Jacob Peterson wrote "Return To Sender" on the backA rival is born! Well... re-born
at least... but this time in MLS form! Toronto FC's true natural rival, Montreal Impact (L'Impact
du Montreal to their amis) took a major step towards building the club's nouveau lineup for their
debut in Ligue Majeure de Soccer during today's Expansion Draft.
Seriously, you'll never guess which one was protected...Less than 24 hours after
Galaxy lifted the MLS Cup, it's back to business at Don Garber's Playhouse. Aside from the Cup
Final, it has been a busy few days for league administrators with a few major announcements: future
MLS Cup Finals to be held at the home of the highest seeded finalist (Good); a tweak to the playoff
structure (Meh); and, the introduction of a conference-heavy unbalanced schedule (Fugly)
Today's paperwork however, was the release of the Expansion Draft Protected Lists with each club
shielding certain players from L'Impact du Montreal avec le Bibliotheque's grubby, petite, Joe
Louis-grabbing fingers.
Dan Gargan -- Getty ImagesBy Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com
The Chicago Fire and other Major League Soccer teams submitted their 11-player protected lists
Monday in preparation for Wednesday's MLS Expansion Draft for the Montreal Impact.
Among some of the Fire's noteworthy players left unprotected are forward Diego Chaves, midfielder
Daniel Paladini, and defenders Dan Gargan, Josip Mikulic and Yamith Cuesta.
What could a Jamaican possibly like about Vancouver?
Going into the MLS Expansion Draft, Toronto FC dangled a couple of big names in front of Portland
and Vancouver followed by a list of its various underachievers and also-rans. Looking at the list
prior to the draft, most would have believed TFC would have a better chance of having its junk
grabbed if it went through U.
Good Morning! It's really begining to feel like winter here in RBNY land, although it's probably
much warmer than the temperatures MLS fans (including the great Matt Conroy - aka Who Shot Sam)
were subjected to in Toronto this past weekend. But never mind all that, it's 2010 Expansion Draft
time.
Less than a day after Colorado lifted the MLS Cup Trophy in Toronto, the league's clubs were
back to work. Yesterday evening, all clubs released their Protected List thus exposing the
"unprotected" to the 2011 Expansion Draft. The full league unprotected list is a mixture of
over-priced underachievers, unwanted internationals and players who just haven't developed quite
fast enough.
Even as Red Bulls fans continue to lick their wounds, the wheels have begun turning on the 2011
season. With RBNY out of the playoffs there's still a lot for Erik Solér and Hans Backe to think
about, and a lot of work to do as they seek to build an even more competitive squad for next
year.
Let's start with the expansion draft, which will take place on November 24, just a few days after
the MLS Cup Final in Toronto.
Who, if anyone, will be this year's Nick Zimmerman? You know - the player the Red Bulls simply
"cannot afford to lose." Never mind that Zimmerman (pictured, back in his RBNY days) is having a
hard time even getting time on the pitch for his new club in Philadelphia. MLS expansion drafts
seem to elicit strong feelings in fans, who become attached to young player X or young player Y and
simply cannot bear to see them given away to another team for nothing.
If you park in the lot the entrance of which is at 15th and Highland, plan to get there before
3pm. A group led by two Chester residents will hold a rally and plan to disrupt entry to the lot in
order to protest local politicos foot-dragging over bringing a grocery store to Camden. The
protesters have singled out state Sen.
Peter Nowak, the Philadelphia Union's head coach, has chosen his 10 players in today's expansion
draft. Stefani Miglioranzi was chosen from the Galaxy's list of unprotected players.
The rest of the players chosen are as follows:
Goalkeeper: Brad Knighton (New England) Defenders: Dave Myrie (Chicago Fire), Shavar Thomas (Chivas USA), Jordan Harvey
(Colorado Rapids) Midfielders: Shea Salinas (San Jose Earthquakes), Stefani Miglioranzi (Los Angeles
Galaxy), Andrew Jacobsen (D.
Hey everyone, I finally made it to Detroit and I have a couple of updates to share with you
all...
McBride and Brown -- Back for 2010
The Fire announced today that the club options for both Brian McBride and C.J. Brown have been
picked up -- meaning that both will be back with the club for the 2010 season.
Well, the expansion draft came and went and we didn't lose any players. Amado Guevara is safe, as
well as Brian Edwards, Carl Robinson and the rest of the players on the unprotected list. Now the
question remains, how will Preki get the most out of the players he has to improve on last season's
performance?
More than a few eyebrows were raised when the Fire announced their 'protected list' of 11
players who wouldn't be eligible for selection by Philadelphia in today's MLS expansion draft.
One player in particular who stood out on the list was midfielder Justin Mapp. Mapp, a
25-year-old winger who has enjoyed a lot of success in the past, struggled with his play - and his
ability to get playing time - for all of 2009.
