The San Jose Earthquakes terminated their loan agreement with Edmundo Zura on Wednesday, ending the Ecuadoran striker’s tenure in MLS after just one appearance. Totaling 19 minutes, Zura’s 19 minute substitution cameo against the Los Angeles Galaxy left little impression on the coaching staff that the transfer deadline signing would have an impact for the club over the remainder of the 2010 regular season.
"We sent him home based on his fitness," said general manager John Doyle just prior to the loan termination announcement. "We brought in to have an immediate impact and to help right away and he’s not fit."
Zura was brought in to help a struggling Earthquakes offense that was missing starters Simon Dawkins, Alan Gordon, and Scott Sealy to injury, and Steven Lenhart to personal leave. Given that Dawkins and Sealy are returning to full fitness, the team did not feel it was necessary to wait for Zura to gain match fitness. The official press release indicated that the loanee from El Nacional of Ecuador did not pass a full medical exam upon his arrival in San Jose. Doyle said he know something was not right the minute he saw him warm up to face the Los Angeles Galaxy at the Home Depot Center back on August 21.
"When we warmed him up (before the Galaxy game)," said Doyle, "we could see he wasn’t moving well."
Not the most fleet of players if his video highlights on YouTube are to be believed, the decision came quickly that Zura would have difficulty adjusting to the pace of MLS. His finishing touch at training last week was decent, but he did not have the visible fitness to keep up with his teammates during intrasquad scrimmages. Even though Zura was brought in on loan for the remainder of this season as a de facto trial for an off-season signing, the coaching staff recognized that the Ecuadoran had little chance of returning in 2011, and he was sent back to his parent club.