Scorpions Add Forwards Giuseppe Gentile And Monbo Bokar

The San Antonio Scorpions have come to terms with FC Chiasso on a loan for former Scorpions forward Giuseppe Gentile the club announced Wednesday.

“Giuseppe is a fantastic young talent, and he was a big part of our success last year, “ head coach Alen Marcina.“ We were very fortunate to bring him in last year, and in the offseason he wanted to experience Europe. We supported that, and the opportunity came that we could get him back on loan, and so we are very excited to have him here. Giuseppe brings a lot of energy. He is one of the best off-ball runners in this league. We expect him to stretch defenses and open up space for some of our other guys.”

In January of this year, Gentile signed with FC Chiasso and made nine appearances with one start for the Swiss Challenge League cub. The 22-year-old returns to the Alamo City after helping lead the squad to their first championship in club history last season. He was signed by San Antonio in September of 2014 and made seven appearances – including in both the Championship Semifinal and Championship Final - with four starts for the red and black.

“I am very excited to be here; great coaching staff, great guys, great veteran guys from last year, so it was an easy decision to come back on loan,” Gentile said. “I believe that I am going to be scoring a lot of goals, creating a lot of space in behind [the defense], and getting assists for the team. [I plan on] being a positive influence on everyone defensively, offensively, personally, and hopefully spiritually.”

In 2014, Gentile began his professional soccer career with Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire after being drafted by them in the MLS Waiver Draft. He was then loaned to the Charlotte Eagles of USL PRO where he made 11 appearances and scored a goal. He then signed with Orlando City for their final USL PRO season and Gentile made another 11 appearances and tallied two goals while helping lead the Lions into the playoffs.

Prior to his professional debut, the 6-foot American played college soccer for three years at UNC Charlotte, where he helped the 49ers earn three consecutive NCAA Tournament bids, a trip to the 2011 College Cup Final, a 2012 Atlantic-10 regular season title, and a 2013 Conference USA Tournament title. In his freshman season, he was also named the Soccer America National Freshman of the year, Atlantic-10 Rookie of the Year, and a College Soccer News Freshman All-American. Gentile and Scorpions rookie midfielder Tyler Gibson played together at UNC Charlotte from 2011-2014.

In other transactions, the Scorpions released midfielder Pablo Cruz and signed rookie forward Monbo Bokar, who is another former 49er and was a teammate of both Gentile and Gibson.

“I played with Tyler Gibson and Monbo Bokar,” Gentile said. “It was another motivation to come back. We had a really good time, and a really good college career at UNC Charlotte.”