Albright plans on retiring

• by Soccer America , Oct 26, 2013

[MLS SPOTLIGHT] Philadelphia Union defender Chris Albright, who has played in 235 MLS games over 15 seasons for five MLS teams, will be retiring at the end of the season. He is one of several MLS veterans whose careers could end this weekend.

Union manager John Hackworth made the announcement this week that Albright, who won three MLS Cups, is planning to retire at the end of the season.

Albright grew up in Philadelphia and came out of the University of Virginia in 1999. His career took him to D.C. United, the LA Galaxy, New England Revolution and New York Red Bulls before he joined the Union in 2012.

Albright, who has played just four minutes in 2013, is not expected to play Saturday as the Union must beat Sporting Kansas City Saturday and then get some help if it is to make the playoffs.

The Union plans to honor Albright Saturday.

Other players planning on retiring include Houston forward Brian Ching, San Jose midfielder Ramiro Corrales and Vancouver defender Lee Young-Pyo, who will retire after a career that included three World Cups for South Korea.

Vancouver is out of the playoffs, San Jose is all but mathematically eliminated, while Houston needs to win at D.C. United and then get some help.

Montreal defender Alessandro Nesta is expected to retire at the end of the season.

Philadelphia backup goalkeeper Oka Nikolov, who has yet to play a league game since he joined the Union from Eintracht Frankfurt in June, is also likely to retire.