I'll stand corrected that my original post was more hyperbole than sarcasm. The point still stands, and I think it is backed up at least in part by facts. It has been published (not going to find it) that the IU boys have been consulted about college players. We've drafted players from IU and that have faced IU EVERY YEAR and exactly 1 of those players is still on our team, a couple are still in the league. Rather than just blaming RW, Sigi and that other guy for getting next to nothing out of the draft I blamed Yeagley, he of the famous "Yeags." Yeags verb \ˈyaygs\: to strike the ball with the outside of the dominant foot when any competent player would use the instep of the opposite foot. Now, do I really BELIEVE in my deepest soul that Todd Yeagley and Brian Maissoneuve are entirely to blame for each and every draft pick we've made since they retired, no. Am I happy that the relationship might be severed by the changing of the guard, yes. I make no claim to know any better than any coach anywhere. I do see results, I do see posts where others more in the know about college soccer than I could ever be state that they would like us to take X player, we pass on that player and he turns out to be something for some other team. I see that list of players that we've drafted over the last decade and see a bunch of guys who either didn't make the team or took up spots while we waited for them to develop. I have no doubt a few of them would have been a bit better with some more opportunities or better coaching. I also recognized the talent shown by Brad Evans and believe I was one of very few people to put him on my post here of players I would have protected before the Seattle expansion draft. We'll never know about Balchan and Urso which I concede, but you've brought up Marshall for some reason when we actually do know how that turned out so I don't get that.
We remember the guys who succeed. But there were a lot of guys "we should have taken" who didn't amount to much either. We forget those. And guys who were "all that" supposedly--and folks all moaned when they left--but did nothing elsewhere. Like Frenchy. The reason I mentioned Marshall was just to note that he was one more head knock away from being a Balchan or Urso. We got lucky there--as did Chad. There was a "can't miss" guy a couple of years ago--everyone agreed--who never played a game due to a heart defect that was discovered in spring training. It happens. Part of the problem in drafting was that we were a good team for a few years recordwise. That dropped us into the bottom half of the draft most years. I would have loved to have taken some of the Akron players available. But they were gone by the time we drafted (which is why I'm glad we got Barson, Speas, and Trapp as HGs). If you look at our championship team, the draft helped some, with Chad and Evans being our picks (tRR was a lottery allocation--not a draft pick) as well as subs Iro and Lenny. But Hesmer, Frankie, Danny O., Carroll, and Eddie were all other folks draft picks, and three of *those* came to us in trades from expansion teams who picked them in the expansion draft (and didn't cost us much). Ale, GBS, and Gino were, of course, not involved in the draft.
What? He's been here since he was 15; while it's not the most prestigious thing in the world he's played for the US-U23 team. I don't believe you have to be a full citizen to play at that level but you have to have something that is enough not to count as an international in MLS i.e. green card, permanent resident ect... I'm not going to get into the birth year stuff, if you don't think he's the age he claims to be... ok? I mean other than speculation do you have any reason to believe that he wasn't born when his family says he was? As far as this season yeah he's had a down year and if it was all I had ever seen of him I'd be right there with you. It's just my opinon but I believe if he played professional soccer he would have sat for about three weeks maybe a month to fully heal but in college soccer that's pretty much the season and they need him to play. He didn't have anything chronic or anything that should be a concern for the future but he was injured all year. Then right before the college cup when he would want to show his best stuff he got another deep muscle injury. It's not like he has a bad track record here either, last season he was named to the College Cup All-Tournament Team. He did have to sit out the first round of the NCAA tournament. Second team all ACC is pretty good when you've played the entire season injured, it's at least the best conference in the country. Now I might take Dean over him and if we have no plan other than the draft for one I certainly would, but he isn't signed yet and I'm not sure he makes it to us if he does. It doesn't look like they are even considering Cochran which is too bad because I think he'd be 1/2 as far as the best CBs in the draft with Dean. Cyle Larin is a player that would be nice to have if he signs but that's not done yet either. Even though Larin is Canadian he wouldn't take up an international slot for a United States team either.
And maybe they'd have faired much better developing in our sys...mwaa-ha-ha-ha can't even keep a straight face for that one.
http://www.mlssoccer.com/video/2014/01/03/why-mls-superdraft-matters And here is a well done video about how it's done right! I think without a doubt, prior ownership and leadership would dictate us to trade our picks because we've been previously shit, while finding very few needles in the proverbial haystack. So maybe G's can get it right in the draft. But success in the draft is a waiting game to see the true fruits - 3-4 years at least. And maybe the Crew's new ownership and leadership can get this right.
You have to be a citizen to play for the U-23;'s. If the USA played him when he wasn't a citizen then they are gonna get kicked out of some competitions. Green Card is a permanent resident btw.
“@SoccerInsider: MLS invites Braian Acuna (ARG), Quinton Christina (Curacao), Andre Lewis (JAM), Ronny Mendoza (ECU), Stefano Rjssel (Suriname) to combine”
On a serious note GA class wrapped up with Dean, Cochran, and Lowe. I'll have to watch Lowe in the combine as I've never seen him play but this has to be the deepest draft for CBs ever. If we're drafting a CB we might actually want to think about trading down.
It's the MLS Draft. We should be drafting the best player, period. If we're trying to fill holes with unknown entities, we've already lost the battle. That said, the CB depth does bode well.
Yes if they really have one they like they should go after him. I'd go with Dean but Cochran is in no way a bad player. This is a team that could use some size... you know players built like say... Tchani but with more skill. At this point I'd like to see them target on of the two GA CBs Dean or Cochran, again I really don't know anything about Lowe, and Pedro Ribeiro.
It's the draft. Sometimes, the best offense is also a strong defense. If we draft PlayerXYZ, the other team can't. We need to draft players that can help us, ideally immediately, AND make teams like Portland, KC and RSL mad because we drafted the guy that they wanted. (Yes, I'm also subscribing to the "School of Tony Meola" that @Skeleton Crew posted about elsewhere.)
I think taking the best player available would probably upset the other teams that wanted to draft him, no?
Unless they have a different opinion of "best available"--which is likely as no two staffs see the game the same way.
Yeah, it's like after the NFL draft or even after your local fantasy draft, everybody says they got their guy and couldn't believe X was available in the 2nd round.
If "How does this pick negatively affect Team X?" enters the Crew's thinking at all when they're deciding which player to take, they're a bunch of clowns who shouldn't be in charge of selecting teams for a playground game of kickball or dodge ball. Anything beyond "How does this player make us better?" is worthless.
After reading up on some of the top guys in the draft here's my wishlist: -Steve Birnbaum, CB All-around solid CB who is 'MLS-ready.' -AJ Cochran, CB (GA) Big CB who is 'The most dominant player in the air this year' has good feet and can play long balls effectively. Apparently he's a hard worker who's committed to improving (gotta love those Midwest boys). -Pedro Ribeiro, F/M/D 6'4 CM, sounds like Tchani with a better soccer mind and a more defensive ability. The biggest knock on him is that he isn't very fast. -Patrick Mullins, F Prolific college goalscorer who understands the game well and can obviously finish well. College forwards are hit or miss, but he has to be better than Schoenfeld, right?
"He [Gregg] said, 'We know what positions are successful and what positions aren’t successful as far as getting players from this draft.'" So we aren't drafting a forward.
Word on Twitter is that the Revs are close to acquiring the #4 pick from the Crew. Unsure of what the return would be.