Coach Ellinger must read my blog...

Well lookie, lookie. I call attention to RSL rookie Ryan Johnson and blam-o! He's getting the start this weekend against the LA Gals. Nice going Ryan, knock-em dead.

The Yanks go marching 11 by 11...

This week I don't have a ton of time to write my thoughts so I decided to bring your attention to some smaller things going on.

First off, we are coming up on match day 4 in MLS. Time flies! I'll be hitting the Rapids game to see how the team attacks without Pedro Peguero, who was traded to NY for their first and third picks in the 2007 SuperDraft. A great deal for the Rapids in my opinion. Pedro hasn't shown any work rate since his first season. On paper he's a star, on the pitch he needs to try harder. I'd much rather have a crack at one of the 5 best rookies next season.

Could one of the current US U-20 players be part of the draft pool the Rapids could make a run for? I hope so. Here is a link to the match report for the U-20s beating River Plate's U-20 side. River is one of the biggest clubs in Argentina and all of South America so beating their youngsters is a good result. Nikolas Besagno, Dax McCarty, Blake Wagner, Rodrigo Lopez, Quavas Kirk, Estuardo Sanchez, Josmer Altidore and David Arvizu all played in the match and all play for MLS. I'm sure the majority of the rest of that roster will get a look before the next SuperDraft. By the way, Is anyone else scared that Altidore and Arvizu are both on NY Red Bulls?

Maybe Real (Fake) Salt Lake should consider switching some more reserves into the starting line-up. While the big guys can't win a game, the young guys are 2-0 with rookie Ryan Johnson leading the reserve league with two goals and an assist. Johnson was the 26th overall pick and is trying to unseat the aging Jason Kreis from a starting spot, no doubt.

Ok, I'll admit, RSL fans shouldn't get too excited about the reserve success, they're the only team to play 2 matches.

This summer promises more soccer giants touring the country. Barcelona and Chelsea will play friendly matches against MLS teams in various cities around the country. Naturally they aren't coming to Denver, so I won't get to see them. Despite me having to watch on tv, it is exciting for the young guys in MLS to play this quality opponent.

Ok, that is all I can think of today.

Texans play into the record books...

The Dallas Cup is one of the most exciting youth soccer tournaments in the world. That's right, one of the best youth competitions takes place in Dallas, Texas. This is the first year the event was held at the new Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas, allowing the organizers to expand the event, so this year was even bigger and better than ever.

One of the Super Group matches even out drew the home team, FC Dallas. When Manchester United played Real Madrid local residents packed PHP to the brim. No, these weren't the full sides but the teams did include the future of both clubs, including Man U's American/Italian player, Giuseppe Rossi.

Many MLS players have played in this event as kids and Kenny Cooper was spotted at this event before being signed to a contract at Manchester United. To the delight of FC Dallas fans, Cooper is back in his home town. The big news here is that for the first time an American club won the Supergroup. Past winners include; Clube Atletico Paranaense (Brazil), Tigres (Mexico), Nottingham Forest (England), UNAM Pumas (Mexico), SC Corinthians (Brazil), CA San Lorenzo (Argentina), Sao Paulo FC (Brazil), Real Madrid (Spain), West Ham United (England), Moscow Dynamo (Russia) and Tahuichi (Bolivia). That list includes some of the biggest clubs in the world and if you don't recognize some of the other clubs you will recognize their home countries as huge names in the soccer world.

This year the Dallas Texans beat Tigres (Mexico), Deportivo Saprissa (Costa Rica), FC Groningen (Netherlands), CF Monterrey (Mexico) & Santos Laguna (Mexico) to win the Supergroup that included Manchester United (England) and Real Madrid (Spain). Let this sink in. The Dallas Texans U-19 team beat teams from traditional soccer power countries and finished ahead of Manchester United and Real Madrid. This is no small feat. This could signify the tipping point in American soccer's growth.

The Texans players are off to college in the fall. Dane Saintus will stay local by attending SMU. Jonathan Villanueva will certainly elevate UVA's squad. Andre Akpan should help Harvard win some games. UNC will be happy to have Billy Dworsky. We'll look back at this post in a few years to see how far these young stars make it in the American soccer system, but we can be sure that they were seen by worldwide scouts and the US Soccer folks.

So what does ESPN think about the race for MLS Rookie of the Year?

I know the above question has been on all of your lips recently. Well, here is Andrea Canales' opinion on the matter. Andrea brings up an interesting phenomenon in MLS, the #1 pick jinx. Over the past few years MLS teams have improved at picking the top youth talent, but the history of the top picks can be laughable.

