Wednesday's MLS Expansion Draft provides the Montreal Impact a chance to build the foundation for its MLS roster, and the club will have some decisions to make based on how much it wants to spend and which direction it wants to go off the bat.
Designated Players Julian de Guzman, Andres Mendoza, Mustapha Jarju, Branko Boskovic, Frank Rost, Milton Caraglio, Omar Bravo and Jeferson are all free for the taking (although Rost is likely to return to Germany after a few-month stay with New York), giving the Impact the option to make a major investment immediately.
Other intriguing names on the unprotected list include Brian Ching (although the veteran striker has reportedly said he will retire if selected), Freddy Adu, Andy Williams, Sanna Nyassi, Bobby Convey and Justin Mapp.
According to The Oregonian, the Portland Timbers have a deal in place with the Impact to not have any players taken, stemming back to the Timbers agreeing to loan Ryan Pore to Montreal during this past season. That leaves 17 other teams to sweat out the draft process, in which a team can lose no more than one player.
Which players do you think the Impact should take? Should they go for any of the high-priced talent available? Whom do you expect to be selected?
Share your thoughts below.
Anybody know how much money the owners are willing to spend? We know that teams make their decisions on who to leave unprotected partially based on financial concerns; No doubt the Impact will do the same in choosing their squad. Given that goal scorers in this league are hard to come by, I’d expect that they’ll splurge in this area, probably on a DP. I’d love for them to take Freddy Adu, though, and give him the keys. Once and for all we could find out what he could be, or what he’s never going to be. Either way, it would make me happy to know.
Please don’t take A. Alvarez! /sarcasm. Go have a “nightmare” in French Canada.
Some of the Internationals unprotected will have problems getting Canadian work visas. Probably why they felt safe leaving them open. (Example: Sanyang on Seattle)
The Anelka thing is not a pipe dream. The Impact have reportedly have talked with his agent But this was before china offered Anelka about 9mil a year to play there.
Me…
I agree, but part of the offset of the cost of signing Bravo is the large draw in the Mexican community. I don’t think (correct me if I’m wrong) Montreal has as large a Mexican community as Kansas City.
this would do me just fine for Christmas!
Pele is currently too busy siding with Blatter, he just said there’s no racism in European soccer.
Can any current MLS club say that an expansion team could fill their starting 11 with former players that are on the current unprotected list?
Jesse could do a Chicago Fire reunion tour in Montreal:
Zach Thornton (Chivas)
Stephen King (DC)
Jack Stewart (Dallas)
Chad Barrett (LA) or Dasan Robinson (LA)
Justin Mapp (Philly)
Andy Williams (SLC)
Tim Ward (San Jose)
Nate Jacqua (Seattle)
John Thorrington (Vancouver)
last pick anyone on our current roster
Credit to MDSCIan for compiling the list.
Jeferson sucks.
Have you spoken with Mikulic, or did he just kick your puppy dog? Bad attitude? uuuuhhhh, sure.
wann, re-read abc’s post. He’s right. Besides, if I were Ching and had the injuries I’ve had over the past several seasons, I wouldn’t want to risk playing in cold weather in the late spring or early fall, either.
What about Pele? What’s he up to now days?
Yep, I would go with experience. And these three have tons of it. Add Ching if you need a youngster.
Good idea, but I think it’d be a better idea to trade for a fourth DP slot and sign Messi. That way Quaranta could come off the bench for a late game “impact.”
Don’t forget Raison d’etre in goal and supersub Je ne sais quoi.
Oooops!
————— DP_Anelkka ————–
————— DP_Ronaldinho ————-
— Adu ————————- Quaranta –
———– Marcellin — DP_Appiah ——–
—————————————–
—————————————–
Convey—— Mendes —- Riley —— Barnes
—————————————–
—————– Seitz ——————
If I ran the FO here’s my list (4-4-1-1)
F: DESIGNATED PLAYER – NICOLAS ANELKA
CAM: DESIGNATED PLAYER – RONALDINHO
LW: Adu
RW: Quaranta
LCM: DESIGNATED PLAYER – STEPHEN APPIAH
RCM: Marcelin
LB: Convey
RB: Barnes
LCB: Mendes
RCB: Riley
GK – Seitz
SUBS: Saad, Kandji
Here’s My Line Up:
————— DP_Anelkka ————–
————— DP_Ronaldinho ————-
— Adu ————————- Quaranta –
——— Marcellin – DP_Ronaldinho ——-
—————————————–
—————————————–
Convey—— Mendes —- Riley —— Barnes
—————————————–
—————– Seitz ——————
A little FLASH/FLAIR
Lot’s of Speed and Athleticism. Somewhat Cheap.
Chaves (FW Chicago)
Fucito (FW Seattle)
Adu (MF Philly)
Sinovic (MF Sporting KC)
Quaranta (Winger/MF DC)
Cardozo (Winger/FW LA)
Convey (LB San Jose)
Boxall (CB Vancouver)
Warshaw (DM/Defender Dallas)
Valentin (RB Chivas)
how is it classless? He has been with Houston since they existed and wants to retire with them.
