Caught in Possession

A few more thoughts on Friday’s SuperDraft…

Some MLS clubs depend on the draft for significant roster needs, and sometimes even wind up using their selections to patch up holes in the starting XI. Toronto FC certainly falls in this category, in part because their 2007 expansion status dictated it to some extent – and Maurice Edu’s 2007 development makes it look like a pretty sharp idea, yes? The LA Galaxy have apparently decided to lean pretty heavily on their kids as well, using bargain-priced youngsters to fill in the spots around a pricey “big three” of Beckham, Donovan and Ruiz.

Others see it as an overhyped crapshoot that fills out the back corner of the locker room, at best. Several teams, notably Chivas USA, back-again-for-the-second-time San Jose and, to a lesser extent, DC United, more or less showed up at the Baltimore Convention Center just to punch their time cards (and make sure less competent counterparts weren't ready to have their pockets picked on the ballroom floor), then picked a prospect or two who might make the reserve squad and got the heck out of Dodge.

It’s hard to disagree with that outlook when there’s so much fogginess obscuring what is supposed to be the event’s bottom line: identification of primo U.S. talent. The “Generation adidas” program is “designed to identify and nurture the elite youth soccer talent in the United States,” we’re told, but in practice, it’s now mainly a salary subsidy for the clubs – the harsh confines of the salary cap have made it so. (Gen adidas player salaries are underwritten by the program, not the clubs.)

Foxsoccer.com’s ever-outspoken Jamie Trecker discusses this issue in his latest column:

http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/7703874

Columbus head coach Sigi Schmid isn’t too fond of the situation, either, and he shared some interesting thoughts on this topic just after the SuperDraft’s conclusion. The Crew’s defensive needs are such that Schmid and his staff went for the player whom they judged could contribute the most and soonest, selecting Andy Iro with the sixth overall pick, even though he was not a Gen adidas kid and thus would cost more against the cap.

“There were a few head-scratchers, I thought, in the first round,” said Schmid. “But it all comes because there’s such a premium to players that are protected. Are the best players being picked in the first round? I don’t know. I think the best protected players are being picked in the first round, for sure. But that’s something you have to look at.”

So who picks the Gen adidas crop, and how do they draw those conclusions? Well, that’s where the fog rolls in. More on that later…

Comment posted by Charles Boehm @ 12:25 PM