Which 2006 MLS Draftee Will Shine in 2007...Part III...
Here it is, Part III. Remember folks, these are the guys who I see needing to turn it on to maintain a roster spot on their respective teams. I haven’t talked about Jonathan Bornstein, Dasan Robinson, Sacha Kljestan or Marvell Wynne,
Los Angeles – Kyle Veris. As a third round draft pick Veris was seen by many as an unknown commodity coming out of the Big Ten and Ohio St. His experience in the PDL seems to have helped him as his rookie campaign saw him step into the pros with confidence. He ended the 2006 with 10 appearances and 8 starts. The Galaxy defense was second best in the league having conceded only 37 goals, but a big part of that Ugo Ihemelu was traded away in the off-season. For the Gals to fully enjoy the fruits of the Beckham signing they’re going to need to make the playoffs in 2007. Scoring more goals will be important but keeping as many out will be more important. Behind the defense will be a rock wall in Joe Cannon, but as the Rapids proved in 2006 Cannon can’t do it alone all the time. Veris is going to have to solidify his starting role and turn into a class MLS defender or the Galaxy will be left blowing in the wind with most of the rest of their defense young and in-experienced. While Tyrone Marshall’s spot should be assured, Veris will be competing for starting time with Shavar Thomas, Nathan Sturgis, Troy Roberts and Ty Harden but none of those names jumps out as a real show stopper. Frank Yallop will have his hands full if his young defensive group doesn’t solidify quickly. Veris could be a big part of the teams’ success or could be watching from the bench as they plunge into the league basement before the arrival of magical David Beckham.
New England – Willie Sims. Sims’ name popped onto the Generation Adidas list as somewhat of a surprise to many of us because he wasn’t coming out of a major college program at Cal State – Northridge. That didn’t prevent New England from taking a gamble on him in the second round of the 2006 SuperDraft. In his rookie year he broke the 200 minute mark, mostly as a sub, but didn’t find the back of the net. The young, speedy forward is going to have to do more in 2007 to convince his coach to keep him on board once his GA contract needs to be turned into a senior contract. Working in his favor is the fact that starting teammates Pat Noonan and Taylor Twellman will be seeing significant national team time and Clint Dempsey moved to London. Those are big shoes for Willie to fill, but he’s shown some flashes of skill. On the other hand, another goalless season in 2007 could see him moving to the USL.
New York - Jerrod Laventure. Laventure went un-drafted in 2006 but did participate in the 2005 combine. Continued effort saw him join the Red Bulls as a developmental player in April of 2006. In 70 minutes of playing time, all as a substitute, Jerrod was able to score a goal and make an assist. While another Haitian-American youngster in New York got all the headlines, Laventure showed he can play the game. With some hard word he should be able to get more playing time as New York could be hurting for goals. Between Clint Mathis, Josmer Altidore, John Wolyniec, Randi Patterson and Laventure you don’t have a proven MLS leading goal scorer (let’s not put Mathis in that category yet, he could reverse two seasons of negative energy right out of the gate but I’m not counting on it and nor should New York fans). Rumors have coach Arena trying to secure another designated player scoring threat but it hasn’t happened at this point. If Laventure has what it takes he should get his chance as Arena won’t want to count on Mathis once his beer belly comes back and Altidore is too young to carry all the goal scoring burden.
Sally Lake - Mehdi Ballouchy. Ballouchy was the second overall pick in the 2006 draft and his creativity was supposed to help get Salt Lake to the playoffs for the first time. Well, it didn’t work out that way and Freddy Adu has now been given the keys to the offense. Where does this leave Mehdi? I suppose we’ll know more in a few weeks, but I think it leaves him looking for a new team. I want to see more of Mehdi but unfortunately Adu came in and pulled the trump card. Ballouchy has great poise, ball control and creativity and 2007 could be the year he gains confidence and matures into an offensive leader, the illusive #10 American soccer fans crave. However, I don’t see Salt Lake being able to operate a two headed attack. Don’t forget Andy Williams is still on the roster and isn’t going to want to sit on the bench behind two youngsters. So now there are three creative attacking midfielders fighting for one spot and it doesn’t work. Since Adu is going to play no matter what to sell seats, Mehdi seems to be out of a job. Can he play on the flanks? Probably but he likes to get inside and meg people. Hopefully I am proved wrong and Ballouchy can become the offensive star MLS craves…however until I see it I won’t believe it can happen on this SLC team.
