WVHooligan - Soccer Blog

With next Wednesday’s expansion draft coming up fast, I have gone through each club and made a list of 11 players that I think each club will protect from San Jose. Most clubs will protect valuable veteran and young players, which is really a no brainier.

This is the eastern conference side of things. I had to split this up since it was such a long list of names from each club with reason why I think they will be protected. So hang in with me here. The western conference list will be up shortly following this as well. At the bottom will be the seven names that I think could be drafted next week by San Jose. They only have to pick 11 (only one from each club) too.

Read yesterday’s post about the rules and information to see how some of these names were placed on this list.

Feel free to add who you think will be gone from these clubs at the bottom as well. Or if I missed a name that you think should be protected let me know!

Now on to the list:

Chicago Fire:

1. Blanco – DP, must protect
2. Wilman Conde – way to valuable to expose
3. Justin Mapp – another guy, when healthy is really good
4. Dasan Robinson – good young option, should protect
5. Chris Rolfe – best attacking option that they have
6. Gonzalo Segares – good defending international, will protect I think
7. Ivan Guererro – no reason to expose him
8. Logan Pause – good young player, need to keep him on board
9. Calen Carr – would be a good pickup for an expansion club
10. Bakary Soumare – number 2 pick from last year, probably will protect him
11. CJ Brown – hard and soul of the defense

Won’t be protected:
Chad Barrett
Diego Gutierrez
Matt Pickens (out of contract and no sure bet to sign)
Pablo Wanchope

Columbus Crew:
1. Schelotto – Any reason to not put him on this list?
2. Jason Garey – still has a strong future with the Crew
3. Eddie Gaven – probably a real no brainier here
4. Ned Grabavoy – just like Gaven I think no need to dump him off to someone else
5. Leonard Griffin – strong defender, I like his future really
6. Frankie Hejduk – can you even see the Crew without Frankie? I can’t.
7. Wil Hesmer – became the number 1 keeper midway through the season, strong future ahead for him as well
8. Chad Marshall – another defender I would keep
9. Alejandro Moreno – the best striker option that the Crew have…
10. Rusty Pierce – another key to the Crew’s future
11. Danny O’Rourke – almost forgot Danny here…gotta keep him I think

DC United:
1. Troy Perkins: One of the better keepers in MLS, rescued United in several games, but also conceded a few soft goals.
2. Marc Burch: became one of my new favorites this season…
3. Devon McTavish: Good, young player who can play several roles.
4. Clyde Simms – good, young player who should be protected
5. Bryan Namoff: United’s best defender over the course of a long season, secured the right back slot.
6. Ben Olsen: Heart and soul of the club, had a great season too.
7. Fred: Excellent acquisition, needed time to adjust to role on the flank. Seems happy in America.
8. Christian Gomez: Probably will be protected though I think may be on the way out this winter…
9. Luciano Emilio: MLS leading scorer. Enough said. Unless he desperately wants to go back overseas, he will return.
10. Jaime Moreno: Probably will be protected though I wonder if he will return to DC next season as a supporting role kind of player and not a starter.
11. Guy-Roland Kpene: Young player I think they will protect

Vanney will be exposed and probably picked up I think by San Jose…valuable defender with a locker room leadership role that the club will need starting out with.

Kansas City:
1. Davy Arnaud – one of their best midfielders
2. Jose Burciaga Jr. – at times their best defender, at times their worst
3. Eloy Colombano – young international that I think will be fine
4. Jimmy Conrad – heart and soul of the team
5. Nick Garcia – another veteran that they need to keep
6. Kevin Hartman – solid keeper still, though a little past his prime I think
7. Eddie Johnson – even though I think he will leave to go to England, he will be protected
8. Scott Sealy – with Johnson on the out I think they would be dumb to expose him
9. Michael Harrington – rookie of the year for this club, showed a lot of talent in his first season
10. Sasha Victorine – big reason why the Wizards made the playoffs I think
11. Kerry Zavagnin – another solid leader in the defense, must protect

That leaves only really one name that will stand out to some and that is Carlos Marinelli. Clubs must leave one international unprotected and I think with Johnson on the out they have to keep Sealy and Columbano. Marinelli showed at times he was able to handle the playing time and showed flashes of his skill but a lot of the time he looked lost in the midfield and never really lived up to anything that we thought he would be for the Wizards.

New York:
1. Juan Pablo Angel – I shouldn’t even have to write anything here.
2. Jozy Altidore – Too big of a name to expose, but I am sure the rumors will be surrounding him going to Europe this winter
3. Dane Richards – Too good to let go
4. Hunter Freeman – Just about the only defense the Red Bulls had this season
5. Jeff Parke – Too much upside to expose
6. Seth Stammler – Would be a steal in some minds if he were exposed
7. Jon Conway – the only keeper option this club has, cannot expose him
8. Dave Van Den Bergh – with the highs and lows you have to keep him
9. Carlos Mendes – along with Freeman, he was part of the defense that actually worked
10. Dema Kovalenko – love him or hate him, you gotta keep him
11. Fransic Doe – I think the Red Bulls have to keep this young player, I think the rules will allow him to stay protected but if not, they shouldn’t expose him

This list would leave the following players exposed:
Claudio Reyna, John Wolyniec, Clint Mathis, Mike Magee, Sinisa Ubiparipovic, Chris Leitch, Kevin Goldthwaite, Santino Quaranta.

New England Revolution:

1. Matt Reis – One of the best keepers, no need here
2. Adam Cristman – great young striker here
3. Pat Noonan – When healthy he is too good to let go
4. Steve Ralston – Why expose the league’s all-time assist king?
5. Jeff Larentowicz – solid midfielder
6. Michael Parkhurst – league’s best defender, have to protect him even if he could be on his way out to Fulham
7. James Riley – good young player
8. Khano Smith – solid option off the bench would be a great expansion pick up
9. Taylor Twellman – yeah, like they would even take the risk of exposing him
10. Shalrie Joseph – see Twellman
11. Wells Thompson – another young player that is too valuable to expose

Quakes can take Andy Dorman if they think he’ll sign there. Veteran defenders are available in Heaps, Franchino, and Leonard, but I think Heaps’ contract would deter his selection and Franchino and Leonard aren’t exactly superstars.

Toronto FC:
1. Jim Brennan – Aside from Maurice Edu, the most stable part of this club week in and week out.
2. Carl Robinson – strong leader that just fits that club’s mold.
3. Marvell Wynne – Toronto needs defense, better defense and Wynne can at least give them more than he did this season.
4. Jeff Cunningham – may have lost a step this season but getting a healthy Cunningham next season is what TFC needs
5. Ronnie O’Brien – along with Edu, is and should be the face of this club. Has to get healthy though for this club to see any success next season
6. Danny Dichio – loved watching this guy play up top for the Reds this season, true force up there.
7. Chris Pozniak – they need all the Canadians that they can get and Pozinak is one of their better ones
8. Andrew Boyens – once he eliminates his mistakes in the back he will become a pretty solid defender for this club.
9. Srdjan Djekanovic – I liked this kid more than any other keeper that TFC got this season, real future I think in the back for this kid
10. Maurice Edu – Do I even need to explain? Though he could be on his way out before long…I’ve heard rumors of Aston Villa courting him…
11. Andrea Lombardo – young player with a real bright future

So from this list of players I think the few that could be selected are:
Andy Dorman (NE)
Gregg Vanney (DC)
Carlos Marinelli (KC)
Kevin Goldthwaite (NY)
Chad Barrett (CHI)
Robbie Rogers (CREW)
Tyrone Marshall (TOR)

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