http://www.socceramerica.com/article.asp?Art_ID=562133312 COLLEGE: Soccer America Top 25 men's recruits (2003) 6/4/2003 11:55:00 PM 1 Ramon Nunez (Dallas) M SMU 2 Corey Ashe (Virginia Beach, Va.) F/M North Carolina 3 Brandon Owens (Murietta, Calif.) D UCLA 4 Will Hall (Shirley, N.Y.) M Virginia 5 Brad Guzan (Lockport, Ill.) G South Carolina 6 Adrian Chevannes (Fort Worth, Texas) D Clemson 7 Jed Zayner (Orland Park, Ill.) D Indiana 8 Simon Omekanda (Rochester Hills, Mich.) F Penn State 9 Nate Norman (Rochester, Mich.) F/M Notre Dame 10 Marcus Ryan (Littleton, Colo.) F/M Stanford 11 Phil Marfuggi (Manalpan, N.J.) G Clemson 12 Chad Barrett (Beaverton, Ore.) F UCLA 13 Andrew Kartunen (S.J. Capistrano, Calif.) G Stanford 14 John DiRaimondo (St. Louis.) M Saint Louis 15 Greg Dalby (Poway, Calif.) D Notre Dame 16 Jose Gomez (Inglewood, Calif.) M UCLA 17 Adam Cristman (Glen Allen, Va.) F Virginia 18 Vedad Ibisevic (St. Louis) F Saint Louis 19 Jacob Peterson (Portage, Mich.) F Indiana 20 Jamie Watson (Coppell, Texas) F North Carolina 21 Kyle Helton (Alpharetta, Ga.) D Duke 22 Ryan Guy (San Diego) D/M San Diego 23 Michael Harrington (Greenville, N.C.) M/F North Carolina 24 Georgios Spanos (West Islip, N.Y.) F/M St. John's 25 Eric Vogl (Fayetteville, Ga.) D Furman
The only one I've seen play is DiRaimondo and I wouldn't say he's MLS quality. He didn't seem head and shoulders above the other players.
I've seen Guzan and Zayner. Zayner has no problems playing at the highest level of youth competition, but it's hard to say whether or not that translates into professional success right now. He will be able to play professionally in the future, but I can't make an intelligent opinion as I have never seen him play against adults. It's much easier to tell whether or not a youth goalie can play professionally. Guzan can. Other than Tim Howard there is no goalie in the MLS that I would say is far superior to him. There are those that are better, and I wouldn't say he's much better than any MLS goalie. He is, however, as good as a handful of them.
How old is Guzan and is he clearly better than Marfuggi? I find it hard to believe that this kid is as good as some MLS goalkeepers (OK, he can't be worse than Scott Vallow or Jon Coway). Saying that only Timmy is head and shoulders above him is to say that a freshman in college is on par with Adin Brown, Nick Rimando, Zach Thornton, Tony Meola D.J. Countess and Pat Onstad. I find that VERY hard to believe. If that were true how would he not land a good contract somewhere?
Ashe has great speed but could stand to add a few inches in height. He would be a first round draft pick.
Guzan is 18. I've only seen very short clips of Marfuggi so I can't say much about that. I never said he was on par with Adin Brown, Nick Rimando, etc. I would say his shot blocking ability is near or as good as Zach Thorton, although he doesn't do quite as well on controlling the box on crosses. He is still very good at it though, he's like 6'3" 220. I'd say he's like Zach Thorton but a little more agile, but not as dominating. He does play with the u-18 national team at times if that means anything.
Ashe a first round pick in 2004? Possibly, but he would be the only one from this group that would fall into that category. There will be some good talent in the upcoming draft. Chad Marshall, Freddy Adu and Danny Szetela are other players who would be first-rounders if they were available. If Freddy is made available I can't wait to see the D.C. United-Colorado games to see if D.C. will outright throw those games to assure themselves of the top pick. At the rate they're going they may not even have to throw games. LOL
More than likely Freddy won't be in the draft. He is not expected to sign until after he finishes high school next June, so he'd either have to be acquired as an allocation of go into a special weighted lottery. (insert Metros conspiracy joke here). More than likely, DC will have to use an allocation to get him (Etch retirement or "you suck" - missing playoffs again). Or, if a lottery is held and DC doesn't win, we'd have to trade a good young player (Quaranta or Esky) for him.
I haven't seen any of these players, but I think its pretty hard to tell who will stick in MLS, and even harder to say who will contribute in a meaningful. How many of us would have guessed that Jim Curtin would be a starter? Or that Steve Shak would be out of the league? Or that Albright would be the laughing stock he is? Way too many variables to accurately say...
Right on Scoey! Scoey has identified the issue. In America young players are totally untested. Even the best youth/college players have never played with or against a side of equally talented players. Most are athletic but few are soccer skilled (touch, vision, creativity, etc.). Selecting the cream of the crop from these untried players is a crap shoot. Few 1st picks, 1st rounders, etc. make their mark in MLS. There have been more lemons than sweet players drafted!
I've been only enthusiastic about how much playing time young players are getting, but Mike Woitalla makes a great point here: http://www.socceramerica.com/article.asp?Art_ID=562133281 Who has that list of playing-age MLS retirees, like McKeown? There are certainly some quality, experienced players getting cut out of the deal for commanding middle-range salaries. At some point, it hurts the quality of play. If I want to go see a college game, I'll go see a college game.