Football
Jeff Carlisle, U.S. soccer correspondent 5y

Zac MacMath, Maxi Urruti among trades during half-day MLS window

Zac MacMath, Maxi Urruti and Tesho Akindele were among the notable names swapping teams in Major League Soccer's half-day trade window on Sunday.

Following Saturday's MLS Cup final, teams are allowed to make trades with each other for one day only. Rosters have been frozen for the past three months, and after Sunday will open up again in January.

The Vancouver Whitecaps acquired Colorado Rapids goalkeeper Zac MacMath in exchange for midfielder Nicolas Mezquida and $100,000 in Targeted Allocation Money.

MacMath has been consigned to an understudy role behind Tim Howard for the past three seasons, but has shown well in spells when Howard was either injured or unavailable due to international duty.

MacMath was limited to two appearances and one start in 2018. He was a regular starter for much of a four-season spell with the Philadelphia Union, but ultimately lost his place to Andre Blake.

He was loaned to Colorado for the 2015 season and was later acquired on a permanent basis after that campaign in exchange for a second round pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft. All told, MacMath has made a total of 136 appearances over eight seasons with 36 shutouts.

Mezquida, 26, is a quick, aggressive attacker who has spent the last five seasons in Vancouver. He was never a consistent starter during his time with the Whitecaps, and made only 21 appearances and nine starts this season, scoring three goals and adding an assist. But with Colorado looking to press opponents more next season, Mezquida could be a good fit.

Prior to Mezquida's arrival in 2014 he spent the bulk of his career in his native Uruguay with Penarol, Centro Atletico Fenix and Boston River.

He also had loan spells with Norwegian sides Brann and Lillestrom. In his time with Vancouver, Mezquida made 103 league and playoff appearances, scoring 12 goals and recording four assists.

Also on Sunday, FC Dallas traded Argentine striker Maxi Urruti to the Montreal Impact for $75,000 in TAM and a first-round pick in the 2019 draft. Urruti, who just finished his third year in Dallas, had eight goals and 11 assists this season.

Dallas also traded forward Tesho Akindele, the 2014 MLS Rookie of the Year, to Orlando City for $100,000 of TAM in 2019 and $50,000 of General Allocation Money (GAM) in 2020. Akindele has 24 MLS goals since 2014, and Orlando scored just 43 goals in 34 games last year, tied for second-lowest in MLS.

The Whitecaps were busy, also acquiring defender PC from Orlando City for a 2020 third-round draft pick and goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau from Montreal for $50,000 of TAM. Vancouver also sent goalkeeper Spencer Richey to FC Cincinnati, where he started on loan in the USL this year, in exchange for a 2020 third-round pick.

The Chicago Fire added forward Fabian Herbers from the Philadelphia Union for a 2nd-round pick in 2019.

Meanwhile, champions Atlanta United announced it had declined the option on Michael Parkhurst's contract for next season but had already begun negotiations over a new deal.

The MLS expansion draft for FC Cincinnati is Tuesday, followed by the waiver draft on Wednesday and the first round of the re-entry draft on Friday.

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