IS GLAD SPRING TRAINING IS FINALLY HERE
The press release with the list of players available to the Philadelphia Union in Wednesday's expansion draft just landed in my inbox.
As I understand the draft rules, the key thing to know is that the Union can only take one player from each team. The rest of the rules pertain to which players can be made available and what kinds of contracts they can sign, so I won't go through all of them.
But what you really want to know is the list of players. Here it is, and there are some big names. I've bolded what I think are the marquee ones.
Which of them would you like to see in Philadelphia?
Chivas USA
Conway, Jon (Rutgers alumnus)
Curtin, Jim (Villanova alumnus)
Harmse, Kevin
Jazic, Ante
Kennedy, Dan
Lillingston, Eduardo
Marsch, Jesse
Razov, Ante
Saragosa, Marcelo
Stepanovic, Bojan
Suarez, Claudio
Talley, Carey
Thomas, Shavar
Trujillo, Mariano
Victorine, Sasha
Chijindu, Chukwudi
Mayen, Gerson
Parker, Lance
Chicago Fire
Banner, Michael
Blanco, Cuauhtémoc (leaving the league)
Carr, Calen
Dimitrov, Stefan
Dykstra, Andrew
Myrie, Dave
Rolfe, Chris (leaving the league or he probably wouldn't be on the list)
Segares, Gonzalo (might be going to Europe, but from what I've read he might still be in play)
Woolard, Daniel
Lowry, Peter
Washington, Austin
Columbus Crew
Garey, Jason
Gruenebaum, Andy
Hejduk, Frankie
Iro, Andy
Moreno, Alejandro
Nyazamba, Stanley
Oughton, Duncan
Padula, Gino
Renteria, Emilio
Schoeni, Kenny
Burns, Kevin
Elenio, Cory
Grendi, Alex (Penn alumnus, but I'd take Hejduk or Moreno well before him)
Colorado Rapids
Ballouchy, Mehdi
Burpo, Preston
Dalby, Greg
Diz, Facundo
Harden, Ty
Harvey, Jordan
Noonan, Pat
Palguta, Scott
Peterson, Jacob
Ceus, Steward
Holody, Mike
Schunk, Ross
FC Dallas
Burse, Ray
Purdy, Steve
Ricchetti, Pablo
Rocha, Andre
Sala, Dario
Torres, Daniel
Van Den Bergh, Dave
Wagner, Blake
Wallace, Anthony
D.C. United
Emilio, Luciano (a change of scenery might get him back in form)
Gomez, Christian
Habarugira, David
Jacobson, Andrew
Janicki, Greg
John, Avery
Khumalo, Thabiso
McTavish, Devon
N'Silu, Ange
Olsen, Ben (is retiring, or I'd go for him in a second. A Harrisburg native and true workhorse.)
Vaughn, Lawson
Wicks, Josh
Allen, Ely
Barklage, Brandon
DiRaimondo, John
Kocic, Milos
Shipalane, Tiyiselani
Houston Dynamo
Barrett, Wade
Chabala, Michael
Clark, Ricardo (could be heading to Europe, but if that falls through he'd be a star here)
Cochrane, Ryan
Landin, Luis
Mulrooney, Richard
Onstad, Pat (maybe my top-rated name on the list)
Robinson, Eddie
Thompson, Abe
Waibel, Craig
Deric, Tyler
Hayden, John Michael
Ustruck, Erik
Kansas City Wizards
Besler, Matthew
Cristman, Adam
Gomez, Herculez
Hartman, Kevin
Hirsig, Santiago
Hohlbein, Aaron
Kraus, Michael
Kronberg, Eric
McKenzie, Rauwshan
Morsink, Kurt
Watson, Lance
Marquess, Matt
Pardo, Boris
New England Revolution
Albright, Chris (if only because he's from Philly. Probably too old, but you should know who he is.)
Badilla, Gabriel
Heaps, Jay
Igwe, Amaechi
Jankauskas, Edgaras
Knighton, Brad
Matamoros Castro, Mauricio
Ombiogno, Stephane
Phelan, Pat
Thompson, Wells
Tierney, Chris
Videira, Michael
Shuttleworth, Robert
LA Galaxy
Dunivant, Todd
Eskandarian, Alecko
Gordon, Alan
Griffin, Leonard
Jordan, Bryan
Kirovski, Jovan
Klein, Chris
Lewis, Eddie
Miglioranzi, Stefani (Yes, I picked five people and the team can only have one. This bunch is loaded.)
Sanneh, Tony
Saunders, Josh
Valentin, Julian
Marshall, Yohance
Patterson, Kyle
New York Red Bulls
Boyens, Andrew
Cepero, Daniel (Penn alumnus who I did not expect to be available. Led New York to the '08 title game.)
Garcia, Walter
Krupnik, Leonid
Patterson, Caleb
Petke, Mike
Rojas, Jorge
Sassano, Luke
Ubiparipovic, Sinisa
Wolyniec, John
Mbuta, Andongcho
Zimmerman, Nick
Real Salt Lake
Alexandre, Jean
Campos, Pablo
El Khalifi, Rachid
Gonzalez, Nelson
Grabavoy, Ned
Horst, David
Mathis, Clint
Movsisyan, Yura (leaving the league)
Reynish, Kyle
Russell, Robbie
Williams, Andy
Cox, Raphael
Nunez, Tino
San Jose Earthquakes
Amarikwa, Quincy
Convey, Bobby (The best Philadelphia-area native in league history. But has he still got it?)
Elliott, Simon (could play for New Zealand at next summer's World Cup)
Pitchkolan, Aaron
Ribeiro, Antonio
Salinas, Shea
Weber, Andrew
Wondolowski, Chris
Graczyk, Mike
Roberts, Jamil
Zaher, Michael
Seattle Sounders FC
Boss, Terry
Eylander, Chris
Graham, Taylor
King, Stephen
LeToux, Sebastien
Levesque, Roger
Riley, James
Scott, Zacharias
Sturgis, Nathan
Vagenas, Peter
Wahl, Tyson
Brown, Evan
Fucito, Michael
Neagle, Lamar
Nyassi, Sanna
Toronto FC
Edwards, Brian
Fellinga, Lesly
Garcia, Nick
Gerba, Ali
Guevara, Amado (One of the league's all-time hotheads.)
Robinson, Carl
Vitti, Pablo
Gala, Gabe
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