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MLS signs seven to 2011 Generation adidas class

Major League Soccer has signed most of its 2011 Generation adidas draft class, completing most of the deals by Wednesday.

According to multiple sources, MLS has secured the signings of Akron standouts Darlington Nagbe, Kofi Sarkodie, Zarek Valentin and Michael Nanchoff, as well as Indiana striker Will Bruin, Penn State striker Corey Hertzog and Maryland goalkeeper Zac MacMath.

The seven player haul could reach eight if MLS succeeds in signing highly-regarded U.S. Under-20 midfielder/defender Perry Kitchen. According to sources, MLS and Kitchen's representatives are far apart in negotiations.

There is no word on what other players may receive offers, but Akron freshman Darren Mattocks isn't believed to be on the Generation adidas radar anymore, while Maryland striker Casey Townsend could still be in the mix. California goalkeeper David Bingham was another player believed to still be on the radar.

MLS is expected to limit this year's Generation adidas class to nine total players, with U.S. Under-20 striker Omar Salgado already having signed a contract.

MLS has also secured the signings of three senior players ahead of the MLS Draft. North Carolina's Jalil Anibaba, Michael Farfan and Stephen McCarthy have all been signed to contracts according to sources with knowledge of the deals.

What do you think of this group?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Id take Sean Johnson over Cervi. Why you ask? Cause he plays and i have something to evaluate him on. Have you seen Cervi play in training? cause if not then you probably havent seen him train. Until then he’s another Seitz. All hype as a back up and no production. Harsh? no. reality.

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  2. I agree. Seitz has been bad but still has the raw tools. If given the right situation (large numbers of games, even on loan in USL), he can regain his confidence else he’ll start to be a bust.

    MacMath has been touted for years, but how many of us really watch enough college games to get a good idea of talent on the next level. I hope he can step up ASAP (or Bingham).

    Either way, there seems to be a gap in quality in US goaltender over the past ten years since Howard came out.

    Guzon appears to be the best is lanquishes on the bench in Aston Villa (he needs to leave if not named the starter next year), Frei is exceptional but is playing for Switzerland, Seitz was probably the highest rated out of college but hasn’t taken off, Campbell and Hamid had unexpectedly good years but are very young and can’t be expected to carry the US #1 burden (for faor that matter, MLS) quite yet (neither had been expected to start at all last year).

    Hopefully, we’re seeing the start of a new generation to replace the Meola/Keller/Sommer/Friedel/Hartman/Cannon generation.

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  3. I agree. Forgot about Frei. Though he does have Swiss citizenship, college soccer should take credit for helping develope him. Mea culpa.

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  4. I don’t disagree with you comments.

    Guzon was great in MLS but needs PT.

    Still not sold on Cervi. He’s been third string in Glasgow with little evidence of moving up. He seems to have made his reputation on three games at the MLS combine and Peter Nowak publicly announcing him the best goaltender ever and taking him straight to the U-23’s. Before that, he’d been considered 3rd round pick.

    I believe I said Seitz has dissappointed in his opportunities, though, to be fair, he’s had relatively few and in bad situations.

    I said Campbell looked good.

    I was merelyl referring to college goaltenders, so I wasn’t talking about Hamid, though I admit he looks promising.

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  5. Sheanon Williams was offered to MLS teams as a Discovery Player but no one wanted him. He’s a free agent.

    I believe Arnoux went to Europe without going through the draft or being a league-signed discovery player offered to the first team on the discovery list. He shouldn’t be a free agent like Williams.

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  6. Difference is that Vancouver never really signed him for D-II purposes, only to try to have him locked up for MLS. MLS made a judgment call on whether the rules were being end-run.

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  7. My dad thinks the kid has some talent, but to be a good pro you have to bring it on a regular basis (are you listening Freddy Adu?), and after watching him play game in and game out, my dad thinks he is lacking that. I think the guys who rank him high are just focussing on his talent, not work rate.

    Plus Rongen has misjudged talent before (thanks for the whole Subotic gaff!), and as much as I respect Ives his big boards aren’t 100%.

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  8. RIght — I forgot to mention Frei in my comment above

    As for Cervi — he was just loaned out, for the first time. You’re being al ittle harsh on him. THe fact that eh wasn’t loaned out earlier suggests Celtic thinks pretty highly of him.

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  9. I think you don’t know what you’re talking about…

    It’s Guzan.

    Yeah, Seitz made some serious errors with Philly.

    Cervi didn’t exactly drop off the radar. He’s with Glasgow Celtic.

    Sean Johnson l(that kid) looked great for Chicago.

    Other up and comers include BIll Hamid with DC United and the guy he was behind at the DCU academy, Samir Badr is making strides in Portugal.

    MacMath is highly regarded at U.Md.

    There may be better, still younger goalies already in the USA pipeline.

    When you consider that goalies can play a decade or more in starting roles, there isn’t the same level of need. Look at Brad Friedel and Marcus Hahnemann. They want to come back, but few teams really have a need right now.

    Still, as the league grows to 20 teams, it will probably need to find two to three young goalies every year, just to keep up — especially if a couple move on to Europe.

