John released, Birchall ‘unprotected’

According to the team’s owner/president Darryl Mahabir, “we had a three- month contract and it came to an end.”

Mahabir added that the management decided not to renew the contract of the 35-year-old, who joined the club in August after recovering from a year-long right knee injury.

John has scored 70 goals for the national team in his 114-game international career, and was in the “Soca Warriors” team beaten 2-1 Guyana in Georgetown in their CONCACAF zone World Cup qualifiers and out of Brazil 2014.

In related news, midfielder Chris Birchall, who, like John, last played for the “Soca Warriors” in their defeat away to Guyana, was placed on the unprotected player list by his American Major League Soccer (MLS) club Los Angeles Galaxy.

Birchall was a member of the LA Galaxy team which defeated the Houston Dynamos 1-0 on a goal by Landon Donovan, to win the MLS Cup one week ago.

A story on the Galaxy website stated that the 27-year-old central midfielder is among 16 players on the unprotected list ahead of the MLS Expansion Draft for the Montreal Impact.

“Teams that competed this past season were allowed to protect 11 players as well as any Generation Adidas or Homegrown players,” the story said.