Union announces expansion draft picks
Columbus Crew forward Alejandro Moreno, Chivas USA defender Shavar Thomas and Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Stefani Miglioranzi are the biggest names.
Union announces expansion draft picks
Here they are, listed by position and previous club:
GK Brad Knighton, New England Revolution
D David Myrie, Chicago Fire
D Shavar Thomas, Chivas USA
D Jordan Harvey, Colorado Rapids
M Shea Salinas, San Jose Earthquakes
M Stefani Miglioranzi, Los Angeles Galaxy
M Andrew Jacobson, DC United
F Nick Zimmerman, New York Red Bulls
F Alejandro Moreno, Columbus Crew
F Sebastian Le Toux, Seattle Sounders
My opinion: Moreno, Thomas, Miglioranzi and Le Toux are the biggest names, in that order. Knighton is a huge surprise, especially given the other goalkeepers who were available (Danny Cepero in particular).
Steven Goff of the Washington Post is reporting that the Union have acquired Real Salt Lake backup goalkeeper Chris Seitz, a University of Maryland graduate, for allocation money and "the promise to not select any of its players in the expansion draft."
I've had two people at the Union tell me they know nothing about it, but given Seitz's Maryland connections my guess is that's where this is coming from. If the trade happens, my guess is Seitz will be the starter.
And it would explain why the Union didn't pick any RSL players, Robbie Russell in particular.
The other teams that the Union did not pick any players from were Houston, Toronto, Dallas and Kansas City.
As for the players that were selected, Kerith Gabriel of the Daily News crunched the numbers and figured out that the average age of these players is 25 1/2, for what that's worth.
Kerith's story on the draft, including quotes from coach Peter Nowak, is here.
Audio of Nowak's press conference is below. Video highlights will come later. The big notable is that Union coach Peter Nowak was pretty vague when I asked him how the salary cap factored into their decisions.
Not sure how I feel yet. They aren't spending a lot of money with those picks, some guys who were available that looked like they could contribute right away were left off the list. I hope Nowak has bigger plans (foreign signings) because this lineup as of right now will not likely compete in the first year.— Ski Fast
Comment removed.- Sign Zidane.— Col. Nathan R. Jessep
- Awful...I'm done with this team.— Leron
- Comment removed.
I'd like to give credit to JT for spelling Jacobson's name correctly, something his new team did not do on its own website. Le Toux could be real good.— Osager
Leron and JerryD you're both morons. Clearly don't understand or care about the sport.— AdoptedSon- @Ski Fast. From what I understand this is only the 1st Round. Check out the bios of these guys, I admit I hadn't heard of some of them before today, but after reading their credentials, they seem promising.— AdoptedSon
- @Ski Fast. From what I understand this is only the 1st Round. Check out the bios of these guys, I admit I hadn't heard of some of them before today, but after reading their credentials, they seem promising.— AdoptedSon
Put the best team you can on the field now! Stop screwing around. You have one chance to build a champion out of the gate and you need to grasp that mentality. I hope we are not dealing with another Lurie/Banner/Reid here!— Earl J- I think it's safe to say that Nowak knows something about soccer. If you want to judge a team before it plays a game, you don't even have a basic understanding of the game.— ebradlee10
- Comment removed.
- @kelprod No worries...there will be three people waiting to take your seat.— ebradlee10
- Posted 05:52 PM, 11/25/2009 Leron Awful...I'm done with this team. Nowak is a fantastic Coach if a Player like Le Toux does not improve he will find another. The Biggest thing is having a coach that knows the Game!— TheBeautifulGame
Reach Jonathan at jtannenwald@phillynews.com or 215-854-2330.
