The MLS Supplemental Draft came and went and the story of the day was that Toronto FC ended Xavier Balc’s nightmare by making him the second player taken in the draft. Toronto head coach Mo Johnston must have been happy with his selection, he passed on Toronto’s next three picks.
San Jose made UC-Santa Cruz forward Adam Smarte with the first overall pick in the draft. Not quite Patrick Nyarko but a local sleeper nonetheless.
The Columbus Crew grabbed a goalkeeper, but it wasn’t Ohio State’s Casey Latchem. The Crew grabbed Billy Chiles to serve as the No. 3 behind Wil Hesmer and Andy Gruenebaum. D.C. also found good value, grabbing UCLA defender Brandon Owens.
As for the Red Bulls? They selected Danleigh Borman (Rhode Island), Michael Palacio (Stony Brook), John Gilkerson (Winthrop) and Laurent Manuel (Brown).
FC Dallas might wind up with the steal of the Supplemental Draft after taking Virginia forward Yannick Reyering in the second round, two picks before D.C. United may have bene preparing to grab him.
So why did Toronto only take Balc and pass on its other three picks? Toronto head coach Mo Johnston told SBI that, with the team only allowed a certain number of non-Canadians the club didn’t want to go through the trouble of grabbing American players who probably wouldn’t make the roster anyway.
Here are all four rounds of today’s MLS Supplemental Draft:
Round 1
Pick Team Player Pos. School
1 San Jose Earthquakes Adam Smarte F Univ. Cal- Santa Cruz
2 Toronto FC Xavier Balc F Ohio State
3 Colorado Rapids Kevin Forrest F Washington
4 Los Angeles Galaxy Michael Gavin D Portland
5 Colorado Rapids Cesar Zambrano M Illinois-Chicago
6 Columbus Crew Billy Chiles GK Towson State
7 New York Red Bulls Danleigh Borman M Univ. of Rhode Island
8 New England Mkokheli Dube F Coastal Carolina University
9 Chivas USA Kraig Chiles F San Diego State
10 D.C. United Brandon Owens D UCLA
11 Kansas City Wizards Pat Healey M Towson State
12 Chicago Fire Kai Kasiguran M Messiah College
13 New England Revolution Chris Tierney D Univ. of Virginia
14 Houston Dynamo Johnny Alcaraz M Westmont College
Round 2
Pick Team Player Pos. School
1 San Jose Earthquakes Tim Bohnenkamp F Creighton
2 Toronto FC pass
3 Real Salt Lake Tino Nunez F UC-Santa Barbara
4 Los Angeles Galaxy Charles Alamo GK Cal-Riverside
5 Colorado Rapids Mike Graczyk GK New Mexico
6 Columbus Crew Cory Elenio M Evansville
7 New York Red Bulls Michael Palacio M Stonybrook
8 FC Dallas Yannick Reyering F Univ. of Virginia
9 Chivas USA Javier Ayala-Hill F Cal State
10 D.C. United Dan Stratford M West Virginia
11 Kansas City Wizards Vicente Arze M Mercer
12 Chicago Fire Adrian Bumbut F Liberty
13 New England Revs Kyle Altman M Trinity
14 Houston Dynamo Craig Thompson F Col. School of Mines
Round 3
Pick Team Players Pos. School
1 San Jose Earthquakes Greg Curry D Univ. of California-Santa Barbara
2 Toronto FC pass
3 Real Salt Lake Kevin Reiman M Michigan St.
4 Los Angeles Galaxy Greg Folk D UCLA
5 Colorado Rapids Daniel Antunez M Hartford
6 Columbus Crew Lukasz Tumicz F Univ. of Rhode Island
7 New York Red Bulls John Gilkerson D Winthrop
8 FC Dallas Ben Shuleva D SMU
9 Chivas USA El-Hadj Cisse M NC State
10 Columbus Crew Zola Short F Univ. of Virginia
11 Kansas City Wizards Tom Gray M Monmouth
12 Chicago Fire Zach Pope M Duke
13 New England Revolution Saidi Isaac F Winthrop
14 Houston Dynamo Kieran Hall M Fort Lewis
Round 4
Pick Team Players Pos. School
1 San Jose Earthquakes Tim Jepsen D Duke
2 Toronto FC pass
3 Real Salt Lake Kenny Anaba F Cincinnati
4 Los Angeles Galaxy Daniel De Geer M San Francisco
5 Chicago Fire Steve Bode D Univ. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
6 Chicago Fire Tim Conway M Nyack College
7 New York Red Bulls Laurent Manuel D Brown
8 FC Dallas pass
9 Chivas USA Andre Sherard D UNC
10 D.C. United James Thorpe GK Franklin-Pierce
11 Kansas City Wizards Andrew Kartunen GK Stanford
12 Chicago Fire Melford James, Jr. GK Montevallo
13 New England Revolution pass
14 Houston Dynamo James Georgeff F UCF
Ives, was that monmouth university in west long branch nj?? Can you give us an update on this jersey boy? What club team was he on?
GO PAT HEALEY!!!!!! HAVE A HELLUVA TIME IN KANSAS CITY….
Laurent Manuel, hahahahahahahaha
All MLS teams get 8 International slots… that includes all Internationals on your roster no matter what their age.