Let's take a look:

1996	-	Kansas City		-	M	-	Matt McKeon	-	St. Louis
1997	-	Colorado		-	D	-	Tahj Jakins	-	UCLA
1998	-	Miami		-	D	-	Leo Cullen	-	Maryland
1999	-	D.C. United		-	M	-	Jason Moore	-	Virginia
2000	-	Metrostars		-	D	-	Steve Shak
2001	-	San Jose		-	F	-	Chris Carrieri	-	UNC
2002	-	Dallas		-	D	-	Chris Gbandi
2003	-	D.C. United		-	F	-	Alecko Eskandarian
2004	-	D.C. United		-	F	-	Freddy Adu
2005	-	RSL		-	M	-	Nikolas Besagno
2006	-	Metrostars		-	D	-	Marvell Wynne

While looking at the above list, it is ok if you say, "Who?" Jenkins, Moore, Shak...Many of these guys not only failed to impress in their first season but never made a mark on the league. They have bounced around teams and ended up in the A-League or worse.

MLS has tried to step up to the plate by giving league coaches more opportunities to evaluate talent. Additionally, teams have realized that the draft is a place to pick up a young, cheap athlete. I'm sure in those first drafts the coaches were picking names out of a hat based on their friends in the coaching world opinions. Now, MLS coaches can watch the future stars at the combine, in Florida at the US training center or a number of other tournaments. Scouting has certainly come along way and the young guys taken in the recent drafts will make their mark on MLS. This could be the first season where a lot of them do, as Andrea points out.

An all MLS side can't get it done against Jamaica...and the World Cup is under 2 months away!!!

For those of you who watched last night's US National Team match...I'm sorry. You weren't treated to the beautiful game. There were fits and starts...but nothing American fans have come to expect from the best we have to offer.

Ok, you got me. The match against Jamaica last night was the US Nat "B" team of sorts. Yes, Landon Donovan was there and in the first half he was the shining star. Yes, Eddie Pope was there and he held together the defense. Yes, Pablo was there and as a Rapids fan it pains me to see him play well in central defense for the Nats after leaving enough room for Houston to score 5 goals 10 days earlier. So some of the regular stars were in Cary, NC last night. However, last night was more about the B teamers. It was a chance for the MLS guys to put their last claim on a part of the 23 man World Cup squad.

By now you know me well enough to know we're first going to look at where these guys learned to play. Question #1...did they go to an American college and play soccer? Let's see...

Player		-	College
Tony Meola		-	UVA
Chris Albright		-	UVA
Eddie Pope		-	UNC
Frankie Hejduk		-	UCLA
Steve Ralston		-	FIU
(Clint Dempsey, 55)		-	Furman
Ben Olsen		-	UVA
Pablo Mastroeni		-	NC State
Landon Donovan		-	N/A
Pat Noonan		-	IU
(John Obrien, 67)		-	N/A
Josh Wolff		-	South Carolina
(Eddie Johnson, 46)		-	N/A
Taylor Twellman		-	Maryland
(Brian Ching, 46).		-	Gonzaga
Nick Garcia		-	IU
Kerry Zavagnin		-	UNC
Matt Reis		-	UCLA

Only three of the players from last night's match didn't go to an American college. The last three guys on the list didn't see any playing time yesterday.

You see a lot of the major college programs listed; UCLA, UVA, Maryland and IU. The guys coming out of the smaller school have got to be thanking MLS for finding them because in the past ten years, if you weren't at a big soccer power, you weren't getting looks on the national team. As I've said before, some players take longer to develop than others and the college system is a good place to learn.

That being said, not all of these guys are going to the World Cup. In fact, I suspect that between 8-10 of these guys will make the trip to Germany.

First, I think the following 4 players are locks; Pope, Pablo, Landycakes & JOB. They all proved themselves in the last World Cup and have been a big part of this qualification cycle. JOB is the only one who hasn't featured heavily in Bruce's plans over the last 2 years because of injury. However, O'Brien is getting healthy at the right time and when Landon calls you the best soccer player in the country you've got a good chance of making the team. JOB has to hope his injury bug will take off this summer. Heck, all Americans have to hope that is the case because we're a better team with him on the field.

