Delays in immigration paperwork keep Pinto from heading to Arizona with FC Edmonton teammates

On Monday morning, before the sun rose, FC Edmonton’s players and coaches jetted off to Arizona to begin its preseason camp in the Casa Grande complex.

That is, all of the players and staff, save one. Chilean forward Yashir Pinto, on loan from Colo-Colo, was forced to stay behind in Edmonton. Delays in his U.S. immigration paperwork mean that he can’t cross the border to legally work in America, yet. Pinto is legal to work in Canada — he has already trained with FCE in Edmonton. The immigration issue only affects his eligibility to work in the United States.

Ironically, Pinto’s ex-teammate on the Chilean U-20 squad, Lester Benelli, is expected to be in Arizona to crack FCE’s NASL roster. He has been invited to join the squad as a trialist.

The delay in the immigration paperwork is just another frustration for Pinto; when the loan deal was announced at the beginning of February, a routine medical in Edmonton turned up some strange results. Pinto went back to Chile to be tested by Colo-Colo’s doctors. In the end, nothing was wrong with Pinto — but it took three weeks to sort it all out. Pinto finally made his debut with FCE on the practice field on Feb. 22. So, after just a little less than two weeks of working out with his new teammates, Pinto will be separated from them again.

Pinto was not on the flight, but Canadian midfielder Matt Lam was. Lam, who is back with FCE after his one-year loan with Japanese side JEF United expired, was originally expected to have shoulder surgery before the NASL season. He was troubled by shoulder problems during his season in Japan. But Lam confirmed that he has opted against the operation, and will instead play the season with a brace on the shoulder to keep it in place.