Andy Iro, a dominating center back during his soccer career at UCSB, was traded by the Columbus Crew to Toronto FC on Friday.
Toronto sent young midfielder Tony Tchani to Columbus for Iro and French midfielder Leandre Griffit.
The trade is part of team makeover in Toronto. On Thursday, the MLS club acquired Canadian midfielder Terry Dunfield from the Vancouver Whitecaps and Jamaican international Ryan Johnson from the San Jose Earthquakes. It also dealt midfielder Jacob Peterson, defender Nana Attakora and forward Alan Gordon to the Quakes.
Toronto signed Torsten Frings and Danny Koevermans as designated players on June 29.
The 6-5 Iro, helped UCSB win the NCAA College Cup championship in 2006. He was a first-round draft pick of the Crew in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft and became a regular starter in 2010.
This season, however, his playing time was cut considerably. He lost his starting job when the team turned to journeyman defender Julius James, who was signed after being cut by DC United late in the preseason.
Through the first 21 games of this season, Iro made only seven appearances (360 minutes played) and did not score a goal.
In his rookie season, Iro played as a backup to Chad Marshall and Danny O’Rourke in the team’s run to the 2008 MLS Cup. He finished with 1,192 minutes played over 21 games. He saw less playing time (901 minutes over 14 games) in 2009 after the team signed Eric Brunner from New York.
The 2010 season was Iro’s breakout year, displacing Brunner as the team’s regular starting center back alongside Chad Marshall. He finished the year with 3,057 minutes played across 36 games, most of them as a starter. He made significant contributions in the team’s offense, scoring six goals by converting free kicks taken by players like Guillermo Barros Schelotto or Eddie Gaven.
Toronto technical director Aron Winter said the addition of Iro will greatly improve his team’s defense.
“We needed help on defense and Andy is a defender that we have wanted to bring in for some time,” said Winter.
