The Montreal Impact didn't waste any time in making a statement in the MLS Expansion Draft.
Despite threats that Brian Ching would retire if selected, the Impact made the Houston Dynamo forward and captain the first overall pick in Wednesday's draft.
"I know that he's expressed that he doesn't want to be here, but we would be delighted to get him here," said Montreal coach Jesse Marsch, who added that he informed Ching of his decision in a phone call Wednesday morning. "If it doesn't work out that way, then it doesn't, but we think there's value to him. Our initial phase was just to think about what he is as a player and what value he has.
"When you look at the draft, you have to look at it in terms of building your team and what pieces you want to put in place for your team moving forward, but also how to maximize the value of the draft. If it doesn't work out, then hopefully we'll be able to figure out another situation that's beneficial for everybody involved."
In addition to Ching, the Impact pounced on the chance to grab former Chivas USA and U.S. Under-20 defender Zarek Valentin, a year after he was an early first-round selection and a Generation adidas signing.
"We were delighted that he was available, and quite surprised actually," Marsch said. "We consider ourselves very lucky to have access to him."
The Impact were able to add another of Chivas' young assets by drafting Seattle right back James Riley and then trading him to the Goats for 24-year-old forward Justin Braun and Gerson Mayen. In a separate deal, the Impact dealt allocation money to Seattle for Tyson Wahl.
Here are the 10 players the Impact selected in Wednesday's draft to join Hassoun Camara, Nelson Rivas, Evan Bush and Sinisa Ubiparipovic on the club's MLS roster:
MONTREAL IMPACT EXPANSION DRAFT
Brian Ching, F, Houston Dynamo
Zarek Valentin, D, Chivas USA
Justin Mapp, M, Philadelphia Union
Bobby Burling, D, San Jose Earthquakes
Jeb Brovsky, M, Vancouver Whitecaps
Collen Warner, M, Real Salt Lake
Josh Gardner, D, Columbus Crew
Sanna Nyassi, M, Colorado Rapids
James Riley, D, Seattle Sounders (traded to Chivas USA for Justin Braun, Gerson Mayen)
Seth Sinovic, D, Sporting Kansas City
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What do you think of the Impact's selections? What do you make of the decision to pick Ching?
Share your thoughts below.
Maybe Dynamo trade Hainault to some other market . . . oh, maybe Toronto. Ching moves to the Dynamo FO. and L’ImpAct go home with nothing. That would be brilliant.
Ching should not retire. He should go and collect a paycheck in Montreal as a player. He can just run around at half speed until they let him go or even better when they play Houston at home he can just start scoring own goals in the new stadium for Houston 🙂 He can also start doing interviews talking about how much he hates free health care, snow, soft bacon, and the sound of the french language…not exactly the face you want for a team trying to grow in the first year and he can talk about how much better Houston is in every way (also waring his old Dynamo kit or colors to all the interviews). They might just let him go early to get a few games in at Houston, bench him and still pay him (not a bad summer holiday) or if nothing else he come back as a bit of a legend when he gets his desk in the FO the next year.
Under-20 defender Zarek Valentin, a year after he was an early first-round selection and a Generation adidas signing.
“just because you say I don’t want to play in Vancouver”
It worked for Darlington Nagbe.
Why so mean? What has Houston or Brian Ching done to you? “Good riddance?” Why the hostility? The man has given his blood, sweat, and tears to Dominic Kinnear and stated he wanted to retire in Houston after playing a year in the stadium he helped build. What harm is there in that and why hate him for it? I understand Montreal wanting to build a team but they’re basically trying to blackmail Houston for either money for Ching or by stealing another player who is protected (Hainault). It’s extortion, plain and simple.
Haha! LMFAO!
what can they do if he retires?
I don’t now that kind of thinking sort of implies Ching isn’t smart enough to realize montreal was the only team picking
Has anyone seen the latest World Freedom Rankings that came out? I’ll copy and paste:
1. Slavery
2. Major League Soccer
3. Jail
4. North Korea
5. Half Way house
5. Drug/Alchohol rehab centers
Montreal will not be getting Hainault. You guys are deluded.
Your stuck with Ching and his salary. You could probably deal Ching back for a very small allocation. Nothing more.
Rules requiren protection of DPs. They had no choice.
Dax went #1 [but of course there was another team there] and summarily traded.
Yes. Aholes. Houston should not have to use a protected slot for a player who only wants to play a few games in their new stadium and Marsch has no genuine desire to use.
This is the sort of dishonorable games that make MLS such a joke.
Ching is not signed with Montreal yet, only drafted.
This.
As a Houston resident and fan of the Dynamo I understand why they left Ching unprotected. His salary’s expensive, he’s always hurt, he’s turning 34 in a few months and only produced 5 or 6 goals for the whole year so realistically he’s an unattractive pick. What made him “attractive” was his desire to stay with the Dynamo & play in the new stadium. So Montreal is betting his willingness to retire is just a bluff and that either the Dynamo will trade for Hainault or pay “blackmail” a.k.a “allocation” money for Ching, the face of the Houston Dynamo Franchise. It’s a smart, cheesy, and shrewd move from a business standpoint but borders on the unethical cause it prays on the weak & emotional for gain. It’s like saying, “I won’t kill your mom (Ching) if you pay me some money (allocation) or let me sleep with your sister and take her with me (Hainault).”
