Heh. That's not what he said on his blog today. Called him a left back during the draft. Waffler. As if our midfield wasn't lopsided already? This does not bode well for Columbano. And where will Arnaud play now? PS If this is, as I suspect, a rebuilding year I'm all for it. Yeah bring in reasonably priced transfers just so we don't end up buried bottom of the table, but loading up on kids now shows some vision imo.
From kcwizards.com about the six picks A few quotes: first about Myers and Espinoza about Myers Interesting one here as it seems that both Myers and Espinoza will be playing on the wing... About Leathers Marquess and McKenzie Seems the only thing to say about Yomby William was:
This years draft didnt have a dominant player to really choose from. Was hoping to get Nyarko, by far the best of the lot. Im just worried were the goals will come from. Hopefully we can drop some cash on a vet. goal scorer. Since we are scouring all of Argentina for players, "El loco" Martin Palermo anyone? PS. Did anyone notice the player Pat Phelan (Toro fc)? Dead ringer for Alexi Lalas's lost love child!
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/wizards/story/451299.html The article in this morning's paper mentions Colombano re-signing, and hinted that he may play forward along with Trujillo (article mentions they have agreed to terms and are awaiting final paperwork on both players). I wonder how long Davy is going to be out.....
If we sign Trujillo, and Sealy is healthy, we just might have a nice attacking force. Side-tangent: I REALLY want to see Sealy healthy and just come out and rip up the field. I've always liked him. He's got very very good positioning skills and just always finds the right spot to clean up the scrap goals. He's always had solid production and I really think given a whole season he'd be a contender for the golden boot.
was it finger dyslexia or some sort of freudian slip that almost made you type "finance" i'm just going to wait and see what happens... it looks like the team's going to be pretty different, though.
Agreed. I have always liked Sealy, when healthy is a very good forward. He works hard most of the time and seems to be in the right place at the right time which is a hidden art when being a forward.
He was really rusty coming off his injury last year, but by the end of the year he was giving us some real quality play. I don't have many worries about him up front.
I worry about Sealy. Not that I don't think that he can rack up some goals. Rather that he can rack em up an entire season. I can see him getting injured again, and again. Drafting an entire defense of rookies is a conservative move. On any given draft you are going to get two guys who will have a career in soccer. I remember a season when we drafted and started two backs. We set them on either side of a USMNT Word Cup player, in a 3 man back line. We went on to win the double that year. Shore up the defense in the draft and sign and trade for attackers.
Couldn't agree more Matt. Defenders in MLS are less prone to moving across to Europe. Draft them and you can have them usually as long as you want, and they become the foundation for your team (as you mentioned we've done before). Now, build these young defenders around Conrad and Hartman who will provide leadership. Then fill in the attacking spots with signings/trades. I hate to see investment in young attackers in the draft because usually the higher picks that are attackers don't stay in MLS long. I agree with the Wizards approach, now we just have to make sure that we're choosing the right players to sign in the next couple of weeks.
Actually Prideaux was a second year player, and while Vermes was a World Cup player, he played forward at the World Cup. I don't think teams get to wrapped up in "filling holes" with the draft. The draft is all about potential, salary cap management, and scouting. Very few draftees immediately fill holes. With all the salary cap space and allocation money on hand, the Wizards have other avenues to fill their attacking holes. I've always been in the camp that thinks teams should draft the best player available at that spot - regardless of position.
My friend Matt Hoff, who was a 4 year starter at Harvard is working out for a couple of MLS teams this week (I know one of them is New England). As a Missouri guy, I think we should bring him in here for a look. He is an attacking mid/forward and could at least provide us with some depth.
Soooo... Supplemental Draft is on Thursday. Is there anyone left in the college pool that might be a good grab?
Onalfo on 810 yesterday afternoon mentioned that all 6 of our draft picks were in the top 11 players on the team's draft board. (And that he had Myers & Espinoza ranked at 1 & 2, respectively.) Clearly, Onalfo's draft rankings were unique(?) compared to the rest of the league. I guess we'll know in a few months if he's a genius or a loon.
Well, I never really take the post-draft justification stuff all that seriously. Everyone always has their guys up at the top and can't believe they lasted that long.
Maybe Xavier Balc who was a highly ranked forward (#2 according to ESPN); he's 6'1 or 6'2 guy from Ohio State . Reading Ives' column he's not sure why he wasn't picked up (bad combine? out of shape?) I'd like to see what he could do for us since we can use a strong player up front.
There are a few rumors I've heard as to why he wasn't picked, including that he's going to Europe. The other is that he's just going to be too slow to play at the MLS level.
56 times or 67, not a lot of difference. Of the Ohio State players in the draft, I would consider Brunner the safe pick and Espinoza the high risk/high reward pick. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't touch Latchem, but Balc will get a chance somewhere.
supplemental draft results http://hillcrestroad.blogspot.com/2008/01/supplemental-draft.html Although apparently our second round pick has already signed with Vancouver. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=13711901