PHILADELPHIA – Forwards ruled the day in Major League Soccer on Thursday, as each of the top three picks in the annual SuperDraft were used on talented young strikers for the first time in league history.
Former Connecticut star Cyle Larin led the way as the fist overall pick to Orlando City, marking the fist time a Canadian international was taken at No. 1. A 19-year-old phenom who began playing competitive soccer relatively late in his development after a childhood spent playing hockey in his native Ontario, Larin missed both the Players Combine and the SuperDraft while playing with Canada’s Under-20 team at the CONACAF Championship in Jamaica.
Orlando City spurned interest from at least two Canadian clubs to draft Larin with their fist pick in franchise history.
“We were quite keen on keeping him,” OCSC head coach Adrian Heath said. “Goalscorers, if he can translate what he's been doing in college into the pros, they generally go for a lot of money and become very, very valuable. We liked him, we've got him and I'm just looking forward to working with him ... He was certainly at the top of our list from the beginning.”
There was also plenty of interest in the second overall pick, but fellow expansion side New York City FC ultimately passed on any deals and selected Oregon State’s Khiry Shelton, the reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year. A 6-foot-3, 175-pound prospect originally from Texas who has played for the Portland Timbers Under-23 team, Shelton rose up the draft boards during his senior year with 10 goals and 12 assists in Corvalis.
“We actually got offered quite a bit of allocation money to sell that pick, so we had to consider it,” NYCFC head coach Jason Kreis told reporters. “The guy on the board for us was our top guy, but at some point you have to consider allocation money, too, when you’re trying to build a team from scratch.”
The Montreal Impact followed at No. 3 with a forward of their own in the form of Central Florida’s Romario Williams. A Jamaican international who played with the Reggae Boyz’ team at the Under-17 World Cup in 2011, Williams scored 18 goals and added five assists in 51 appearances in his three seasons at Central Florida.
Both Larin and Williams are members of the Generation adidas class, meaning neither player’s salary will affect their respective team’s budget until they graduate from the program.
The new-look San Jose Earthquakes followed at No. 4 with Michigan State midfielder Fatai Alashe, and the Portland Timbers added Notre Dame midfielder Nick Besler at No. 5. Besler is the younger brother of Sporting Kansas City defender Matt Besler, who watched his brother's selection from the United States national team camp in California.
“It’s going to be a little different now,” Nick Besler said. “I’m playing against him now, and it won’t be easy.”
Toronto FC picked the first goalkeeper in the draft at No. 6, adding Syracuse netminder and USMNT prospect Alex Bono. A Generation adidas member who was widely considered the top goalkeeping prospect in the draft, Bono is currently with the US national team.
There were plenty of surprises in the draft, but none bigger than the unexpected fate of Cristian Roldan, the skillful midfielder from Washington who was projected as high as the second overall pick. Instead Roldan plummeted to No. 16, where the Seattle Sounders swooped in to make the pick after trading up with Real Salt Lake to grab the pick.
“Knowing that I dropped, and went to a team that could possibly end up in the MLS Cup is a good feeling,” Roldan said. “You just don't know what's going to happen during the draft, and I feel like it was honestly worth it, dropping as much as I did, because Seattle is probably one of the better cities in the country. And it's a soccer city."
Other surprise picks included Toronto FC’s selection of relatively unknown North Carolina State defender Clement Simonin at No. 9, and a gutsy move by the revamped front office with the New York Red Bulls at No. 18. The Red Bulls opted to take UCLA midfielder and Hermann Trophy winner Leo Stoltz with their first pick, even though Stoltz has not signed a contract with MLS and is currently in Germany gauging interest from European clubs.
“From the beginning… He didn’t quite understand our system, and he wanted to be able to control his destiny a little bit more,” Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch said. “And at the same time he had interest in Germany… But yeah, no, he’s committed to being here, so we will see him in a New York Red Bulls jersey.”
The fifth and final Generation adidas player selected was N.C. State defender Conor Donovan, a member of the US Under-20 team who was taken with the first pick in the second round by Orlando City.
FC Dallas also made one of the more notable picks in the draft on Thursday, using the 15th overall pick on California-Riverside defender Otis Earle, the son of former Jamaican international and NBC Sports analyst Robbie Earle.
The draft also had its emotional moments, highlighted by a tearful speech by Chicago Fire draftee and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville defender Matt Polster.
“We’ve all dreamed about playing pro,” said Polster, who was taken No. 7 overall, “so this is amazing.”
MLS icon Landon Donovan was also present after the league announced that it will name its annual MVP trophy in his honor, and wished the 2015 draft class luck before he officially opened the draft.
“Today you guys get a chance to come up here and start the next part of your life,” he said. “Part of you probably feels like being drafted means you made it, but the reality is, it’s just the beginning.”
