FRISCO, Texas - FC Dallas made two selections in this afternoon's MLS Supplemental Draft. With today's two selections, and the six players the team selected in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft on Jan. 12, FC Dallas will now have eight rookies in preseason camp when it opens next month.
With the ninth overall selection of the first round, FC Dallas selected Sandi Gbandi, a midfielder from the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Gbandi, the brother of FCD's 2006 Defender of the Year, Chris Gbandi, played three year for the Blazers from 2003-2005 as both a defender and a midfielder. In those three years, Gbandi played in 56 games, scoring 10 goals and adding 14 assists. As a sophomore in 2004, he was selected First Team All-Conference USA and then was named Second Team All-Conference USA a year later.
In the fourth round, FCD selected SMU midfielder Chase Wileman with the 45th overall selection. In four years with the Mustangs, Wileman scored 10 goals and added 38 assists in 63 career games. A native of Grand Prarie, Texas and a former U.S. Under-17 National Team player, Wileman was selected First Team All-Conference USA and NSCAA All-Midwest Region First Team in 2006 after recording career-highs of eight goals and 13 assists.
Gbandi and Wileman will now be looking to join Aaron Pitchkolan and Abe Thompson as the only players in Dallas history to make the team's roster after being selected in the Supplemental Draft. Both Pitchkolan and Thompson were selected by FCD in 2005, the first year of the Supplemental Draft, and have been on the roster for each of the past two seasons.