Toronto – Conor Casey. Ok, please don’t jump down my throat yet. I had to pick someone random because Toronto doesn’t have any 2006 draft class members on their roster at this point. I want to see how Casey does because he’s a Denver local and much of the effort to bring him to MLS was allergy done by the Rapids. However, due to league rules Casey went to Toronto based on the allocation list order. So now I want to see what he can do first hand. In Germany he has no doubt learned from some good coaches and been treated as a professional athlete should be. This seemed to help Taylor Twellman before his return to the US. However, recently we have seen some one highly touted players come back from stints abroad and they’ve not been able to catch on in MLS. Conor Casey’s task will be to take what he learned abroad, apply it here while also adapting to a physically demanding level of play. I think some guys come back to the US thinking they’ve seen Europe and don’t need to work as hard here (hear me Clint Mathis?). That is not the case and a true professional like Twellman can succeed and become a national team player. Can Casey shake off the injury bug and solidify a place on Toronto’s starting line? We’ll see.
Well that is it readers. Those are the second year (mostly) players I’m looking to sink or swim. I hope they all come out of the gates well, but you know they won’t. It should be an exciting 2007 season in MLS and I am really looking forward to it…as I’ve said a few times recently.
Los Angeles – Kyle Veris. As a third round draft pick Veris was seen by many as an unknown commodity coming out of the Big Ten and Ohio St. His experience in the PDL seems to have helped him as his rookie campaign saw him step into the pros with confidence. He ended the 2006 with 10 appearances and 8 starts. The Galaxy defense was second best in the league having conceded only 37 goals, but a big part of that Ugo Ihemelu was traded away in the off-season. For the Gals to fully enjoy the fruits of the Beckham signing they’re going to need to make the playoffs in 2007. Scoring more goals will be important but keeping as many out will be more important. Behind the defense will be a rock wall in Joe Cannon, but as the Rapids proved in 2006 Cannon can’t do it alone all the time. Veris is going to have to solidify his starting role and turn into a class MLS defender or the Galaxy will be left blowing in the wind with most of the rest of their defense young and in-experienced. While Tyrone Marshall’s spot should be assured, Veris will be competing for starting time with Shavar Thomas, Nathan Sturgis, Troy Roberts and Ty Harden but none of those names jumps out as a real show stopper. Frank Yallop will have his hands full if his young defensive group doesn’t solidify quickly. Veris could be a big part of the teams’ success or could be watching from the bench as they plunge into the league basement before the arrival of magical David Beckham.
New England – Willie Sims. Sims’ name popped onto the Generation Adidas list as somewhat of a surprise to many of us because he wasn’t coming out of a major college program at Cal State – Northridge. That didn’t prevent New England from taking a gamble on him in the second round of the 2006 SuperDraft. In his rookie year he broke the 200 minute mark, mostly as a sub, but didn’t find the back of the net. The young, speedy forward is going to have to do more in 2007 to convince his coach to keep him on board once his GA contract needs to be turned into a senior contract. Working in his favor is the fact that starting teammates Pat Noonan and Taylor Twellman will be seeing significant national team time and Clint Dempsey moved to London. Those are big shoes for Willie to fill, but he’s shown some flashes of skill. On the other hand, another goalless season in 2007 could see him moving to the USL.
