Galaxy Lost in Latest Player Shuffle
Major League Soccer’s coaches and general managers spent a frantic weekend in Florida, cutting deals and trading players almost with abandon in preparation for today’s MLS draft.
Three-time champion D.C. United made substantial changes, among them sending U.S. national team defenders Carlos Llamosa and Jeff Agoos to Miami and San Jose, respectively, and national team midfielder Richie Williams to the New York/New Jersey MetroStars.
MetroStars Coach Octavio Zambrano also was active, trading starting goalkeeper Mike Ammann to D.C. United for Williams and waiving Costa Rican national team midfielder Roy Myers and former Nigerian national team defender Francis Okaroh.
The Earthquakes were equally busy. In addition to acquiring Agoos--who supposedly is going to be traded to the Dallas Burn--San Jose sent Sierra Leone national team striker Abdul Thompson Conteh and two first-round picks to D.C. United and acquired Canadian national team forward Dwayne DeRosario through a league allocation. DeRosario joins former Canadian national team player Frank Yallop, who last week was named San Jose’s coach.
Also allocated by MLS was Ugandan international defender Tenywa Bonseu, who joined the Columbus Crew. The Crew waived Argentine defender Mario Gori to make way for Bonseu.
In the midst of all this activity, the Galaxy spent a relatively quiet Sunday, its only trade being sending midfielder/defender Zak Ibsen to San Jose in exchange for the Earthquakes’ first draft selection in the second round, the 14th pick overall.
Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said the move would give Ibsen the chance to become a regular starter, rather than an occasional one.
Meanwhile, Schmid and assistant Ralph Perez essentially will be looking for the impossible in today’s sixth annual draft.
What they hope to find is something for nothing. A few somethings for nothing would be even better.
The MLS salary cap has left the Galaxy with little room to maneuver as it tries to keep the players it has while strengthening the team for the season ahead.
“Our priorities are really twofold,” Schmid said. “One, we need to improve ourselves up front. So we need to find some forwards in the draft, for sure.
“The second thing is, with the roster size going from 20 to 18, we really have to see what we can get in terms of P-40 [Project 40 developmental] players and youth internationals.”
Under MLS rules, Project 40 players and youth internationals do not count against roster limits. Schmid said the salary cap will force him to overlook players he might otherwise have pursued.
“In some cases, we’re maybe going to have to draft a less-talented player, rather than a better player, because he’s a P-40 or youth international and we can keep him on the roster,” Schmid said.
The Galaxy has two first-round picks--the ninth and 11th selections overall--as well as one second-round pick, the 22nd selection overall. It also picks ninth among the 12 MLS teams in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds.
Complicating matters is that as of Friday night, Cobi Jones had not yet re-signed with the league. His indecision on whether to return to MLS or go abroad left Schmid unable to make any roster moves before the draft.
A Galaxy spokesman said Sunday night that Jones’ status remained unchanged.
“If Cobi signs, we basically need to find almost a minimum-salary player and get rid of another player because we’re about $130,000 to $140,000 over [the salary cap],” Schmid said.
The player most likely to be traded appears to be defender and team captain Robin Fraser, a U.S. national team player, the league’s 1999 defender of the year and one of four original Galaxy players still with the team.
Fraser, 34, does not want to leave Los Angeles and Schmid is not enthusiastic about losing him, but believes his hands are tied.
“Robin has been a very valuable player for our team and we certainly want to try to keep him if we possibly can,” Schmid said. “We don’t want to dismantle our team unless we have to. If we have to, then we’ll make that decision.”
If Fraser is traded, one player the Galaxy might try to land is defender Craig Weibel of the Seattle Sounders.
“Weibel is somebody we’ve looked at,” Schmid said. “He’s an A-League player, he’s a little bit older, a little more experienced. There are some other defenders coming out in the draft. The kid at San Jose State, Ryan Suarez, is a quality player.”
