MLS SuperDraft Liveblog

By: Laurie | January 18th, 2008

The MLS SuperDraft is today at 11:00 Pacific. It’s going to be shown live on ESPN2, and also at MLSnet.com. As far as draft order, as with most drafts it pays to have sucked last year. The worse your finish, the earlier your pick.

The original top pick was supposed to go to the expansion team San Jose Earthquakes, but they traded that away this week to Kansas City to get veteran Wizards defender Nick Garcia.

Most picks? The LA Galaxy and FC Dallas with seven. (Because every team needs seven rookies. Well, actually, given the salary cap issues the Galaxy are facing with the acquisition of Carlos Ruiz, they probably do, because in general, rookies = low pay. Many of the guys picked in the later rounds will receive the league minimum of $12,900 for the year.)

Soccer by Ives has been doing heavy draft coverage, and 3rd Degree has an analysis of all the players. If you’re trying to figure out who your team will pick, be sure to stop by these sites.

And stop by here starting at 11:00 Pacific, 2:00 Eastern, to see your team’s picks.

(Pictured is last year’s #1 overall pick, Maurice Edu.)

11:02 Damn. I’m late for my first live blog. Not my fault. My dog had to pee. She’s fifteen. It’s not a good idea to delay these things.

4 min between picks in rounds 1 & 2, 3 min between 3rd and 4th.

11:04 Don Garber speaks. 1st pick. Wizards take Chance Myers. Leftback. (Did anybody expect a forward in the Eddie Johnson mold?)

11:082nd pick. FC Dallas takes Gen Adidas Brek Shea. Midfielder. Doesn’t count against the salary cap.

11:123rd pick. Real Salt Lake takes Gen Adidas defender Tony Beltran. These Gen. Adidas boys are popular, since the team essentially gets them for “free”, salary-cap wise

And now Landon Donovan phones in an interview on the USMNT. We hear booing in the background. And singing. What’s up with that?

The Galaxy have sent an unnamed player to New England for allocation money. i’m guessing Chris Albright.

11:17 Long pause…. Leave it to LA.
11:19 4th pick. LA Galaxy picks defensive midfielder Sean Franklin. The Galaxy reallly need DM help. He’s been a member of the U-23s.

11:23 another delay. The candidates are apparently singing to relieve stress.
11:24 5th pick. Colorado Rapids take midfielder. Ciaran O’Brien. O’Brien has dual citizenship — US and Ireland. He’s also from the Seattle area, which probably matters to nobody but me.

11:28 6th pick. Columbus Crew take defender Andy Iro. He’s originally from Liverpool, England.

11:33 It looks like Matt Pickens may be going abroad.

7th pick. Chicago Fire take forward Gen. Adidas Patrick Nyarko. He doesn’t look thrilled, possibly because he was expected to be the #1 overall. But he shows grace in the interview and says it’s going to be a great experience.

11:38 Don Garber says something about upcoming expansion team, which I completely missed because I was paying attention to something else. This is why I don’t liveblog games.

11:39 8th pick. FC Dallas picks goalkeeper Josh Lambo.

Don Garber talks more about “moving this league forward.” It’s bout TV ratings and quality play, apparently. Who would have thought?

11:42 9th pick. Toronto FC picks defender Julius James. He was expected to go earlier also. He’s a Trinidad and Tobago guy and has a great accent.

Interview with last year’s #1 pick Maurice Edu. He comes across as a level-headed kid.

11:46 10th pick. Toronto picks d-midfielder Pat Phelan. He’s 6′1″, which is always nice.

11:51 11th pick. KC again. They pick Generation Adidas midfielder Roger Espinoza.

It’s official — Alecko Eskandarian to Chivas for allocation money.

11:55 12th pick. Chicago Fire pick goalkeeper Dominic Cervi — the guy who got snatched up by the U-23s at the Combine. Matt Pickens may be on his way to England, to Chicago may have a big hole to fill in goal.

11:59 13th pick. NE Revolution pick Gen Adidas defender Rob Valentino. Coming off an injury, but has spent time as a youth international.

Okay that wraps up Round 1 and the ESPN2 coverage. Not let’s see if we can find the MLSnet coverage.

Okay, I am not finding this on MLSnet. All I’m seeing is the Draft Tracker, which is like a Liveblog, except three rounds behind the action. I’ll keep looking.

12:08. Still not finding it. Sorry. Anybody?

12:10. Okay, this is me, going to alternate sources. Pick 14. Real Salt Lake picks defender David Horst.

12:12 And I can’t count. NOW we’re starting the second round. Pick 15. San Jose takes forward Shea Salinas.

12:14 Pick 16. Red Bulls take central defender Eric Brunner.

12:21 NOBODY is updating their sites. This is becoming frustrating. I’ll get back when I have info.

Okay, I’m finally in. We’re on Round 19. I’ll update when I get info.

12:28 19th pick. FC Dallas picks Eric Avila. He was another who was expected to go earlier.

12:29 Update on what we missed, from Soccer by Ives:

Real Salt Lake takes Alex Nimo No. 17
New England takes Mike Videira No. 18

12:31 Pick 20. Columbus picks midfielder George Josten

If you’re looking to watch on MLSnet, here’s the link.

