Sigi Schmid is seen here getting pneumonia when bringing the MLS Cup to Seattle via a freezing
Bainbridge Island ferry Thursday with Sounders Technical Director Chris Henderson in a publicity
stunt. (AP Photo).
Among the best reasons to attend an MLS Cup if you're a journalist are the rumors, gossip,
agents telling lies in hopes of getting clients work and rank and file folks jockeying for
jobs.
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Hey everyone, have a little Saturday morning update for you courtesy of scaryice -- who tipped
me off to these stories via email. Here we go...
Nyarko Graduating Generation Adidas?
According to this post on Climbing the Ladder, Patrick Nyarko could be graduating from the
Generation Adidas program.
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Time to revisit my projections for the last time. Who will be available for the Philadelphia Union
to select? The rules were announced recently, and they're exactly the same as the past few
drafts.
The following players should graduate from Generation Adidas status: Alston, Beltran, Frei,
Gonzalez, Hall, Nyarko, Wallace, Zakuani, and Zayner.
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WVHooligan 20 November @ 01:56 PM EST
Toronto will certainly protect their stars but who won't be protected? (Getty Images)
The 15h and final club in our expansion draft speculation lists is Toronto FC. Yesterday they
announced Preki as their new head coach and his first big task will be helping General Manager Mo
Johnston with figuring out who to protect and who to leave exposed in the expansion draft.
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WVHooligan 20 November @ 11:49 AM EST
We can't imagine Fredy Montero will be left exposed, who will join him in the protected list?
(Getty Images)
Only a couple more clubs left to preview here for the expansion draft. Now we turn our attention
to a previous expansion club, one that has set the standard for all expansion clubs to come, the
Seattle Sounders FC.
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WVHooligan 20 November @ 06:35 AM EST
Will San Jose lose one of their players in the expansion draft? (Getty Images)
Today is the final day in our expansion draft coverage/speculation/etc. as we look at three
clubs. First up this morning is the San Jose Earthquakes. Later on today I will have Seattle
Sounders FC and Toronto FC to round out the lists.
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Yesterday we learned the rules for this year's expansion draft, where the Philadelphia Union will
select 10 players from the 15 current MLS teams to help to begin their process for building their
roster. The Wizards are allowed to protect 11 players and 3 of the team's 4 international players
will have to be protected.
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Yesterday, MLS released the rules for next week's expansion draft to help Philadelphia select their
first 10 players. We must turn in our list of protected players Monday at 2 p.m. CT. Who do you
think will make the list? Who would you protect?
Last season we lost Tyson Wahl to Seattle. The list of all players we have lost in expansion drafts
is shown below.
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WVHooligan 19 November @ 03:59 PM EST
RSL made it to MLS Cup this year, but who will they protect for another run in 2010? (Getty
Images)
Our second club for the day as we get closer to finishing out our look at each 15 MLS clubs
before next week's expansion draft. Earlier in the day we took a look at the lowly New York Red
Bulls, now we turn our attention to one of this year's MLS Cup participants, Real Salt Lake.
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As the MLS season winds towards the end, the excitement continues to build in Philadelphia. On
November 25, the Union will continue to take shape as the expansion draft takes place. The first
players in Philadelphia Union history will come off the books of ten other clubs.
MLS released the specific rules that the other MLS clubs must follow when they make players
available for Peter Nowak and his staff to select.
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As the MLS season winds towards the end, the excitement continues to build in Philadelphia. On
November 25, the Union will continue to take shape as the expansion draft takes place. The first
players in Philadelphia Union history will come off the books of ten other clubs.
MLS released the specific rules that the other MLS clubs must follow when they make players
available for Peter Nowak and his staff to select.
Click to continue reading...
Getting off the topic of the "Hauptman Letter Debate" for a minute, some important info came out
today regarding next Wednesday's MLS expansion draft. Here's the info, per Steve Goff (and
NaperSteve -- who provided the tip):
Philadelphia will select 10 players; current clubs must submit their 11-man protected list by
Monday afternoon; no club will lose more than one player, which means five teams won't lose anyone;
Generation Adidas and home-grown players [(for the Fire that means Baggio Husidic and Patrick
Nyarko] need not be protected; developmental players claimed must be offered a senior contract;
clubs must protect designated players that have no-trade clauses.
