and they weren't.
Manager Mo Johnston took feisty holding midfielder Maurice Edu with Toronto's first pick, the top selection overall. Once he got healthy, Edu immediately established himself as a midfield presence and he's now the frontrunner for MLS Rookie of the Year. Andrew Boyens, the No. 10 selection overall, has been a defensive starter most of the year for Toronto.
Los Angeles was barely a player in the draft, although the Galaxy made all the news around that time; word of David Beckham's signing broke on the day before teams made their picks. Still, manager Frank Yallop, working without a first-round pick, uncovered Robbie Findley (No. 16 overall) and Ty Harden (No. 23). Findley was scoring goals at LA, then continued to do so intermittently at Real Salt Lake following a big June trade. Findley has seven goals in 24 games overall and seems to have a bright future at RSL. Harden, meanwhile, is a starting center back in LA.
Real Salt Lake is the only team that hasn't gotten productive minutes from a selection within the top five overall. Then again, then-manager John Ellinger selected goalkeeper Chris Seitz with an eye toward the future, so it's way early to fully assess that one.
Chicago arguably needed to get more out of two picks among the top eight overall selections. Bakary Soumare, the No. 2 selection overall, hasn't found a regular spot in the Fire lineup, with 11 starts so far. Jerson Monteiro, the eighth pick, has been traded to D.C. United. He played just 154 minutes for the Toyota Park bunch.
Nico Colaluca has played even less for Colorado, just 62 total minutes. That's not great value for the sixth overall pick, especially not when compared to the guy taken just before him. Wells Thompson, the No. 5 selection overall, has nine starts and 16 appearances as a sub for New England, which still has an outside shot at the Supporters' Shield.
In Dallas, midfielder Anthony Wallace (No. 9 overall) has played in just one match, for just 61 minutes.
The best find of the draft comes from -- where else? -- New England. That's a club with a history of locating the middle- and late-round gems. This time around, the big find was fourth-round selection Adam Cristman. The draft's 48th selection has four goals and four assists in 26 matches.
Seven in a row?: Los Angeles has won four in a row. And if Frank Yallop's resurgent side is to make the playoffs, that win streak will probably have to expand significantly.
The Galaxy has three games remaining and may have to win all three to qualify. That means a seven-game winning streak might be required -- and that doesn't happen very often in MLS. In fact, it hasn't happened since 1999, when an excellent D.C. United team followed a seven-game win streak early in the season with an 11-match streak near the end.
San Jose, New England, Colorado, Miami and D.C. United (twice) have had six-game winning streaks since then, but none have gone further. So, if the Galaxy can pull this off, it will be a worthy accomplishment, indeed.
Earning that paycheck: Major League Soccer is getting its money's worth from Chris Klein.
The Galaxy's right back is on pace to play in 32 regular season matches this year -- not bad at all in a league where teams play 30 league games.
Klein started and played every minute in 11 matches for Real Salt Lake before the June move to The Home Depot Center. In Los Angeles, Klein has played every minute in 18 matches. The Galaxy have three games remaining, and there's no reason to believe manager Frank Yallop won't have his steady right back on the field for the duration.
Klein, by the way, is one of three MLS players to have remained on the field for every minute of every match this year. New England's Matt Reis and Kansas City's Kevin Hartman are the others.
Decision looming on 'Esky': Every team has tough personnel decisions in the offseason, especially with another expansion draft at hand.
One of the toughest may be in Salt Lake City, where Alecko Eskandarian's contract will be up for renewal. Everyone has long talked up his potential. But since his 10-goal season in 2004, "Esky" has just nine goals and six assists in 55 matches, which isn't good production for a starting forward.
Plus, Jason Kreis has strikers to choose from in Yura Movsisyan, Fabian Espindola, Chris Brown and Robbie Findley, along with money and player slots to work with in the transfer market.
Card collectors: Plenty of players are perched precariously in terms of yellow card accumulation, including four important starters for New England. Andy Dorman, Jay Heaps and Jeff Larentowicz will be suspended for the regular season finale if they collect a yellow card this week.
But there shouldn't be any rush to collect a caution this week in order to get that dreaded suspension out of the way prior to the playoffs. Card accumulation is wiped clean after the final regular season match. If a player gets a red card (or two yellows, of course) in the regular season final, they will sit out the first playoff contest. But in terms of excessive accumulation, players will be fined but won't miss a match if they collect a card that puts them over the limit on the final weekend.
Steve Davis is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
