Locos announce return of 2 more players from inaugural run as they ready for 2020 season

EL PASO, Texas – El Paso Locomotive FC announced that it continues fortifying and building on the success of the club's inaugural season by bringing back two additional members of the pilot squad that made it to the 2019 Western Conference Final. Memo Diaz and Moses Makinde have re-signed for the 2020 season.

Local Gadsen product and fan favorite, Diaz featured for the Locos five times in the inaugural campaign and started in the away match versus a Reno 1868 FC side who were sitting in the top three of the Western Conference. Diaz was instrumental in keeping things scoreless and helped the Locos come away with a hard-fought draw on the road.

“Memo worked extremely hard last season to be an important part of the group. His effort and desire to improve made it an easy decision for me to bring him back. He is a popular member of the squad and deserves a second year. I’m excited to see him grow again,” said head coach Mark Lowry.

Makinde joined El Paso Locomotive in early July by way of trade with Tulsa Roughnecks (FC Tulsa) and was called on countless times to step into the Locomotive backline who dealt with injury throughout the season. Makinde was relied on when El Paso’s James Kiffe received a red card 51 minutes into the Western Conference Final and had to play 70 minutes down to the wire.

“Moses is a player who is very interesting. He possesses so many good attributes, but I don’t think he has ever been in an environment that can push him, take him past his comfort zone and really challenge him to see how good he can really be. We are going to do that and I’m excited to see how that journey develops,” said Lowry.

The 2020 season for the Locos kicks off on March 6th.