Gosh I love this series. It's absolutely one of the best video series that MLSSoccer.com does
each year. Enjoy.
Tyler Polak's impressive resume should help ease his transition to the pros. (Photo Credit: Andy
Mead / MLSsoccer.com)
If Tyler Polak finds himself in the starting line-up on opening day at San Jose, the 19-year-old
should hardly be caught wide-eyed. The New England Revolution's second round draft pick has already
faced Major League Soccer competition in a meaningful match and trained with several professional
clubs.
Hunter Jumper Selected 28th Overall by Chicago Fire in MLS
SuperDraft Cavalier defender was a second-team all-region pick in
2011CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Virginia defender Hunter Jumper (Sr., Plano, Texas) was selected by the
Chicago Fire Thursday in the second round of the Major League Soccer SuperDraft, held in Kansas
City, Mo.
The 2012 MLS SuperDraft has come and gone. With only two rounds this year, the draft flew by
like never before. There were no trades during the draft to make it interesting and overall, there
weren't too many surprises.
I figured I would give it almost a day before I came back with my draft grades.
Photo: Courtesy of the Philadelphia Union
It's the MLS Superdraft/WPS Draft edition of the KYW Philly Soccer Show!
In part one, KYW's Greg Orlandini, along with Philly Soccer Page writers Eli
Pearlman-Storch and Mike Servedio, are joined by Philadelphia Daily News writer Kerith Gabriel from
the SuperDraft in Kansas City to discuss the Philadelphia Union's newest members, forward Chandler
Hoffman, midfielder Greg Jordan, and defender Raymon Gaddis.
Tyler Polak could fill the Revs need at left back. (Photo Credit: Andy Mead / MLSsoccer.com)
With the 2012 MLS SuperDraft now in the books, the writers at New England Soccer Today handed
out their grades for the New England Revolution's 2012 draft performance. The Revs selected UCLA
midfielder Kelyn Rowe with the third overall pick and Creighton defender Tyler Polak with the 22nd
overall pick.
Four player with ties to New England were taken in Thursday's MLS SuperDraft.
Defender Andrew Jean-Baptiste (Connecticut), defender Aaron Maund (Dorchester, Mass.),
midfielder Tony Cascio (Connecticut) and forward Luckymore Mkosana (Dartmouth) all had their names
called at the Kansas City Convention Center.
The New England Revolution selected defender Tyler Polak from Creighton with the 22nd overall
pick of the 2012 MLS SuperDraft. (Photo Credit: Andy Mead / MLSsoccer.com)
Seeking to address its defensive shortcomings, the Revolution turned its attention to the rear
by selecting Tyler Polak with the 22nd overall pick in the SuperDraft.
D.C. United has used the number seven overall selection in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft to select Nick
DeLeon a midfielder out of Louisville.
DeLeon will look to join forces with the rest of the young United squad and hopefully contribute
quickly as the Red and Black are looking to return to the MLS playoffs this season.
The last time the Revs had a top 3 pick in the draft, they took a 21-year-old named Taylor
Twellman in 2002.
Ten years later, Jay Heaps and Co. hope that they landed a similar talent in Kelyn Rowe, who
was selected with the third pick in Thursday's SuperDraft in Kansas City.
Rowe, a creative midfielder out of UCLA, will be be counted upon to revitalize an attack that
was nearly non-existent for many stretches last season.
Duke's Wenger heads to Montreal. (Photo via Duke Athletic Department)
After some back and forth this morning, the Montreal Impact held on to their number one pick and
took Duke defender/midfielder Andrew Wenger.
Wenger should come in right away and be a starter for this expansion club.
Kenny Cooper is moving east to New York. (Getty Images)
The draft day is here and the trades are starting to come in. This one, thanks to Fox Soccer,
says that the Portland Timbers and the New York Red Bulls have struck a deal.
New York will acquire Portland Timbers forward Kenny Cooper.
PSP will be updating this page with each team's pick as they happen in today's SuperDraft.
Page will auto-refresh every 2 minutes with updates.
Check out PSP's pre-draft coverage examining possible Union selections and local players in
this year's SuperDraft.
Round 1 Pick # MLS team Player Position College 1 Montreal Impact 2 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 3 New
England Revolution 4 Toronto FC 5 Chivas USA 6 San Jose Earthquakes 7 D.
Philadelphia Union assistant coach John Hackworth spoke to reporters via conference call on
Wednesday night ahead of today's SuperDraft. He discussed the Union's approach to the Players
Combine, the possibility of trades, particularly for an international spot, and how the Union are
in a different position going into the 2012 SuperDraft compared to 2010 and 2011.
Another link from a story I did for FC Dallas this week. And yes, another mock draft. Here are a
few names that I could see the red stripes selecting tomorrow with their lone pick. Let's see if I
get one of these right this year though with this news, the club could be looking at someone
else.
Oh SuperDraft Eve. You have to love the excitement surrounding a draft.
So many things can happen though between now and tomorrow afternoon. Teams will be wheeling and
dealing all night in hopes of either moving up in the draft, finding some decent talent outside the
draft in a trade, or just hoping that the one special player you've had your eye on since December
is still available.
Photo: Paul Rudderow
Philadelphia Union
Tweet from SBI: "I'm told Philadelphia Union midfielder Michael Farfan will be heading to
England for a training stint with Premier League side Sunderland." As of this writing, we are
waiting for confirmation from the Union about this report.
It's the biggest excuse to throw a mid-winter party in MLS: the SuperDraft. The annual
gathering of coaches, executives and personnel directors all huddled under one roof to select the
next crop of can't-miss collegiate prospects.