--------------"I know, I can't believe I'm protected either Amado!"
You would like to think that tomorrow's MLS Expansion Draft is on the up and up but you can't help
but wonder what negotiations and side deals were cut with new boys Philadelphia Union beforehand.
TFC and the other existing clubs had to reveal their protected players yesterday and the names on
the BMO Field list threw up some curiosities indeed.
Tomorrow MLS will hold the 2009 Expansion Draft so the new Philadelphia Union can select their
team for next season. That means they get to select 10 players from the MLS's 15 teams. Each team
gets to protect 11 players and the rest are fair game for the Union to select. Each team can only
lose one player in the draft.
This post at Soccer By Ives has the rundown of protected players in the upcoming expansion
draft. Some of the names are surprising. Expansion team Philadelphia Union can choose 10 of the
unprotected players, but only one player from each team. The full rules are explained here.
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.
7 AM: Why must das influenza deceive mein immunën system?! Herr Anselmi,
Chancellor of FC Toronto begged und begged me to attend MajorLiga Pokal Final in Toronto auf Sunday
nacht. He told me I must sit outdoorsën to "be seen on die TeeEssenToo". Was ist das TeeEssenToo?
Harsh Kanadian wind has given me sickness.
Congratulations to the Colorado Rapids for winning the 2010 MLS Cup last night in extra time. It
was a Dallas FC own-goal, created by former New York Red Bull, Mac Kandji, that proved to be the
game winner in a 2-1 victory. Mac went down with a sprained knee on the play that saw his mad
scramble of a cross deflect off the thigh of Dallas defender, George John.
"Come on you red lights!"
Bienvenue dans La League du Soccer Majeure mes amis! Ou-est le discotheque no more as Montreal were
formally introduced by MLS Commissioner Don Garber today as la league's 19th club. The Pepsi, Joe
Louis' and cigarettes are indeed flowing today as the Quebecois club is set to join in 2012.
The grinding of teeth you may have heard this afternoon would have been Preki's when he realized
that MLS new boys Philadelphia didn't make his life easier. Amado Guevara would seem to be the 300
pound headache in the TFC dressing room and the new manager was likely hoping that Union would
relieve him of the Honduran.
Well, MLSnet.com finally posted the list of players Frank Yallop picked up for the New Model San
Jose Earthquakes in today's expansion draft (and thanks to all the good people out there who
forwarded the list while I was blab, blab, blabbing away in another post). Here's that list: 1.
Ryan Cochrane (Houston Dynamo) 2.
A man misses a thing or two when his eyes are looking elsewhere. While I know that, tomorrow, Major
League Soccer (MLS) will hold the expansion draft that will begin building the New Model San Jose
Earthquakes (NMSJE, from here forward), I've been too busy to poke around to see who MLS's 13
current [...]
Maybe this would be better as a weekly feature...while I'm pondering that, here's the most
interesting stuff I saw in this, the final week of 2007. - Apart from sharing his memories from MLS
Cups past, Ives Galarcep reported today that we can expect to see Fernando Clavijo back at the helm
for the Colorado Rapids [...]
Steven Goff is reporting that the 2007 Expansion Draft will take place next Wednesday, 11-21-07
pending final league confirmation. It should look like the 2006 version held a year ago where
Toronto FC selected 10 players from 12 teams. For some reason the number has been elevated to 11
players this year for the San Jose expansion. Each team can only lose one player and two teams will
not lose anyone.
- A couple pieces out today are already guessing that we'll get a repeat of MLS Cup 2006: Houston
Dynamo v. New England Revolution. Jeff Bradley started his most recent First XI saying he "fully
expects" a repeat while, less surprisingly, the Houston Chronicle sees the same thing...though they
do acknowledge the potential for [...]
Another great episode from our Canadian friends. Apparently, there is is a Match Fixing Scandal
involving the Canadian National Team but after they get throught that, there is much more
interesting MLS Draft analysis. Special guest Sean Keay, from MLSDRAFT.net, weighs in on who, in
his opinion, are the top three seniors in the draft.
Hey everybody, I'm working on getting some interviews with Fire personnel scheduled so I will
hopefully have some stories up regarding the 'protected list' decisions later on. If the interviews
don't work out, don't worry, I'll be back with another post today but the content will be slightly
different.
The Galaxy announced their list of protected players in advance of Wednesday's MLS expansion
draft. So the Seattle Sounders will be able to choose from among the unprotected players, but they
will only be able to choose one.
A few surprises in this one. But mostly what I would expect.
Protected players: David Beckham, Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan, Sean Franklin,
Alan Gordon, Ante Jazic, Bryan Jordan, Eddie Lewis, Brandon McDonald, Alvaro Pires, Troy
Roberts.