New York - Jerrod Laventure. Laventure went un-drafted in 2006 but did participate in the 2005 combine. Continued effort saw him join the Red Bulls as a developmental player in April of 2006. In 70 minutes of playing time, all as a substitute, Jerrod was able to score a goal and make an assist. While another Haitian-American youngster in New York got all the headlines, Laventure showed he can play the game. With some hard word he should be able to get more playing time as New York could be hurting for goals. Between Clint Mathis, Josmer Altidore, John Wolyniec, Randi Patterson and Laventure you don’t have a proven MLS leading goal scorer (let’s not put Mathis in that category yet, he could reverse two seasons of negative energy right out of the gate but I’m not counting on it and nor should New York fans). Rumors have coach Arena trying to secure another designated player scoring threat but it hasn’t happened at this point. If Laventure has what it takes he should get his chance as Arena won’t want to count on Mathis once his beer belly comes back and Altidore is too young to carry all the goal scoring burden.
Sally Lake - Mehdi Ballouchy. Ballouchy was the second overall pick in the 2006 draft and his creativity was supposed to help get Salt Lake to the playoffs for the first time. Well, it didn’t work out that way and Freddy Adu has now been given the keys to the offense. Where does this leave Mehdi? I suppose we’ll know more in a few weeks, but I think it leaves him looking for a new team. I want to see more of Mehdi but unfortunately Adu came in and pulled the trump card. Ballouchy has great poise, ball control and creativity and 2007 could be the year he gains confidence and matures into an offensive leader, the illusive #10 American soccer fans crave. However, I don’t see Salt Lake being able to operate a two headed attack. Don’t forget Andy Williams is still on the roster and isn’t going to want to sit on the bench behind two youngsters. So now there are three creative attacking midfielders fighting for one spot and it doesn’t work. Since Adu is going to play no matter what to sell seats, Mehdi seems to be out of a job. Can he play on the flanks? Probably but he likes to get inside and meg people. Hopefully I am proved wrong and Ballouchy can become the offensive star MLS craves…however until I see it I won’t believe it can happen on this SLC team.
Toronto – Conor Casey. Ok, please don’t jump down my throat yet. I had to pick someone random because Toronto doesn’t have any 2006 draft class members on their roster at this point. I want to see how Casey does because he’s a Denver local and much of the effort to bring him to MLS was allergy done by the Rapids. However, due to league rules Casey went to Toronto based on the allocation list order. So now I want to see what he can do first hand. In Germany he has no doubt learned from some good coaches and been treated as a professional athlete should be. This seemed to help Taylor Twellman before his return to the US. However, recently we have seen some one highly touted players come back from stints abroad and they’ve not been able to catch on in MLS. Conor Casey’s task will be to take what he learned abroad, apply it here while also adapting to a physically demanding level of play. I think some guys come back to the US thinking they’ve seen Europe and don’t need to work as hard here (hear me Clint Mathis?). That is not the case and a true professional like Twellman can succeed and become a national team player. Can Casey shake off the injury bug and solidify a place on Toronto’s starting line? We’ll see.
Well that is it readers. Those are the second year (mostly) players I’m looking to sink or swim. I hope they all come out of the gates well, but you know they won’t. It should be an exciting 2007 season in MLS and I am really looking forward to it…as I’ve said a few times recently.
Labels: MLS
posted by Bonji at
3:30 PM
3 Comments:
Medhi needs to ditch John "You mean my U-10 tactics aren't working?" Ellinger.
As for Veris in LA, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get a lot of PT this year especially if Yallop continues to mold Sturgis in the DM role.
By
Allen, at 10:53 PM
Jason O. I am not up to date with RSL's pre-season so I can't comment on what has been happening. However, all signs pointed to Adu getting the keys to the offense when he signed and Mehdi moving out wide. If this changes, good for Mehdi. I want to see him succeed.
By
Bonji, at 9:01 AM
No prob. It's just that what Ellinger said months ago didn't hold water at all during the pre-season, and Mehdi did quite well in the a-mid spot in the spring training games. It's why I'm surprised none of the RSL fans made a bigger deal out of it, as Adu wanted the trade to be in his preferred position and got beat out once again.
By
Anonymous, at 1:16 PM
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