I didn’t know you can just “pass” on a draft pick. Couldn’t/shouldn’t he have traded the picks for something?
I guess that Mo did not realize that there are Canadian Youth Team players on NCAA teams – he may have wanted to draft them instead of passing on picks or even trade the picks to SJ for some minimal future considerations.
Passing over Reyering was a mistake by a lot of teams.
Peter, prior to this year the initial draft was followed by the USL draft. Then the supplemental draft was held. Players then had a choice to make if they were drafted in both. Players in supplemental draft are unlikely to make the team. This year USL suspended the draft. They may return with a draft next year.
“So why did Toronto only take Balc and pass on its other three picks? Toronto head coach Mo Johnston told SBI that, with the team only allowed a certain number of non-Canadians the club didn’t want to go through the trouble of grabbing American players who probably wouldn’t make the roster anyway.”
-I guess you could say he Balced at that concept! Bwahahaha I kill me.
What happened to Eric Avila?
JOHN GILKERSON played for the Hampton Roads piranhas. and he is a very attacking minded defender who can actually defend. kinda on the small side but he takes care of the ball and does really well in the attack, making runs and passes
also i’m suprised
NO ANDREW WHEELER!?
kid was ALL PDL. and one of the league’s leading goal scorers has the speed the size the aggression to take it to defenders and a striker’s innate ability to just score goals. how disappointing only reason i can find is he played at D3 York (PA) but still better than most D1 strikers in my opinion.
Ives, can you look look into this:
Starting this season, do international developmental players count towards the 8 player per team international player rule?
I don’t think MLS has made that specific distinction anywhere about foreigners on the developmental vs. full roster and their status…
Look, there’s a reason Mo was fired in NY and it wasn’t because he had a good draft.
I just wonder why my team, the Red Bulls, would pass on a 6’5″ German striker from UVA. Even if he is coming back from injury. Its not like UVA recruits crap players. I’m not saying that all of the guys they recruit have pro potential, but at least take a flyer on the guy!
Mo could have picked whomever SJ wanted, and given them all three picks in lieu of something should they make the roster. SJ has hardly any players and could do with all the players possible.
Mo is so arrogant that I think he might actually believe that he couldn’t possibly have missed a sleeper.
With the likes of McDonald (signed by the Rapids today) and Boswell, MLS Superdraft os hardly the be-all-end-all of scouting US collegiate talent.
More over, you should always take what is available to you – make up the numbers in training and see if someone surprises you. Just because you have the rights to a player doesn’t mean he makes the roster so the remark about foreigners is irrelevant. Why not let a long short try and beat someone out…it happens every year on pretty much every team.
Mo did alright in the draft it would seem, but passing on 3 picks is just stupid.
What if a guy raised his stock in training camp, on a USl side, Toronto would hold his rights for 2 years and could receive compensation.
Even with Balc on board, who would seemingly have been a good fit for us at #9 or #10, let alone the supplemental draft, somehow Mo has found a way to make me feel like we let ourselves down again (just like he did by passing on Avila).
Bizarrely, we could have ended the 2008 draft with 3 players with a shot at the #1 overall (James, Avila and Balc). 2 of 3 aint bad, and Phelan is also a decent option.
With Mo cutting all the Canadians at the end of the last season, you wonder what’s going to happen on the roster. Not enough spots for even half the new recruits….and no sign of any Canadian imports or yuoungster either.
I worry….I really do.
^ uh, Steve Nicol anyone ?
Mo Johnston does the most random stuff. Even if you probably aren’t going to have the spots, why not look at a few extra players? who knows, you could find something.
mo has got to be the best drafter ever
Wow. I hope the Red Bulls picked the right guys, because there were some interesting guys they passed on…
Namely Brandon Owens, Yannick Reyering, Greg Folk, Saidi Isaac and Andrew Wheeler (whom everyone passed on). I hope the guy’s behind the wheel are right and none of the above mentioned will grow to impress either this year or in the next few years…
i was at stony brook at the same time as palacio… i thought he was pretty good… and the team won the American East Championship in 05 with palacio on the team {assisted the goal in that game}
Mo Johnston told me that since the club is only allowed a certain number of non-Canadians, and they already had a set number coming to camp, he didn’t feel the need to make picks on players who he wouldn’t keep anyway.
What about Tanner Wolfe? I’ve seen him play and he’s way better than half the kids that got selected.
Nobody picked up Andrew Wheeler? What’s going on with him that nobody took a shot at him?
I really like Kraig Chiles.
I think he can be a solid guy in MLS. Not a star or a starter but a guy who can come in and settle a mid field or provide good D on the wings.
Good Job ChivasUSA!
Wow — two Division III players drafted. Trinity University could beat a lot of Division I teams. Hopefully Altman will stick with the Revolution.
Ives, why would Toronto select one player? I just don’t see it being necessary to NOT pick someone.
I feel slightly dull for asking this, but what exactly is the point of the supplemental draft? Why don’t they just do all the rounds on one day? Do teams give up anything for taking players? Why would a team pass?
I feel slightly dull for asking this, but what exactly is the point of the supplemental draft? Why don’t they just do all the rounds on one day? Do teams give up anything for taking players? Why would a team pass?
ive seen palacio play a couple times. Good skills although i as a bit surprised to hear he got drafted Congrats to him!!
Why would Toronto only select one player?