Kevin Richard?s dream of playing professional football has been rekindled as Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs have now been granted an increase in the numbers of international players allowed on their rosters.

MLS recently announced that all team rosters have been expanded from 24 to 28 players while the number of international and youth players permitted have also risen.

Richards was drafted early last year by the Rapids as a fourth-round pick at the MLS Superdraft held in Charlotte, North Carolina.

But from the outset, Richards, who played locally for PHC Zebras and featured for Bermuda during last year?s World Cup qualifying campaign, made it perfectly clear that academics would take prominence over football ? a decision applauded by top brass at the Rapids.

At age 23, the Bermudian is still classified as a ?transitional international?, a player from a foreign country under the age of 24. The rule only permitting 20 transitional international players in the entire league remains in effect.

?What happened last year was that the MLS had a quota for overseas players,? explained Paul Scope, who keeps close tabs on Richards.

?But because Kevin hadn?t turned up for training they obviously didn?t include him in their roster. And by the time he was available the whole quota had been used up.?

Richards is currently whipping himself back into shape in the US in preparation for two run-outs with the MLS Western Conference side this week in Florida.

Rapids finished last season with 10-9 record and are now coached by Fernando Clavijo, former head coach of the New England Revolution scheduled to arrive in Bermuda later this week.

?The new management at Rapids drafted Kevin last year but he decided to finish his Masters Degree at Notre Dame,? Scope added. ?So that meant he wasn?t available to Colorado until a couple of months after they had actually started training and that?s why he went to Scotland and then at Barnet last year, but he got injured.?

According to Scope, Barnet manager Paul Fairclough, had big plans for the Bermudian, but an ankle injury ultimately put Richard?s professional ambitions on hold.

?In the meantime Kevin got a job at ACE and seemed to have given up on his football ambitions for awhile,? added Scope, speaking from the UK.

?But then Bobby Clarke (coach at Notre Dame) received a call from Colorado who had realised Kevin had been drafted and they liked him.

?They they also liked Kevin very much at Barnet, but saw that he was injured. And now with the rules (MLS) having been changed, Kevin has been invited back for trials.

?So he left ACE on good terms and has returned to the US to get himself fit because hasn?t played for a while. He?s been invited to Florida to play in two trial games this week and then I guess they?ll make a final decision from there.?