After months of speculation, weeks of waiting for paperwork and about an 11-hour plane ride, Antonio Nocerino finally stepped onto the training field Saturday as an Orlando City Lion.
The Italian midfielder was dressed in purple, blending seamlessly with his new teammates except for a thick beard.
“It was a long, tiring process but there’s so much enthusiasm in me right now it cancels all that out,” Nocerino, 30, said through a translator. “My first impression [of the team] was great. It was an important first training session. I would have liked to be here earlier, and for bureaucratic issues I wasn’t able to, but the important thing is I'm here now and ready to go.