The Shape of Things to Come

Before we attend to the MLS SuperDraft and the wheeling and dealing that led up to it, a little bit from across the pond. Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand is set to begin his 8-month suspension this week, pending an appeal on Monday. In what could be an ominous sign for the perennial championship contender, Ferdinand had to leave what could be his final game for a while, against bottom-feeding Wolverhampton, with a shin injury. His replacement, Wes Brown, slipped on a defensive play and allowed Wolves to score, and ultimately win the game 1-0. I'm sure Arsenal and Chelsea are both hoping this is the start of a slump for the defending Premiership winners.

Back on this side of the pond, there weren't a whole heck of a lot of surprises in this year's draft. You could maybe make a case for defender Chris Wingert and midfielder Ned Grabavoy falling to the second round as a dramatic storyline, but it's a bit of a stretch. For the Chicago Fire, all signs point to the team accomplishing what it set out to do. General Manager Peter Wilt and head coach Dave Sarachan got some cover at defensive midfielder, in the form of Maryland's Scott Buete, for when captain Chris Armas is with the senior national team and second-year pro Logan Pause is with the Olympic squad. With their next pick, the team picked up UCLA defender Leonard Griffin with the notion that he can immediately compete with the likes of Kelly Gray and Orlando Perez for the starting defender position vacated by Carlos Bocanegra. For the Men in Red, everything else is just gravy. Some guys may compete immediately for playing time, others may be longer-term prospects, a luxury afforded by a record as sparking as the Fire's in 2003.

The interesting story of the week, though, didn't concern the Fire or much-ballyhooed first pick Freddy Adu. It was, without a doubt, the Columbus Crew and perhaps the last gasp of head coach Greg Andrulis. Running up to the draft, Andrulis emptied the store of picks in next year's draft for veteran defenders both in the backline and the midfield, acknowledging what was clearly the biggest problem with his playoff-missing 2003 team. After adding Simon Elliott from L.A. and Robin Fraser from Colorado, the Crew chief then added highly touted defenders Chad Marshall and Wingert with his first two picks.

Make no mistake about it, this is as scathing an indictment of the Crew defense in the last two years as you're going to see. It's likely that U.S. international Frankie Hedjuk will be the only defender from the past season to hold on to a starting spot in the wake of this overhaul. With Elliot, it would seem the Crew are also admitting last year's top choice, Diego Walsh, wasn't quite what they were looking for, as Elliot and Brian Maissoneuve will defend the midfield and look to spring former Rookie of the Year Kyle Martino into the attack. Walsh wasn't able to contribute significantly in that role, and isn't considered a wing midfielder, so he'll be enjoying the comfort that is the Crew bench, or maybe another uniform, in the near term.

Even with Brian McBride's imminent departure for England and fellow National Teamer Brad Friedel's Blackburn Rovers, the Crew still pack a heck of an offensive wallop, and the gamble is that the influx of veterans will be able to stop the bleeding in the back and help the new draftees adjust to their pro careers. It just might work, and it's going to have to, otherwise Andrulis will almost certainly be shown the door, and his successor isn't going to have much to work with in next year's draft. That was the pound of flesh required for the righting the ship. Then again, the Crew have been a strong team on paper for the past two seasons, defense notwithstanding, and it hasn't gotten them much other than the dubious honor of being the most massively underachieving team in North America.