The Galaxy’s need for forwards is paramount since Jones’ availability is uncertain, and Luis Hernandez is likely to miss as many as one-third to one-half of the regular-season games while playing for Club America in the Mexican league and for Mexico’s national team.
Eric Wynalda had expressed interest in coming to Los Angeles, but, given his age (31) and history of injuries, the Galaxy balked at New England Revolution Coach Fernando Clavijo’s asking price of a first-round draft pick for the U.S. national team’s all-time leading goal scorer.
Given the constraints facing the Galaxy, don’t look for Duke’s Ali Curtis, a three-time All-American and a possible No. 1 draft pick, to be coming to Los Angeles, even though he is a proven goal scorer.
Nor are U.S. under-20 national team forward Edson Buddle, or U.S. under-17 national team forward Eddie Johnson likely to be spotted in a Galaxy uniform.
Instead, Schmid and Perez will be keeping their eye out for players others might have missed.
“We’ve got to find a sleeper,” Schmid said. “I mean, I was shocked last year when [Galaxy midfielder] Peter Vagenas was still available as the 22nd pick. Maybe we can find another one like Vagenas.
“I think there are some sleepers out there, if you look around and you observe. As always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so what one person sees is different from what somebody else sees. Hopefully we’ll be able to come up with one or two.”
QUICK PASSES
The U.S. under-20 national team, coached by former Los Angeles Aztec player Wolfgang Suhnholz, defeated Mexico twice last week, winning 1-0, and 2-1. Both games were in Guadalajara, Mexico. . . . The U.S. under-17 national team defeated Honduras, 4-1 and 3-0, in games played in Bradenton, Fla., then shut out Guatemala, 4-0, in Miami. . . . Women’s United Soccer Assn. staged its college draft Sunday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Notre Dame defender Lindsey Kelly was the top pick for the Bay Area CyberRays. . . . The Colorado Rapids named Lorne Donaldson, former coach of the Colorado Foxes of the A-League, as assistant coach and former Belgium national team goalkeeper Luc Sanders as goalkeeping coach.
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MLS Draft
FIRST-ROUND ORDER
1--San Jose, 2--Tampa Bay, 3--Columbus, 4--Miami, 5--Dallas, 6--Tampa Bay, 7--Dallas, 8--Washington, 9--Galaxy, 10--Washington, 11--Galaxy, 12--Kansas City.
Note: Because of trades, New York/New Jersey, Colorado, New England and Chicago do not have first-round picks, although trades could change that by today’s draft.
TOP 20 PROSPECTS
Player (position), University/Club
1--Devin Barclay (F), U.S. Under-20 national
2--Isaias Bardales (F), San Jose State
3--Tenywa Bonseu (D), Pittsburgh Riverhounds*
4--Edson Buddle (F), U.S. Under-20 national
5--Jose Burciaga Jr. (D), U.S. Under-20 national
6--Chris Carrieri (F), unaffiliated
7--Ali Curtis (F), Duke
8--Dwayne DeRosario (F), Canada national**
9--Nick Downing (D), Maryland
10--Cory Gibbs (D), Brown
11--Eddie Johnson (F), U.S. Under-17 national
12--Darin Lewis (F), Connecticut and Trinidad and Tobago national
13--Mark Lisi (M), Clemson
14--Brian Mullan (F), Creighton
15--Santino Quaranta (M/F), U.S. Under-17 national
16--Brent Rahim (M), Connecticut and Trinidad and Tobago national
17--Henry Ring (G), South Carolina
18--Robert Russell (M), Duke
19--Ryan Suarez (D), San Jose State
20--Joselito Vaca (M), Oriente Petrolero (Bolivia)
Notes: In alphabetical order and as voted on by MLS coaching staffs. . . . * Allocated to the Columbus Crew. . . . ** Allocated to the San Jose Earthquakes. . . . Key: G-goalkeeper; D-defender; M-midfielder; F-forward.