Next are the maybe's. There are two classes of maybe's in my eyes. A's & B's. The A's are young, hungry and just flat out talented. The Bruce showed in the last World Cup that those are the guys who surprise you in big games. DaMarcus Beasley was in this group before the 2002 cup. His MLS play got him noticed, his speed and creativity got him on the team, his desire made him a star on the world stage. This time around I think the A's are; Albright, Dempsey, Wolff and Johnson. Last night the addition of Dempsey and Johnson really perked up the US attack. Jamaica saw a lot less of the ball in the second half and a lot more quick steps coming their way and it was Dempsey and Johnson providing most of the magic. Without their performances last night I would have fallen asleep on the couch. Albright has the skill and has learned the right back position well. He's the lowest rated A in my book. Wolff isn't my favorite player but I've got to give him respect. He has some flashes of brilliance...I said some, not tons.


The B's are guys who have been around the block with the Nats but I don't think...or I hope...they're not going to make the team. I consider the B's to be; Hejduk, Ralston, Olsen, Noonan, Twellman and Ching. Last night Ralston closed the door to his World Cup dream. His play was uninspired and slow. Dempsey came in and changed the game, drastically improving the position after Ralston. Dempsey may not be the ball crosser Ralston is, but Deuce adds a lot more to a game. Hejduk will actually make this team I fear. The Bruce has a crush on him or something. I find Frankie reckless and unskilled. Yes, he has sprinters speed but that won't win you games. Olsen's stock has risen recently and he is finally earning some of the praise he received when he joined MLS. I hope to see him in the coming camps because I think his heart is in the right place. Noonan is a good player but he's shown too many times that when it counts, he's out. Same goes for Twellman and Ching. If we need a bench striker I'd take Twellman over Ching any day, hopefully Bruce will too.

Meola was only there last night to get his 100th Cap for the Nats. A nice gesture from Bruce to one of the innovators of the sport in our country. Without Meola there would be a lot of young kids not following this sport in New Jersey. Reis is a thug and I am thankful there are a bunch of keepers ahead of him in line. If he makes the team and actually plays in a World Cup match he will actually try to injure the other team's strikers....just ask Alecko Eskandarian and Fabrice Noel. Garcia is a quality center back in MLS but we've got a lot of options there and he hasn't had a great chance at this team, unfortunately. Zavagnin could make the team if Pablo goes down injured...which there has a good possibility of happening.

So that's what I think of last night's roster. The team out there last night really needed the wing play of RUN DMB, or the target up top in Brian McBride, or the control of Reyna, or the keeping of Keller. Thankfully all those pieces will fall together in the final month before the cup, because if this team went to Germany, it would be 1998 all over again.

MLS week 1, who played?

Those who watched opening weekend in MLS stadia around the country or who watched on TV were treated to some fun games. In Dallas the home team fought back against their rivals to the north, Chicago. Kansas City's new offense led by Eddie Johnson crushed the youthful Crew, and spoiled Sigi's return to the league. New England reversed last year's MLS Cup final result to win their opener against LA. DC United looked like they'd be the first to bow to the Red Bulls but a fully recovered Alecko Eskandarian made sure that wouldn't happen and the two bitter Eastern Conference rivals ended tied, 2-2. Chivas USA proved the better second year team against their fellow bottom 2005 dwellers, Real Salt Lake. Finally, my home team, Colorado Rapids were made to look foolish by Houston with Brian Ching scoring 4 goals in a 5-2 victory for the orange-men.

All in all we saw 24 goals opening weekend and average attendance up over 70% from last season's opening weekend. With all the changes happening in MLS during the off-season it certainly looked strong in the first weekend.

So how did our crop of rookies fare? First off, I am going to define rookies as first year players coming into the league through the draft process. Look back a couple posts and you'll see how there are many more players with no previous MLS experience, but in my book that doesn't make them rookies.

By my count 12 rookie saw playing time this weekend. You can see that the starting lineup was very hard to crack with some clubs as there were 4 clubs that didn't put a rookie on the field at all this weekend. Here is a breakdown of who played where:

Chicago: Calen Carr & Floyd Franks both came on as subs.
Chivas USA: Jonathan Bornstein, Sacha Kljestan & Lawson Vaughn all started while Drew Helm came on as a sub.
Columbus: Brandon Moss & Kei Kamara started with Jason Garey coming off the bench.
Kansas City: Matt Groenwald started.
Los Angeles: Nathan Sturgis started.
New England: Kyle Brown came on as a sub.
New York: Marvell Wynne started.
Salt Lake: Mehdi Ballouchy got the start and Ryan Johnson came on as a sub.

Performances across the board were mixed. Most guys played at a decent level but didn't really do anything to stand apart. Many eyes were on Marvell Wynne since he was the #1 pick of the SuperDraft. He played well but he showed his athletic ability will not get him all the way to the top flight. On Alecko Eskandarian's outstanding volley Wynne was seen doing an awkward jump at the ball but not getting anywhere near it effectively leaving Eskandarian all alone on the far post.

