The 12 Major League Soccer teams completed their acquisition of players through the draft system on Thursday afternoon, as the league's Supplemental Draft was held by conference call. The player pool was made up of talent that went unselected in last Friday's MLS SuperDraft, as well as additional players nominated by the clubs.
Offense was on the menu to start as Chivas USA selected 21-year-old Florida Atlantic product Drew Helm, a forward. The second pick, which was made by Real Salt Lake, landed New Mexico striker Jeff Rowland on the Wasatch Front. But the Columbus Crew started from the back, picking up highly-touted goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum (Kentucky) with their first pick and the third overall.
Four teams each held five picks in the four-round draft, though newly-named Houston 1836 passed on their final pick of the day (44th overall). Chicago, FC Dallas and Kansas City utilized all of their available picks, selecting college players they hope to be able to mold into professionals.
The team with the fewest picks in Friday's lightning-fast draft was four-time MLS Cup champions D.C. United. They were the only club not to make a pick in the first round, finally selecting Andy Metcalf (Memphis) with their first pick, the 19th overall. Chivas came away with three new players, as did the Columbus Crew, with the remaining clubs each making four picks.
As is often the case, the Supplemental Draft was a chance for teams to take a chance on local products that might not have garnered national attention. Chivas (Darren Spicer), Colorado (Daniel Wasson), FC Dallas (Peter Louis), D.C. (Devon McTavish), Houston (Josh Fender), Kansas City (Corey Farabi) and L.A. (Dan Paladini and Armando Melendez) all took players from their surrounding areas.
Though every player selected made his way to MLS through the college ranks, it wasn't only young players from the USA that received the call to the U.S. top flight. Representatives from Trinidad (Anthony Noriega, Kansas City Wizards), England (Christopher Joyce, FC Dallas) and South Africa (Mpho Moloi, Houston 1836) were all added in the first round alone. Joining them in the later rounds were internationals from Liberia (Willis Forko, Real Salt Lake), Costa Rica (Hector Guzman, Houston 1836) and Canada (Liam Girrard, Colorado Rapids). The defending MLS Cup champion Los Angeles Galaxy's third-round pick, Armando Melendez, holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and El Salvador.
The Supplemental Draft was added in 2005 to help MLS teams fill out rosters that were expanded to 28 players. Eighteen of those will be considered members of the senior roster, while the remaining 10 will be part of the developmental roster. Developmental players do not count against the MLS salary cap.
All 12 MLS teams will soon begin their preseason training camps. The 2006 MLS season will begin on April 1, with all 12 teams in action on the opening weekend. The full 2006 schedule is expected to be announced in the near future.
Jonathan Nierman is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