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It would be foolish to have too strong an opinion either way on the hiring of the new TFC coach.
What he has done in the past may be a foundation, but right now Preki puts a face on the 2010
season and the countdown has begun.
Positives
-TFC moved quickly and hired a coach before the dust had settled on the season.
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Rolling right along with our grisly task, it's now time to figure out who to protect from the
expansion draft. "What part does this play in an autopsy?" I hear you ask. Well, the guys you
protect are those valuable players at the core of the team...
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WVHooligan 19 November @ 08:49 AM EST
Preki is headed north to Toronto FC. (Getty Images)
Former Chivas USA head coach Preki will be introduced as Toronto FC's fourth head coach.
Preki led Chivas USA to the playoffs in all three seasons he was head coach, but he will be
looking to improve on three first round exits.
With Preki in town you have to believe the Toronto roster may get a little makeover in the
winter months.
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WVHooligan 19 November @ 06:54 AM EST
Juan Pablo Angel will definitely be protected, but who will join him? (Getty Images)
Moving forward yet again on our quest to preview all 15 MLS clubs before the 2009 expansion
draft next week. Today we turn our focus to the New York Red Bulls.
Protected Available Exempt Juan Pablo Angel Danleigh Borman Jeremy Hall Danny Cepero Andrew Boyens
Kevin Goldthwaite Bouna Coundoul Macoumba Kandji Walter Garcia Ernst Oebster Carlos Johnson Mike
Petke Leo Krupnik Dane Richards Carlos Mendes Luke Sassano Matthew Mbuta Seth Stammler Jorge Rojas
Sinisa Ubiparipovic John Wolyniec Nick Zimmerman
Hall should graduate from the GA program, the key word is should.
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Next week, the Philadelphia Union will have their pick of the current MLS teams' unprotected roster
players, today we learned the rules that those teams will use to choose the players that they will
protect. The rules are very similar to the rules that were used last year for the Seattle Sounders
FC draft.
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Photo by ISIphotos.com
Toronto FC has informed its fans, and the Canadian media, that it will reveal its newest head
coach at a press conference on Thursday. You already know who it is.
Former Chivas USA head coach Preki will be introduced as Chivas USA's fourth head coach, and
will have the task of guiding TFC to its first playoff berth in its fourth season of existence.
Click to continue reading...
Photo by ISIphotos.com
Toronto FC has informed its fans, and the Canadian media, that it will reveal its newest head
coach at a press conference on Thursday. You already know who it is.
Former Chivas USA head coach Preki will be introduced as Chivas USA's fourth head coach, and
will have the task of guiding TFC to its first playoff berth in its fourth season of existence.
Click to continue reading...
MLS has released the rules for the draft and they're slightly different from what I listed in my
last post. There appears to be no automatic protection for players on the season-ending injury
list. Only 3 of our internationals need to be protected however. Given that, here is my revised
list:
*GA Players (Automatically protected)
O'Brien
Valentino
*Required 3 Internationals
Baudet
Cummings
Kimura
*Roster (8 spots left)
Casey
Clark
Harvey
LaBrocca
Mastroeni
Moor
Pickens
Smith, if he's expected to make a full recovery, otherwise Palguta
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On Wednesday, Major League Soccer released the rules for the expansion draft that will stock the
Philadelphia Union. The draft is scheduled for Wednesday, November 25th. The club will have ten
rounds to pick players. Teams will have to submit their list of protected players to the League by
Monday at 3pm ET.
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WVHooligan 18 November @ 05:32 PM EST
We know Steve Nicol stands to lose one quality player, who will it be? (Getty Images)
While the rest of the world is waiting for a couple World Cup qualifiers to finish up here we
move forward here with our expansion draft coverage. Earlier in the day we discussed the LA Galaxy,
now we take a gander at the New England Revolution.
