Rowdies sign St. Petersburg’s Burt, add GK Lambo on loan

Posted Mar 17, 2010 by Nick Murray

Updated Mar 17, 2010 at 01:24 PM

The FC Tampa Bay Rowdies added two more players to their roster on Wednesday morning, completing the signing of St. Petersburg’s Chad Burt while acquiring goalkeeper Josh Lambo on loan from FC Dallas.

Burt, who grew up playing for Strictly Soccer in St. Petersburg, was on trial with the club for the first two weeks of training camp, but the Rowdies had been working on a contract for the past week. Burt said he was very happy to become a member of the Rowdies squad.

“I’ve been over there in St. Pete pretty much all my life,” Burt said. “It’s great to be able to play in the community I grew up in.”

While Burt has local ties, as with defender Joe Donoho and midfielder Pascal Milien, Rowdies coach Paul Dalglish said that wasn’t a determining factor in him being signed to a contract.

“People are talking about him being a local player, but he wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t good enough,” Dalglish said. “He’s been a real shining light since we started back, and him being a local player is just a bonus.”

Dalglish was also very happy to have added Lambo, a former U.S. Under-17 National team player. With Dallas having recently added veteran goalkeeper Kevin Hartman to a roster that already included Dario Sala, Lambo was moved to give him a chance to gain experience at the professional level.

While Dallas can recall Lambo at any point during the season, Dalglish said he expects that only to happen in the case of injury to either Sala or Hartman.

“Josh has got an incredible resume for a 19-year-old,” Dalglish said. “He’s one of the hottest prospects in the country in goal. Obviously I knew a little bit about him from our Liverpool combine, he’s been on our radar for a while, I’m just delighted to get that one done to add to two already very good goalkeepers in Phil and Daryl.”

PRACTICE NOTES: Yendry Diaz, Long Tan and Joe Donoho were all nursing injuries at Wednesday morning’s practice, Diaz not sure when he would return from a groin strain. Tan and Donoho looked in better shape, Tan suffering a knock to his hip and Donoho getting treatment on his right big toe, with Donoho saying he thought he would be able to play on Friday against the Philadelphia Union. ... Other players are starting to feel the effects of preseason, with the trainer being kept busy after the session ended strapping on ice bags to multiple players. The players have a recuperatory yoga session on Wednesday afternoon before getting back to a pair of sessions on Thursday.