When the Columbus Crew selected Andy Iro with the sixth overall pick in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft, the Crew might very well have formed the tallest central defense partnership in U.S. soccer history.
With Iro, a towering defender from the University of California-Santa Barbara, standing 6-foot-5 and fifth-year veteran Chad Marshall at 6-foot-4, opposing attackers will have great difficulty breaking in on the Columbus goal in 2008.
There had been questions surrounding whether or not Iro, who hails from Liverpool, England, would choose to sign with MLS or pursue a career in his homeland. But Crew coach Sigi Schmid believes that it is not a concern.
"We talked to Andy at the Combine, and that was one of the questions we had for him," Schmid said. "He said he wanted to stay here in the States, that he was comfortable."
That's a good thing for Schmid, who needed to get a defender who could start right away, as Marcos Gonzalez is looking to return to his native Chile, and Marshall is recuperating from post-concussion syndrome.
In the second round, Columbus used the opportunity to fill some holes on the forward line left by the departures of Andy Herron, Jacob Thomas, and Kei Kamara, who combined for seven goals in 2007. With the 20th pick, they chose George Josten, a forward from Gonzaga University who came highly recommended and impressed Schmid at the combine with his ability to play with his back to goal, but can also play as a withdrawn forward.
Moments later, MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced that the Crew had acquired the 22nd and 31st picks from FC Dallas in exchange for their natural second and third rounds selections in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft. With the 22nd pick, the Crew selected another highly-touted forward, Ricardo Pierre-Louis, a goal-scoring machine from Lee University who already has 26 caps for the Haitian national team.
On the third day of the Combine, the Crew coaching staff got an opportunity to see the possibilities of a strike partnership of Josten and Pierre-Louis, when two goals from Josten and one from Pierre-Louis led their team to a 4-1 victory. The opportunity to get both of them was the main reason for the trade with Dallas.
"We were looking for a couple of forwards who could play with their back to goal that could provide a handful and give us some speed, and replace what we lost in Kamara," Schmid said.
Columbus used their other newly acquired pick, the third pick of the third round and 31st overall, on Notre Dame's Ryan Miller, who can play in the back or in midfield. Steven Lenhart, a forward from unheralded Azuza Pacific University, rounded out the Crew's draft with the 48th overall pick.
Despite missing the playoffs for three consecutive years, Schmid believes that the youth movement he has created in Columbus could turn the club's fortunes around.
"When you look at the nucleus of our team right now, and you add Josten and Ricardo and Andy Iro to it," he said. "We're between the ages of 20 and 26, and we feel pretty good about that group."
David Lifton is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