Kei Kamara opening his MLS scoring account with the only goal in the losing effort by Columbus. Had he been a little more lucky he could have had a hat trick as he had some other very good chances. Some more experience and he would have buried those other chances. He looked dangerous quite a bit. Kai wasn't a surprise to many going in the SuperDraft at #9.

On the other side of the pitch was Matt Groenwald for Kansas City. Groenwald looked like a veteran serving up a great ball to Davy Arnaud for the first KC goal of the match. He was composed and played well. Seems like he could be ready for a solid rookie season.

Out in LA LA Land two rookies notched assists in their debuts. Sacha Kljestan was the #5 pick in the SuperDraft so we're expecting great things from him, but Lawson Vaughn? He wasn't picked until the 25th pick of the Supplemental Draft. Where did he come from?!?! Well, those at the University of Tulsa will recognize his name.

Mehdi Ballouchy, the #2 pick of the SuperDraft, played well but maybe had too much weight on his shoulders. Salt Lake is depending on him to add to a poor offense from last season and while he looked good on the ball he couldn't add too much. He has the skills and will need some time to develop.

So that is my two cents from the games I was able to watch or catch highlights of. Those players I didn't mention either didn't play enough minutes to make an impression or I couldn't catch the game. MLS is off to an exciting start and here's hoping we get to see some more new, exciting players in the weeks to come.

Well look at that...

No sooner do I post my previous post then Real Salt Lake of MLS announces the signing of Adam Acosta and waiving Jeff Rowland. The signing of Acosta is less interesting than the waiving of Rowland, in my opinion. Jeff Rowland led his New Mexico Lobos to the final four or the College Cup and was a finalist for the Hermann Trophy, soccer's Heisman Trophy equivalent. Going into the MLS Combine he was a name on a lot of lips. Rowland slipped into the Supplemental Draft and was taken with the second pick. To me, the casual observer who didn't see Rowland play during the season and could only evaluate him based on stats, Rowland looked like the real deal. I guess those MLS coaches get to see more at the combine and they saw that he probably didn't have what it takes to make it in MLS.

Good luck to Jeff. He should be able to get a deal in the USL and maybe we'll see him back in MLS soon. RSL says Rowland is being waived to give him time to recover from ACL surgery, however MLS does allow an "injured reserve" roster spot for someone who is going to be out for an extended period. Maybe Rowland will heal too quickly for that spot, or maybe RSL knows they don't need him.

Opening day is here! Who's left?

Now that opening day is upon us and MLS has updated the team rosters on their website we can see which of our rookies has made it through the hell of two a day pre-season practices. This analysis is based on the information posted on the MLS website in the players section. All of my analysis assumes this list is up to date and correct. Unfortunately I don't have any inside information not available to the rest of you. I'm just good with MS Excel.

To start with, there are 86 players listed on the MLS website as rookies, or players with no previous MLS experience. Now, not all of these players are rookies in the traditional sense. For example, Bouna Coundoul is listed as a rookie but he was on the Rapids developmental squad last season. Either MLS has an error or he didn't really count as a player on the team last year. Additionally, new players to the league are listed as rookies. So Claudio Suarez, the 37 year old Mexican legend, is included in that above number. I have not gone through the list of rookies to take these players out because there could be a young American who went from college to the USL, or another league around the world, and has just joined MLS. 34 players fit into the category of previous soccer experience but no MLS experience.

So, we've got the list of 86 players. 34 of them did not enter the league through a draft, 52 of them did. 41 SuperDraft players have earned contracts and 11 Supplemental draftees have earned contracts. For the young up and coming player it is obviously better to go in the SuperDraft, after all 85% of the players drafted are still on the league roster. Meanwhile, only 23% of the Supplemental picks have earned contracts. You've got to think the coaches are doing something right if they are picking most of their new players in the first four rounds.

SuperDraft pick number 22, Dominic Oduro out of Virginia Commonwealth University, has the dubious distinction of being the first picked in the SuperDraft without earning a contract. Now, there is a chance he decided to go after another opportunity. I don't know. None the less, he doesn't have a roster spot in MLS at this point.

So who was the lowest selection to earn a spot? Supplemental pick number 43, Devon McTavish wins that award. He's just excited to be here.

After this weekend it'll be interesting to see who starts out of this group. Who scores a goal. Who even makes the bench squad. We'll look at that Monday. Until then, enjoy MLS opening weekend and keep your eyes open for the rookies!