12:34 Pick 21. The LA Galaxy pick forward Ely Allen. A U-Dub boy! aka University of Washington. (Which, again, matters only to me. I did grad school at UW.) I guess they liked what they got form Ty Harden last year.

And the commentators are talking about how bad the Galaxy sucked at everything except filling the stands.

12:39 Columbus Crew has called a 5 minute timeout. Something to do with a trade? Again, my attention span slipped.

12:42. Trade between Crew and Dallas. Dallas’s 22nd and 31st to the Crew for 2010 2nd and 3rd round picks. 22nd pick: Crew picks forward Ricardo Pierre-Louis. Member of the Haitian NT. 101 goals in 63 games in college. Dude. I want him for the Galaxy.

12:46 23rd pick.KC Wizards take “big defender” Yomby William, originally from Cameroon.

12:49 DC United finally makes it to the draft. 24th pick. Midfielder Andrew Jacobson.

12:53 25th pick. Kansas City take defender Jonathan Leathers. What have I seen him with recently? The U-23s maybe?

12:57 26th pick. Chicago picks midfielder Peter Lowry. a 1st team all-American who was also expected to go earlier. This draft isn’t going like anyone predicted.

1:00 New England up next. 27th pick. Midfielder Joe Germanese.

1:02 LA has the next two picks. They’ve taken a five-minute timeout. Boos ring out from the crowd.

LA has traded the pick to Toronto for allocation.

1:07 28th pick. Toronto picks goalkeeper Brian Edwards.

We’re taking a break and I’m sitting here watching ManU vs. Newcastle on FSC. 0-0 at the half, 6-0 at full time. Ouch.

Round 3 Now we go to three minutes between.

1:15 29th pick. LA Galaxy picks Defender Julian Valentin. Former youth international. Another player who was expected to go earlier.

What did LA get from Toronto for the draft pick? “Allocation money,” of course.

1:19 30th pick. Toronto picks defender Mike Zaher.

1:21 31st pick. Columbus Crew pick defender Ryan Miller. Left-footed defender.

1:24 32nd pick. Red Bulls pick defender Luke Sassano.

1:27 33rd pick. DC United picks midfielder Ryan Cordeiro.

1:30 34th pick. LA Galaxy pick goalkeeper Matt Allen. The Galaxy seriously needs a goalkeeper with the loss of Joe Cannon. This guy has less than one goal allowed per game and is 6′3.” Good pick.

1:32 35th pick. Toronto picks Joseph Lapira. Scored 22 goals last year in college. He may go overseas to play. Toronto rolled the dice on the gamble that he’ll stay here. Toronto is done for the day.

1:35 36th pick. Colorado Rapids pick defender Adrian Chevannes. This guy has some serious dreads. Me likey.

1:38 37th pick. Real Salt lake picks midfielder Brennan Tennelle.

Frank Yallop talks about San Jose. He always sounds so much more British than I expect. He says the biggest challenge this year will be “winning.”

1:41 38th pick. Chicago Fire pick forward Dwight Barnett. Commentators have no info.

1:44 39th pick. Kansas City picks defender Matt Marquess.

1:47 40th pick. Chris Armas is adorable. Just so you know. Chicago picks midfielder Stephen King. Wasn’t he just with the U-23s? He was expected to go earlier also.

1:50 41st pick. New England picks defender Matthew Britner. A Canadian national.

1:53 42nd pick. Houston’s first pick of the draft. They pick midfielder Geoff Cameron.

4th round

2:03 43rd pick. Chivas take their first and only pick of the draft, midfielder/forward Keith Savage.

2:06 44th pick. RBNY picks midfielder David Roth.

2:09 45th pick. FC Dallas picks defender Jamil Roberts

2:12 46th pick. The LA Galaxy pick forward Brandon McDonald

Commentators say LA have done pretty well in the draft but “not great.”

2:15 Colorado Rapids pick midfielder Brian Grazier.

We’re now getting down to the minimum wagers. Most of the guys being picked now will be the lower-salaried developmental players.

2:18 48th pick. Crew pick forward Steve Lenhart.

2:21 49th pick. Colorado Rapids pick midfielder Scott Campbell.

Getting down to the wire now. I’m starting to get a pain in my maternal area for the guys who haven’t been picked yet.

2:25 50th pick. FC Dallas picks midfielder Ben Nason.

2:29 51st pick. LA Galaxy pick defender Matt Hatzke.

Commentators are now hedging their bets. Words like “maybe” and “could be” are adding up.

2:32 52nd pick. DC United picks midfielder Tony Schmitz.

2:35 53rd pick. Kansas City picks defender Rauwshan McKenzie. lOne of the commentators says he reminds him of Eddie Pope.

2:38 54th pick. Chicago Fire pick defender Austin Washington. A Gonzago boy. Did they even show a picture of him?

2:41 55th pick. The Revolution pick forward Spencer Wadsworth.

Almost done. Just the champions to go. Every boy in the room is crossing his fingers.

Houston picks midfielder Jeremy Barlow.

And that’s that. My butt is tired and my fingers hurt, but I now have a better feel for the rookie class of 2008.

Thanks for stopping by!

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