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WVHooligan 17 November @ 03:18 PM EST
Jimmy Conrad and Josh Wolff will certainly be protected in the upcoming expansion draft. (WVH
Photo Correspondent Brian Stevens)
Staying with the two-a-day structure for the expansion draft lists, earlier in the day we looked
at the Houston Dynamo now we turn our focus to the Kansas City Wizards.
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Photo by ISIphotos.com
The MLS season is set to end on Sunday after the 2009 MLS Cup, and the MLS Expansion draft is
looming just eight days away, meaning all the teams that need head coaches are about to take part
in one of the most frantic coaching change flurries MLS has ever seen.
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Photo by ISIphotos.com
The MLS season is set to end on Sunday after the 2009 MLS Cup, and the MLS Expansion draft is
looming just eight days away, meaning all the teams that need head coaches are about to take part
in one of the most frantic coaching change flurries MLS has ever seen.
Click to continue reading...
OK, time to get back to a more regular posting schedule. This week I'll hopefully have a season
review, a recap of where the European teams I'm following are, and maybe a new team to talk about.
First lets start with next week's Expansion Draft for next year's Philadelphia Union.
The draft will be a week from Wednesday.
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I have referred to these two as Substitutes in my tiering of Starter, Rotational, Substitute and
Reserves, but honestly, Nathan Sturgis likely belongs here as well. All three are almost always on
the available bench, but rarely see time. In Sanna's case he is still quite young, just entering
the years where he would make or break in the US system.
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WVHooligan 16 November @ 04:26 PM EST
Who will Dallas protect this year? (Getty Images)
With the expansion draft being next week I have to pull in some two-a-days for my expansion
draft lists. Earlier today we looked at DC United's roster and who could be protected or not not
this afternoon I want to turn our attention to FC Dallas.
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WVHooligan 16 November @ 06:41 AM EST
Luciano Emilio and DC United have a lot of question marks. (Getty Images)
The 2009 expansion draft is only a week and a half away here. Today we move forward in our look
at each club's potential protection lists with DC United. The Black-and-Red are still without a
head coach so don't be shocked if somethings here could change depending on who takes over this
club.
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Now we start entering the realm of players with playing time. Of guys that may have value to
other clubs in trade, and quite possibly seeing the guy that Philadelphia takes in the Expansion
Draft later this month. This collection of players are in two sets.
The first set are two USL Sounders, and the second two players are young talents with promise,
but who have lacked the playing time to showcase their reputations in competitive matches.
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As in the guys that aren't Mr Kasey Keller. Due to injuries Keller played essentially all
competitive matches. Next year with the potential for a dozen more matches in the season and Kasey
passing 40 in just a few days the back-up keeper will be much more important. While he does feel
healthier at the end of this season than in the past, he made many statements that it was due to
the nature of MLS playing basically once a week.
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WVHooligan 13 November @ 06:45 AM EST
This group could look a lot different in 2010. (Getty Images)
Moving forward once again in our expansion draft coverage. Today we take a look at the
Supporter's Shield winning Columbus Crew. More than likely we will see a player picked from this
bunch, anytime you go through the regular season and are as good as the Crew were this year you
will most certainly see a player picked off in an expansion draft.
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WVHooligan 12 November @ 06:02 AM EST
Colin Clark and Conor Casey make up a big part of the Rapids. (Getty Images)
We are moving forward today in our expansion draft coverage. So far we've knocked out both the
Fire and Chivas USA, today we stay out west with a look at the Colorado Rapids. Now this is a club
that may go through a bit of a change this winter because of their collapse late in the season.
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It's the offseason in Columbus, and that means rumors about players and contracts and whatnot
are as easy to find as a Buckeye hoodie. Robbie Rogers seems to have become the first player to
fall victim of fan speculation.
First, to grease the wheels of gossip, Robbie himself tweetered that he was on his way out of
Columbus.
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WVHooligan 11 November @ 03:24 PM EST
Freddie Ljungberg and Osvaldo Alonso were huge additions to Seattle and to MLS this year. (Getty
Images)
Everyone knew going into the 2009 season that the new kids on the block would make a splash.
Just the kind of splash the league needed in some folks eyes. The Seattle Sounders FC came into the
year not as a typical expansion club.
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