More Easy Headlines

I haven't gotten today's "MLS Newsstand" e-mail, so I can't say for sure how many writers went with the obvious "Kansas City Takes a Chance in SuperDraft" line. The big stories of the draft? Chance Myers defies nearly all mock drafts and ends up #1, only two out-and-out forwards go in the entirety of the first two rounds, and Dallas is up to something.

It was a fairly awful draft for attacking players, as projected #1 pick Patrick Nyarko fell into the laps of new head coach Denis Hamlett and the Chicago Fire at #7, and lots of the "highly touted" attacking mids (Eric Avila being the standout) didn't come off the board until midway through the second round. The lack of scoring on the first day of the MLS Combine may have loomed large, or maybe the defenders were just that much better.

Anyway, that loomed large in the Fire's fortunes, as they clearly defied the trends by waiting until their final pick to grab a defender, Austin Washington from Gonzaga. This guy could be a sleeper, as he's been an automatic starter for his final three years, the last of which boasted a team goals against average of 0.70. Of course, they took a goalkeeper with their #12 pick, but that was necessity, as Matt Pickens rejected the Fire's initial contract offer the night before the draft.

The Fire might have snagged two sleepers, in fact, with the other one being Dwight Barnett from Lynn University in Florida. In his senior year, the forward scored something like 14 goals and 10 assists in 19 matches. That said, the SSC conference looks a bit like the Scottish Premier League, with Lynn and Tampa playing the roles of Rangers and Celtic, and everyone else being pretty bad.

And then there's Dallas. None of their first three picks count against the salary cap. None of them may make an impact this year, despite Brek Shea's strong combine. Then they traded away their second and third round picks to Columbus. Somebody seems to be stockpiling salary dollars.