There aren’t many soccer leagues, none off the top of my head at least, that make you play for a team you have no desire to play for when you are already on another team. How does being forced to go play for a team you have no desire to play for make you a cry baby?
all i know is if they don’t pick Robbie Russell, Andy Williams, Ned Grabavoy, or Paulo Jr. from RSL they are in outer space. As a fan of the league I love the mentality and style Salt Lake have had over the last few years. Simply outstanding. Picking anyone from Salt Lake gives you someone who’s played for future national team coach Jason Kreis
What a great sign for the talent pool of the league that there are so many good players available in the expansion draft, compared to the ones from just a couple years ago. The Impact really have no excuse to not be a playoff team right out of the gate.
It’s still pretty tough first year in. You really do need some experienced players, and you can’t do it all with 3 DPs (if one even goes for that first campaign). Probably I’d think in pairs (one for now, one for later), and try to stick with quality in the front and back of the park–you might not play pretty through the MF, but you wouldn’t get lit up and you can steal points on the counter.
Jeremy Hall might have a conniption. 4 teams in 3 years…
You forgot, he is Sigi’s all-time favorite.
I think the right attitude to have about expansion drafts is that you want players who are cheap and young. Some players you pick b/c you think that in 2-3 years they might be a real solid MLS player. But you don’t want to pick anyone with big salaries, injury histories, age. It’s also worth taking a flier on a player who might be headed to Europe.
But in this day and age in MLS, with the cap being what it is, multiple DP slots, you do NOT build your team via the expansion draft. You get maybe 2 starters (your first year), a couple of guys who might contribute in year 2 or 3, maybe a player you can trade to another team for a draft pick or allocation money.
Gotta imagine they’ll look for youth and start building now. With that in mind, projected selections:
Zarek Valentin (D)
Austin da Luz (M)
Freddy Adu (M)
Josh Ford (GK)
Soony Saad (F)
Eddie Ababio (D)
Justin Meram (F)
Jeremy Hall (D)
Paolo Cardozo (M)
Hunter Freeman (D)
Pretty classless on Chings part. If I can’t have my way I’m taking my ball and going home. What a cry baby.
You got the two starting LB and RB in Francis and Kimura, respectively.
Montreal would be stupid not to select them and try to test the waters with some unproven players.
Hopefully this will be like last year, with Colorado making big pickups somehow during an expansion draft!
Gotta hope they’ll take at least one Canada Intl. Attakora would be a good get.
I wouldn’t be so surprised if Houston loses Cruz. He’s a workhorse on the field and fits well in the Dynamo system, but tends to underperform and is in danger of becoming dead weight during the offseason.
Which is one of the reasons Houston didn’t bother to protect him! I don’t think he’s selected in any case, he has a significant salary, he’s getting old, and plans on retiring after one year. If Montreal selects such a player when there is so much young cheap talent available, their front office should be fired.
D Zarek Valentin
D Seth Sinovic
D Bobby Burling
D Darrius Barnes
D Kosuke Kimura
M Austin da Luz
M Paolo Cardozo
M Mike Fucito
F Paulo Arujo Jr.
F Diego Chaves
Average age is 24.
Or M Sanna Nyassi for Kimura, D Yamith Cuesta for Chaves.
Brian Ching says he will retire if he’s selected: http://www.chron.com/sports/dynamo/article/Dynamo-s-Ching-threatens-to-retire-if-he-s-picked-2282371.php
Ives…. any “inside” info to let you know what players Montreal may be looking for?
I guess it always depends on whether they’re going to select players to use, or players to trade. Mock expansion drafts wholly dependent upon assumption of players to stick around….TFC and Vancouver (the other Canadian sides) did the opposite, and I think it hurt them. Some very good talent in the draft, really depends on what they want to do but for me the absolute must selects include…
Barnes – NE
Gavin (or Valentin) – Chivas USA
Quaranta – DC
Warshaw – Dallas
Stephens (or Cardozo) – LA
Harrington (or Sinovic) – KC
They other 4 players are a crap shoot, but plenty to choose from…Mikulic (bad attitude) – (CHI), Adu/Mapp/Nakazawa – (PHL), Fucito/Carrasco/Wahl (SEA), Convey (SJ), Grabavoy/Russell (RSL), Ballouchy/Mendes (NYRB)….
The more i look at the recent drafts the more i know the quality has improved considerably. For reference, people should look back at the chaff that was available to TFC in 2005.
Boyens, Nyassi, Mendoza, Da Luz, Hernandez, Weaver, Stephens, Mendes, Convey, and Boss
lol
Gregg Berhalter, Frankie Hejduk, Jovan Kirovski.
Ha! FYI gets my vote for “Post of the day”
Go attacking with Freddy Adu, Bobby Convey, Sanna Nyassi, and O’Brien White
Jean Valjean on the back line. He could wear the 24601 jersey.
Savoir-Faire in central mid: he is everywhere!
Jean Girard up top.
But not Pepe LePew: he’d stink up the joint.
SKC fans we chanting for Vermes to bring in Bravo vs. Houston….I would say he was a success with them.
You’ve clearly plagiarized Adam Cristman’s bio.
lol
Valentin
Cuesta
Nyassi
Santos
Freeman
Barnes
Grabavoy
Wahl
Ekpo
Sinovic
Switch Sinovic with Bravo if you are willing to overpay for quality but not draw in many fans that he was signed to draw in.
Mendoza is a legitimate goal-scorer that could use a change of scenery.
Jeferson is also a quality player that never really got a chance at SKC.
absolutely montreal should take nate jaqua. he’s a goal machine and holds the ball up well. his height makes him strong in the air and he’s a handful for any defender #classyimpactmisinformation