WVHooligan - Soccer Blog

We all knew this draft would be interesting. After seeing San Jose trade away the number one pick for a player that many think wasn’t worthy enough for a number one pick, we all figured this draft would be crazy. And it kinda was really.

Seeing players like Patrick Nyarko slip (to number 7) and Eric Avila to the second round was surprising.

Anyways, I wanted to run down each club and give a little grading summary for each and give you all my thoughts on how everyone did in yesterday’s draft.

Chicago Fire (6 picks overall): I thought the Fire had a decent shot at coming out of this draft with plenty to smile about. But getting Nyarko was a huge steal for the Fire because it gives Blanco a good, quick target up top and it will put some pressure on Chris Rolfe and Chad Barrett to step their game up this season. I like the Cervi and it was a real no-brainier since Matt Pickens is likely on his way out of town. I also like they grabbing Peter Lowry in the second round, lots of value in that kid. Getting Stephen King in the third round may be one of the real steals of the entire draft.

WVH Draft Grade: A-

Chivas USA (1 pick overall): To be honest I have nothing on the kid Chivas picked in the forth round and I wonder if they did either. They’ve been making trades and they dealt away all their picks before the draft leaves me to only give them an Incomplete here.

WVH Draft Grade: Incomplete

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Colorado Rapids (4 picks overall): I must say seeing them pass on Nyarko was a shock to me and then seeing them get O’Brien tells me that they are going to be shipping Pablo Mastroeni out of town as soon as possible. They did address one area that they need to and that was their midfield and they also got a little bit younger on defense. Not the best drafts but probably not the worst for Fernando Clavijo’s group.

WVH Draft Grade: D-

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Columbus Crew (4 picks overall): Same with the Crew, not getting Nyarko was a shock but I like seeing them get Iro, even more since he will actually play in Columbus and not test the English waters like previously thought. Don’t know much about the two forwards that they got after Iro but obviously they were addressing their biggest needs after Iro, scoring. Also trading for the kid from Lee was a gamble but you never know about those small school kids, they could be a steal and they could be a waste.

WVH Draft Grade: C

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DC United (3 picks overall): Hard to grade someone like DC who really didn’t need to pick anyone and only had to pick three guys overall. Jacobson is a good pick first because it fills some gaps in the middle for United. Corderio was a nice pick up too. I doubt he will start but coming off the bench he could be a good sub for the Black-and-Red this season.

WVH Draft Grade: C+

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FC Dallas (7 picks overall): The Hoops getting Brek Shea at number two was a big of a shock for me since I thought they’d grab him up at number eight. Still, the kid is good. I also knew Dallas would get as many Generation adidas players as possible and they did, they took three in the first three picks. I loved getting Avila in the second round and drafting Josh Lambo at number eight was a shocker but a wise move since he is so young. Good trade bait for the Hoops. Dallas then addresses some needs here and there, it will be interesting to see which players stick and which don’t out of this bunch but I think the Hoops had a solid draft with their first three picks. All three are great projects and none will count against the salary cap this year.

WVH Draft Grade: B+

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Houston Dynamo (2 picks overall): Another hard team to grade, especially since they didn’t draft until late but I did like seeing a friend of the Hooligan to in the third round in Geoff Cameron. Good kid and a solid pick for the Orange. Houston did what they could with where they drafted too, adding depth to their midfield was smart, plus they really had no other options to pick at those times. No strikers were there to get that were worth getting so they played it safe and smart.

WVH Draft Grade: B-

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Kansas City Wizards (6 picks overall): I have to say I like what the Wizards did. Many thought they would go with Nyarko at number one with the potential loss of Eddie Johnson looming over their heads but what did they do, they went very defensive in this draft and it started with Chance Myers at number one. Honestly, I like the draft for KC because they concentrated hard on what was their biggest weakness last year, their defense. Sure they may not be able to score much this year if Johnson leaves but their defense should be able to protect Kevin Hartman better this season.

WVH Draft Grade: B

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LA Galaxy (6 picks overall): Lots of areas to work on for the Galaxy and they did just that with all the picks that they had. First trading Chris Albright was a good move to dump some cap space and then getting some allocation in return was smart. They got defenders here and there and took a chance on a couple forwards. Not horrible but not the most impressive thing considering the amount of picks. I did like them trading a pick for allocation too though, they need more money to be able to appear to come under the cap this season.

WVH Draft Grade: B-

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New England Revolution (5 picks overall): Three Duke players, man, Steve Nicol loves the ACC and with good reason. New England did what they needed to do, add some depth in the back and in the midfield. Three midfielders and two solid defenders in this draft and you gotta think one of these kids will be another stand-out pick for Nicol and the Revs. Valentino may be that guy.

WVH Draft Grade: A-

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New York Red Bulls (3 picks overall): The Red Bulls draft tells me that they will be dealing for foreign players in the coming days/weeks because this draft wasn’t anything special for Juan Carlos Osorio and bunch. I did like that they didn’t take a gamble on a forward in this bunch. Two defenders and a midfielder to add some depth to a defense that was pretty bad last year and a midfield that was hurt with injuries. Not bad really but I think we would have seen more if they had the chance to make a serious play for a first round pick.

WVH Draft Grade: C-

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San Jose Earthquakes (1 pick overall): Much like Chivas, it is hard to grade only one pick. Yallop didn’t like this draft group so he traded most of his picks away for proven players. He must be in the market for a forward or three now after this draft. Getting Salinas wasn’t a total shock but it really what I thought they’d do there.

WVH Draft Grade: Incomplete

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Toronto FC (5 picks overall): I loved the first three picks. James will start next year, Phelan will most likely come off the bench if not start a good bit, and Zaher could also start as well. And trading for the 28th pick wasn’t a bad idea either considering they got a pretty solid keeper out of the deal with LA. But then going way out on a limb and taking Joesph Lapiria, a pick most didn’t want to make but Mo Johnston waited until the end to do so. Its a pure gamble but Mo knows that and that’s probably why he did it. If Lapiria comes to Toronto to play then he will probably start, if he doesn’t then it was a nice try by Mo.

WVH Draft Grade: B+

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UPDATE: here is RSL’s…thanks for the catch

Real Salt Lake (4 overall picks) – I was a bit shocked at the Beltran pick but I think it will work for RSL. They addresses some needs and I do like the Nimo pick since he will be a long term project. Still I think they could have done better with the positions that they picked in. We will see about Beltran but for now I am not a huge fan of this draft for RSL. Also the last pick in the first round they really should have taken Eric Avila, for why they passed on him twice I will never know why.

WVH Draft Grade: C-

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