year-old, with the Reds other South American star, Argentine Marcos Flores, having picked up the language without too much difficulty.
“I don’t think so he speaks a few words in English,” he said.
“His football language everybody can understand that. We have a few people at the club, me included, who can speak Spanish with him if there’s a problem.”
“Marcos is an example – he picked it up real quickly, he can speak English easily. For a couple of weeks we will use him of course to translate if something is wrong or Francisco doesn’t understand. We’ve put him in the changing room next to Flores to make things easier.”
Usucar arrived in Adelaide on Monday and enjoyed his first hit out with his new team-mates, but left the track early suffering from jetlag.
The Uruguayan spoke through a translator and admitted to conducting his own research into the Hyundai A-League after signing on with the Reds.
He also said he remembered the 2001 and 2005 World Cup play-offs between Australia and Uruguay and in particular Mark Viduka and Brett Emerton.
“I’ve been looking on the net the last few days when I found out I was coming to Australia,” he said
“Australian football has improved a lot since the old NSL. I think now, it is very strong. I have always played in Uruguay and the national youth team and this was the best offer I received.”
“My team-mates have welcomed me very well. Today, I was very tired. I arrived yesterday after travelling for two days so I’m a little bit jetlagged.”
“I remember the World Cup qualifiers in 2001 and 2005. I remember Viduka and Emerton, they are both strong players.”