Sure, it may be a crapshoot. For every Steve Shak, there's a Nick Rimando.
Thursday's SuperDraft will be here before we know it. I'll be fairly busy with the day job over
the next day and a half but I did want to get this up today. With one final day of the Combine,
teams are hoping to fill as many holes in this draft as they possibly can. Some teams will only get
one shot at it (FC Dallas) while others have a few chances to add depth (Toronto).
Coming off its worst season on record, there's no doubt that the Revolution will have to
maximize every available opportunity to help them get back to respectability. After selecting
three established MLS players during last month's Re-entry Draft, their next chance to bolster the
roster arrives on Thursday with the SuperDraft.
Photo: Nicolae Stoian
Philadelphia Union
Reaction to the release of the 2012 schedule:
The Goalkeeper notes that the Union is hosting New York and DC twice. "This strikes me as unfair
from a competitive balance standpoint...As such, it would seem to me to make more sense to have
each team host one team once and one team twice.
The MLS Combine starts this afternoon and the four teams have been released. Below is where
everyone will be playing with this weekend.
adiZero
Coach: Barlow
Last First Pos. School/Note Meara Ryan GK Fordham Singh Shawn LB UCLA Rodriguez Charles CB
Charlotte Bates Mykell RB Santa Calra Maund Aaron CB ND Walker Kenney DM Louisville Ubierna
Benjamin DMF Youth International Creavalle Warren CM UCF Ibarra Miguel CM UC Irvine Martinez Enzo
CM GA / UNC Cascio Tony FWD UCONN James Evan Mid/Fwd Charlotte Rolfe Colin FWD Louisville Ownby
Brian FWD UVA Frimpong Evans FWD Delaware Bonfigli Emiliano MF Youth International Dwyer Dom FWD
GA/USF adiPower
Coach: Cirovski
Last First Pos.
It isn't every day that a bright young player like Junior Flores comes around. Major League
Soccer knows it and is trying desperately to add him to their 2012 Generation adidas class.
Reports from the Washington Post say that the league has already offered Flores a lucrative GA
contract, one likely to be on the high end of those deals signed in this class.
Enzo Martinez has signed with MLS. (Photo via UNC Athletics)
The Generation adidas class for 2012 is nearly complete. UNC midfielder Enzo Martinez has signed
his GA deal with the league but his former Tar Heel teammate Billy Schuler declined his offer from
the league to go to Europe.
Reports out of Sweden say that Hammarby IF (yes, Greg Berhalter's new club) is close to signing
the Tar Heel to a deal.
It is the week of the MLS Combine, which means it is time for one final mock draft before things
get real interesting here.
I debated long and hard over the New Year weekend on whether or not to post this before the
Combine or wait for the Combine to take place. What I decided to do was just to post this now and
then have one final mock draft after the Combine.
Kelyn Rowe signs his MLS deal. (Photo via UCLA athletics)
The 2012 Generation adidas class is a little more than half way there. Before Christmas we had
Darren Mattocks (Akron), Chandler Hoffman (UCLA), Andrew Wenger (Duke) and Sam Garza (UCSB) sign
their GA deals with the league. It appears one more can be added to that list in the form of UCLA
midfielder Kelyn Rowe.
The 2012 MLS SuperDraft just got a little better. Fox Soccer's Ives Galarcep is reporting that
the league has secured deals with two of the top prospects in this year's draft in Akron striker
Darren Mattocks and Duke midfielder/defender Andrew Wenger.
Mattocks was rumored to go to Europe over the last couple weeks.
The time is here. One of my favorite things to do each year as most of you know is talk about
the SuperDraft and even do a couple mock drafts to get ready for it next month. Hard to believe but
we are less than a month out of the draft in Kansas City.
This draft will be interesting, that much is already certain with top names like Darren Mattocks
and Billy Schuler attacking attention from clubs overseas.
Another top striker considering skipping MLS for the prizes in Europe? It sure seems that way.
According to Soccer By Ives, Akron sophomore Darren Mattocks is considering to pass on the proposed
Generation adidas deal that the league is offering him to go to Europe.
The Jamaican-born striker is said to be fielding offers from clubs in Sweden, Norway and
Denmark.
Major League Soccer today announced the initial list of 52 college seniors from 31 Division I
schools who have been invited to participate in the 2012 adidas MLS Player Combine. The annual
player combine will be held in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Jan. 6-10.
These players will be joined by Generation adidas players, international invitees, additional
collegiate players from NCAA Division II and III schools, NAIA schools, and Division I
alternates.
It's still early but the draft boards are heating up. (Getty Images)
For the last few months I've been working on a list of players that could be available for next
month's 2012 MLS SuperDraft. Naturally a lot can and will happen between today's post and the
draft. Players could stay in school, go elsewhere in the soccer world or just decide to hang their
boots up for good.
Duke's Andrew Wenger stands to be one of the top prospects in this year's SuperDraft. (Photo via
Duke Athletic Department)
I know I've been slacking on my college coverage as of late. But have no fear, my SuperDraft
items will really start to kick up in the coming weeks with the start of the NCAA tournament next
week.
Photo: Nicolae Stoian
Union in the playoffs
Houston's 3–1 win over LA Galaxy on Sunday night means the Philadelphia Union finish third
place in the Eastern Conference behind Kansas City in first and Houston in second. The Union will
host Houston at PPL Park on Sunday, October 30 in the first game of a two-game Eastern Conference
semifinal playoff series.
