Photo by ISIphotos.com
The Philadelphia Union's quest to build a top-notch defense in its first season continued on Friday as the club acquired former U.S. Olympic team defender Michael Orozco on loan from Mexican side San Luis.
To land Orozco, the Union had to complete a deal with the New York Red Bulls, acquiring the No. 1 spot in the Allocation Order from New York in exchange for an undisclosed sum of allocation money.
Orozco has made two appearances for the U.S. national team and had been a regular starter for San Luis before falling out of favor late last season. He is capable of playing in central defense but projects to be the team's starting right back.
With the trade, the Red Bulls now have the No. 5 spot in the MLS Allocation Order (It received the No. 6 spot in the trade, but move up a place after the Union's selection of Orozco). The San Jose Earthquakes now have the top spot in the Allocation Order, which is used to allocate current and former U.S. national team players who return to MLS.
Philadelphia's defense could be one of the better ones in MLS in year one. The Union had already acquired U.S. national team defender Danny Califf this off-season, as well as veteran defenders Shavar Thomas and Jordan Harvey in the MLS Expansion Draft. Highly-regarded goalkeeper Chris Seitz was acquired from Real Salt Lake early in the off-season.
Red Bulls fans who are surprised that their team gave up the top allocation spot shouldn't be. New York is clearly focused on shopping the international market for foreign talent and the allocation it secured from Philadelphia should help the Red Bulls land some more international talent.
Here is the up-to-date MLS Allocation Order:
1. San Jose Earthquakes
2. Kansas City Wizards
3. Toronto FC
4. FC Dallas
5. New York Red Bulls
6. Colorado Rapids
7. New England Revolution
8. Chivas USA
9. Seattle Sounders
10. Columbus Crew
11. Chicago Fire
12. Houston Dynamo
13. Los Angeles Galaxy
14. Real Salt Lake
15. D.C. United
16. Philadelphia Union
What do you think of this move? Surprised New York gave up the top spot in the Allocation Order? Excited to see Philadelphia's defense coming together? Starting to believe that Philly could enjoy a first season as sucessful as Seattle's?
Share your thoughts below.
I hate the allocation system and hope they do away with it. In the end, it mostly delays quality players that fans want to see from playing in MLS. Remember how long it took for Chicago to work out a deal for McBride? I guy like McBride isn’t going to go just anywhere, he’s going to play for who he wants to play for. MLS should treat these guys with respect, let them sign for who they want to sign with, and get them onto the field already!
Maybe NY wanted the money. I read again today that Henry was coming to MLS…NYRB.
1 Very exciting, I don’t think MLS is done getting this type of player. Can’t start on a winning team, has money, doesn’t wan’t to play on the other 18 teams losing all the time.
2 Doesn’t NYRB already have a DP ?
(tried to post earlier, hope I didnt dupe )
haha, angry pirates fan number 1 chiming in… But seriously, I didn’t write that the “only” problem the pirates had was lack of funding, I just said they didn’t have the funds to compete. And the teams you mentioned don’t compete regularly (like the Red Bulls in the final last year, and last place this year), Florida doesn’t just “start over”, they have a fire sale b/c they can’t pay for their young players once they mature… But I appreciate the Pirates passion.
Yeah I read something,even today that says Henry is still talking MLS in 6 months.
1 That is very exciting and I don’t think MLS is done getting these type of players. Can’t start at a winning Europe team, has money, doesn’ want to play for a team that NEVER will win.
2 Doesn’t NY already have a DP ?
Don’t try making sense. We RBNY fans just want to be hysterical for the joy of it.
Okay JPC, the pirates only problem is funds…wow! Have you seen the trades they have made over the last 15 years. It is just shameful. Florida starts over every 7 years and competes, Tampa Bay has begun to compete and Milwaukee has competed.
Whats up with this philly’s hype?
fred is awful. DC was singing and dancing when they got rid of him. He might be a starter in a very poor philly midfield.
Mcinerney is a reserve MLS player at best but has some potential to be ok.
Orozco is the only decent pick up.
As for Red Bulls, if they use that allocation and their current allocation to bring in Nikolov, Miller, Lindpere, Jonson, and Zickler then thats a very good team.
Dear Everyone,
Stop calling a CB a DC, it’s really dumb.
This Philly organization is starting to worry me. Smart moves all, thus far.
philadelphia did have a lot of allocation money after the draft and must of gave a bunch for the red bulls not to also ask for a draft pick and/or a player
One thing to remember is that, to sign another DP, RB still needs $400k of allocation money. That’s $800k for just 2 players. Worth the money? In my opinion, absolutely.
But when there is only so much allocation money to work with, and RB would need a significant amount to field any kind of capable team supporting those two DPs, allocation money becomes a lot more valuable to the Red Bulls than it does other teams.
likely position in the eastern confrence??
The allocation system was set up when the older US guys from overseas where coming back and they didn’t want teams bidding against eachother, I think the system should go away but if it has to stay i think there should definetly be a little bit more flexibility so that we don’t get another MCBride situation.
i agree that orozco would be a solid pickup for any MLS side, but why are you listing him at RB??
i cant wait to see what Krol does with the fire.
-Krol–Conde–CJ–Ward-
thats a pretty solid backline
i agree, Orozco would be a solid pickup for any MLS side, but whats with you playing him out right??
i cant wait to see what Krol does for the fire…
-Krol–Conde–CJ–Ward-
thats a pretty solid backline as well
Um. My thoughts on comparing the Union to Seattle’s 1st Season (on paper of course)
1) Danny Mwanga is no Fredy Montero. That’s not to say he not be one day, but Fredy established himself in a decent Colombian league prior to MLS.
