Today was the second MLS draft, there was no ball room in Kansas City for the draft though. The Supplemental Draft took place on a conference call and took about as long as half the first round of the SuperDraft. After trading for Michael Thomas' rights, KC only had 4 picks, 1 in the first and second, and 2 in the third. In the first round, KC grabbed Shawn Singh, a defender/midfielder from UCLA. Singh can play left back and would provide cover and compete with Seth Sinovic and potentially Bobby Convey in the left back position.
In the second round, KC looked to add some depth to their midfield by bringing in St. John's midfielder, Pablo Punyed. According to Peter Vermes, Punyed is a two way midfielder that can do well in the offensive half of the field with his passing. He'd seem to provide depth in the box-to-box position in KC's midfield.
With their two third round picks, KC went back to improving their defense. First they grab Stefan Antonijevic, a 6'6" center back from Valparaiso. Antonijevic provides a big body to compete for a spot on the back line. He also has spent some time with the Serbian U-19 team while he was in college. Never a bad thing to have a kid that has a little international experience. With their last pick, KC went with a local kid, drafting Kyle Miller from Rockhurst University. Miller, another defender, is a local kid who grew up in KC and spent time with Sporting KC's juniors team. As for why KC had to draft Miller instead of filing a youth claim on him probably is because he didn't spend 2 years in the Juniors system.
I do have to apologize to Miller straight away, because with me he's probably not going to get much of a fair shake. It's no fault of his own unfortunately, it's the situation around his selection. And it's all personal so I apologize. For those that don't know, my brother, Matt Kuhn was also available in the draft. I would have loved for him to have been selected by KC. Like Miller he spent time with Sporting KC's juniors team. Kuhn though ended up getting drafted 10 picks after Miller by DC United. Like Miller, Kuhn didn't spend enough time in the Juniors system to qualify as a home grown player. My club allegiances won't be changing, I still love Sporting, but (and I'm shocking myself saying this) I will be cheering for DC should my brother make the team (except when they play SKC). That all said, I also hope Miller proves me wrong.
When have draft picks beyond round 1 made it on the squad? That would be interesting to know.
ReplyDeleteAiyegbusi, Kronberg, Sassano, Sinovic, Warzycha, and Zusi are all non-first round picks.
ReplyDeleteSo was Conrad, Arnaud, and Jewsbury