So you use the expansion draft solely to blackmail? Your threat is that you will hurt the player personally unless his team sends you money or a player?
Ching should report and go to camp and be constant vocal critic of Marsch. Disrupt the locker room. Hit Montreal for the full cap amount and not run a foot in any game. No effort. Collect his guaranteed amount. Publicly state he will retire or disrupt ant team that trades for him so that Marsch gets no value.
Marsch deserves nothing but enmity.
Thanks for the laughs Houston.
Interesting that Ching would have such loyalty to a team that did not protect him from this draft.
I bet he puts his tail between his legs and moves to Montreal.
Welcome to the MLS Impact, and by the way I hate you!
Riley’s been taken three times in expansion drafts, right? That’s got to be a record…
Adu looked good on the wing….Philly needs a dependable #10
Hainault had a breakout year….Terrific move by the Impact
I would take Ching over Carr, Clark, Moffat, and Taylor.
Houston f’ed up.
They went young and cheap. They must be saving money for some nice internationals. Anelka + more???
Cardozo has amazing potential….LA lucked out here, especially if Becks leaves
I disagree…He is still very young and has lots of potential
+1,000,000. Disrespectful by Houston. Ching still doesnt get the credit he deserves.
Hard to believe anybody would want him…He should be in USL
They could go after a bigger name than Ching or Costly….This is AEG we are talking
no doubt about it…Mediocre players make the best managers
A 34 year old making $400K isn’t going to retire to a front office job making $50K. Ching will be playing somewhere for another year and probably for another couple of years after than on a reduced deal.
They became my most hated club in their match at Portland this year. They played like thugs. Danny cruzs hit on Chabala was pretty lame. I’ve not always been head over heals for Ching, but he’s been a steady, positive person and deserves better.
Houston sucks and Danny Cruz is a punk.
Bummed about Braum. Live in LA and he was fun to watch. A big goofy kid with crazy talent. Hopefully he will get the chances he needs to maybe get into a national team camp.
No one has mentioned Sinovic yet? Biggest steal of all. Player impact vs. salary is amazing.
I like the move to take Ching.
Your job is to create the best team possible. You don’t do that by playing nice. Houston totally screwed the pooch on this. RSL was burned once not protecting Kries.
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
I hope they stick it to Houston or Ching retires. I would prefer retire. Good riddance.
Then he really put the club first…didn’t he!?!
I personally feel that Houston could do worse than take a designated player-worth of salary cap hit and go out and buy someone who is healthier and scores more. I’d rather open the stadium like NYRB did with the next Henry — a productive striker — than with Ching’s symbolic value…..which is like begging to have JP Angel back at this stage.
Sarkodie is fast but raw. I wanted him to add some speed to our glacial backline but he made too many bad passes. His old Akron teammate Zakuani abused him in the first Seattle game and he largely disappeared thereafter. Freeman took the job back and then Hainault displaced him.
If Ching is mad at anyone, he should be mad at Houston. They didn’t value him enough to protect him. That’s their fault.
Many of his fans here and at other sites predicted Freddy Adu would be the foundation of the new team. They based that prediction on six good games over 5 years.
I am going to reserve judgement on Adu. If after this next season he is not a starter with 6-8 goals with Philly or another comparable team, then I will join the he’s a washout club. Until then, he was a mid season acquisition carrying an injury for a lot longer than anyone probably is letting on trying to find him place in an offense that was in a lot of turmoil after Ruiz left.
On a related note, Philly is a great team and has a lot of potential, but they started the season as a “defense first, Ruiz scores” philosophy and never quite recovered, even though Seba did his best to step into that role.
They will either go in the direction of an offense defined by a trio of ball handlers like Torres Adu and Farfan or in the direction of more traditional strikers like Mwanga and Seba, with holding mids and wingers, or a team that is adept at shifting between the two depending on the opponent. Either way it’s going to take a season to bear that out.
Agreed. if i were Ching i’d say Houston are the tools here, not Montreal.
we’re all talking about them on the night before thanksgiving. I’d say they’re doing something right in this move.
to montreal?
last time I checked, when you say to someone “you don’t have the nerve” you’re pretty much begging them to do it.
I think the idea is if he retires M.I. lose nothing but a draft pick, if Houston makes a play for him M.I. have a good bargaining chip to get a better player, and if he plays… well whatever he’s not exactly useless.
sometimes soccer is business and this was a good business move.
I feel for Ching though. Getting jilted for South Africa after carrying so much water during qualifiers, now Houston leaving him in the wind before they open their stadium and his playing a role in getting then through the MLS playoff… no love no love no love.
I’d take you mom over my mom every day and twice on sundays.
wait, that’s not what I meant….
Seriously? You really believe that? So with Montreal building a new team starting out with a 34 yr old striker who’s past his prime and with a bloated salary makes it a smart pick for you, then I’m glad you’re not my GM. It just smells like Montreal could game Houston on the emotional side of this deal, which to get caught up in that on your draft day is quite unbelievable. Montreal has no future under Marsch.
You’re probably right but now we likely need to find another CB for depth- though i hope Ike is finally healthy and starts every game next season. we really need a MF and Forward overhaul- having to search out a new CB option means trades or scouting and Yallop & Doyle are successful only about 50% of the time.
+1