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  10. This is a little off-topic but I’ve done searches and have come up empty on what has happened with Carlos Martinez. He seemed to be back on track after being let back in to Bradenton. Anybody know where he is now? Also, what about Chris Agorsor? Did his injuries indeed kill his career?

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  11. Hello?? Stefan Frei??? Besides Guzan, He’s the best one out there. What has Cervi done besides sit the bench everywhere he has been. Even to the team he went on loan with. Sean Johnson? Wasnt great but was far better than Seitz. The U.S is producing a ton of good gk’s. Before you go all Swiss with me on Frei too the dude has dual citizenship.

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  12. 1. Seitz was amazing in college. But so much of being a good goalkeeper is a combination of decision-making and confidence. Bad confidence and your DM suffers. No PT and your DM suffers. Maybe Seitz will rebound and become a great keeper. Or maybe he’ll just be a guy with a lot of physical ability and not much else (which is what he is now–he was probably a better GK 4 years ago than he is currently).

    2. MacMath signing a GenAd contract is HUGE. He was looking at overseas options and evidently has some decent ones. But Sasho Cirovski (who used to argue against MLS signing underclassmen saying it would lower the quality of college soccer) has come around. Now he likes to argue to his players thinking of Europe: go to MLS and get PT right now rather than sit on the bench in Europe and then do an Edu if you really think you’re ready for Europe.

    3. This GenAd class could have been much bigger. What it says to me is that a bunch of guys are evidently looking at Europe.

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  13. I assume you’ve now read that GA players “do not count against the MLS senior roster and usually earn a much higher salary than the league minimum.” But to elaborate, because MLS is single entity, all players essentially sign with the league rather than with a particular team. These GA guys are being enticed to leave college early and have already signed a deal and will make good (for MLS) money. If you aren’t GA and you are drafted, you’ll likely be offered the league minimum or worse a developmental contract…or as a handful of players have done in the past, you’ll decide to go to D2 or Europe for more money.
    If an underclassmen isn’t offered GA I don’t think they can enter the draft. So it’s just seniors and GA guys.

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  14. Yeah I think he’s way overrated. I heard about him when he was coming out of UMD but never seen him play until RSL and then Philly. I don’t know what the hype was all about in the 1st place.

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  15. The Wikipedia web=page doesn’t come close to explaining the intricacies of the rule. Instead of posting snark, why not just answer his question? You apparently already did the research.

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  16. I wonder how quickly McMath or Bingham would get playing time?

    In the last few years, only a handful of top goaltenders have come out of college – Guzon, Seitz and few have really made an impact. Goaltenders used to be america’s bread and butter but how many good ones have we generated in the last few years?

    Guzon got killed his first year before settling with an improved Chivas.

    Seitz never seemed to be in the right situation to get PT. I wonder if he’s been a flop or just was on terrible teams. Seem to recall he made several serious errors for Phili.

    Dominic Cervi was a hot prospect after the combine a couple of years ago and his stop shot up quite a bit with under-23 appearances but has dropped off the radar.

    Brian Perk was the Under-23 keeper for years but slipped to the 4th round last year and has been cut.

    That kid in Chicago did well on a bad team last year.

    Does anyone think that there is a problem with so few young prospects coming out?

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  17. The Soccer Don (Garber)needs to get the 2 million back from the failed 2022 US World Cup Bid and sign all the Quality young players they can. Why are they limiting the money? Makes no sense.

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  18. It means that they sign a contract with the league ahead of the draft and also their salary does not count against the salary cap. I believe there’s also some provision in there about money to finish college should the player wishes to do so.

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  19. Out of curiosity, I googled “Generation Adidas.” I’d suggest you start with … I don’t know … maybe … the wikipedia page dedicated to “Generation Adidas?”

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  20. Sorry, I still don’t quite get the GA thing. Does that mean that these young guys are going straight into the draft? And what’s the difference between a GA player and a non-GA player? Can someone explain?

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  21. Glad I read the extension, was sure Gonzalez should be on that list. Hope DC chooses him, Wolff sure isn’t going to be our future.

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  22. The one time I saw Powers in person for the U-20s he was quite decent. Also, Rongen sure seems to love him. And Ives had him 10th on his draft big board: “A star on the U.S. Under-20 national team, he slips on Big Board because of rumors he’s staying in school.”

    It’s possible your dad isn’t the best evaluator of young soccer talent….

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  23. Also (and maybe this is too off-topic) but it seems strange that Arnoux should have to go through the draft when his college to failed euro to D2 career situation seems like carbon-copy of Sheanon Williams.

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  24. Generation Adidas is for underclassmen and while I suppose you could call Arnoux an underclassman since I don’t believe he finished school at Wake, it’d be a bit of a stretch. Not to mention he supposedly wasn’t offered GA before he went to Everton reserves.

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  25. My Dad has season tickets to Notre Dame, and he thinks Powers is really overrated. Kid has some skill, but needs a better motor to be a good pro.

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  26. What about signing Dillon Powers?

    Does this mean he’s staying at Notre Dame instead of entering the MLS draft? Or maybe going overseas?

    I think it would be a mistake for Powers to stay in college, he needs to move up a level and get into a professional atmosphere to continue growing as a player.

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