KOTA BARU: The Philippines’ Jose Porteria (pic) is expected to give more firepower to Kelantan United after signing a one-year contract with the team.
Porteria, who stands at 1.70m, plays as a winger or an attacking midfielder for the national team.
The club’s chief operations officer Wan Mohd Zul Ikman said the inclusion of the 28-year-old player completes their quota for Asean players which is a requirement by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and the Malaysian Football League (MFL).
“Porteria is our fourth imported player this season. The three other imports are Ernist Batyrknov (Kyrgyzstan), Yan Victor (Brazil) and Morgaro Gomis (Senegal),” he said yesterday.
Born in the United States, Porteria is a product of the DC United Academy. He moved to the Philippines in 2012 to play for Kaya and Ceres-United City, as well as the Philippines Under-22 and Under-23 teams.
Wan Mohd said they signed Porteria after looking at the player’s performance playing in more than 90 matches in the Philippines and Thai League, the AFC Cup and the Asian Champions League.
“He scored more than 40 goals and provided 22 assists and is still the choice of the Philippines national squad since 2012.
“His experience and capabilities are not disputed but there is still the issue of getting the right chemistry among his teammates,” he added. — Bernama