2) Chris Seitz is not Kasey Keller. Keller brought years of leadership from the national team and Europe. It didn’t hurt that he was a local product as well.
3) DP. You can’t underestimate the power of the DP..especially with Ljungberg. He really came on throughout the year.
I think Philly do better than average…but won’t make the playoffs.
PS. this is even coming from a Timbers fan who hates Seattle…but respect is different than hate.
Is Orozco that good of a defender?
What have you heard about what will be in the new CBA?
That’s the joke? What about DCU giving up the same allocation spot to move up, along with Fred and the #7 pick in the SuperDraft?
The new management like the number 5 better.
Heard it there last, too.
Oh, I thought he was talking about the Red Bulls. The “No” in the beginning of his comment confused me. Still not sure what the “No” was in reference to.
Nice attempt to be snarky, but I’ll pass on any lessons from you.
if that is true then this was probably the possible move RB could have made, you may be right they might know somethin we don’t
DC player???
No, actually the off-season is only such for a team that has previously played a season. In this case, Philadelphia is starting from scratch, so they are simply in pre-season.
If you want to mince words, understand the vocabulary.
“Can you even have an offseason if you haven’t played yet?”
Uhh… what? The offseason is kind of defined by not playing. I’m not sure what you’re trying to say. And why are you caring about what some random idiot on Twitter says exactly?
aren’t rivalries supposed to be competitive? Have Red Bull ever beat common sense.
Ives- Can you provide any info on Jose Angulo who I understand is at preseason with the Union?
By all the things I’ve heard the new CBA (whenever it gets done) could change the way the league operates.
Yeah, saw this in Kyle McCarthy’s twitter. Revs talent pool has been taking some serious hits over the last couple of years through transfers, trades, injuries, age etc: Dempsey, Dorman, Parkhurst, Heaps, Larentowicz, Ralston, Twellman. Outlook for 2010 is:
Joseph-Joseph
Joseph-Joseph-Joseph-Joseph
Joseph-Joseph-Joseph-Joseph
Joseph
This deal makes no sense for RBNY, does it? There is no way they got any significant amount of money in this. So basically they volunteered to give up the coveted top spot in the allocation order to drop to fifth. That sounds completely ree torted to me.
I think Orozco would be a solid signing for any team, not just bc Phila. is starting up. Also, any players they sign could probably just as easily be signed by other MLS clubs. MLS has a lot of non-guaranteed contracts (at least until the CBA gets changed) so teams can always cut someone to make room.
So, Philadelphia looks something like:
Moreno-Mwanga
Salinas-Jacobsen-Miglioranzi-Zimmerman
Harvey-Califf-Thomas-Orozco
Seitz
bench: Fred, Le Toux, Stahl
For comparison, Seattle opened the season with a roster of:
Montero-Jaqua
Zakuani-Alonso-Ljungberg-Evans
Wahl-Marshall-Hurtado-Riley
Keller
bench: Nyassi, Le Toux, Ianni
So far I’d say edge to Seattle.
Along the same line of thinking, would it be more beneficial for the NYRB to pass and sit on top of the allocation than be at #5 with some additional cash? That cash is not going to make or break Henry coming over. Even if they are close to the salary cap, the owner can make up that portion on the back end with their own money.
Ever think that this allocation system might not exist after the CBA is taken care of? get the allocation money while u can!
I’m ready for the start of the season. Here’s my guarantee–NY will finish with more points than the Union. Boom goes the dynamite
Orozco was never going to come to RBNY. He used to play for Nowak with the U-23 Nats and that is probably why he’s coming to MLS. We still don’t know big of an allocation was received by RBNY, but I’m guessing it was probably big and could be put to good use. Let’s see what comes of this before we jump to conclusions.
Ova Nikolov, Roy Miller, and Lindpere are all decent to very good european players(besides Miller, but has been playing there) or have been in the past….. decent and up is what i consider “top”
good defenders? like who? goldthwaite has been inconsistent at best, mendes has been injured, hall isn’t a defender. petke is slower now than ever.
well, chad barrett sucks, but couldn’t the red bulls at least get zimmerman back?
are you really that gullible?
I believe they could have.
I’m a little confused about the allocation process. Could the Red Bulls have simply passed on Orozco and just kept the #1 spot?
Had Hainault not been capped by Canada at that point?
I can’t wait for orosco to get stupid cards for Philly. SWEET
Yo, Check out this site! It’s not a millionaire dating site! No BS, just Philadelphia Union soccer news!
http://www.theunionistblog.blogspot.com/
I like this trade and the whole Union roster so far. Nowak’s building a solid core group that I think could easily be upgraded with a couple of big name additions later on. I say Kudos to Nowak for his player selections so far.
Institutional culture. Also, skeptical of what you consider “top Eastern European talent’.
what do you mean “SJ wishes?” is this true that dempsey’s gonna be with SJ for rehab?
Because Hainault was a discovery player that Houston bought from his club in the Czech Republic for a nominal fee (and they help up his paperwork trying to extort more – but that’s another story)
Red Bulls vs. Common Sense the best rivalry? That’s silly. It’s like Houston-Dallas: it’s not a rivalry when it’s one-sided.