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Press release >
U.S. under-17 national team forward David Arvizu has signed with Major League Soccer and will learn which MLS team he will play for through a weighted lottery to be held Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET.
Arvizu, who will be part of the league's Generation adidas program, is subject to the lottery because he signed with the league after the annual SuperDraft.
Arvizu had a breakout year with the U.S. U-17 team in 2005, helping the side advance to the quarterfinals of the FIFA U-17 World Championship in Peru. Though he didn't register a goal or assist in the tournament, Arvizu's movement and creativity helped open up opposing defenses at the tournament; the U.S. defeated North Korea and Italy and tied Ivory Coast in the group stage before falling to the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.
Outside of the World Championships, Arvizu tied for fourth on the U-17's with eight goals and tallied six assists in 2005. Two of those goals came in international matches. The diminutive Santa Ana, Calif., native has a total of four international goals in 13 appearances.
Chivas USA stand the best chance of acquiring Arvizu's services, with a 22.5 percent possibility, followed by Real Salt Lake at 18.8 percent. A team's chances of winning the lottery are determined by a formula that combines the number of points the club earned over its last 32 games and points assigned based on the team's performance in the most recent postseason.
Teams that failed to qualify for the most recent postseason receive zero points, while conference semifinalists receive two points, conference finalists receive four points, the MLS Cup runner-up six points and the MLS Cup Champion receives eight. The team with the fewest combined regular season and postseason points has the greatest chance of winning the lottery, as each team is assigned a percentage chance commensurate with its point total.
Two other teams have a better than 10 percent chance at picking up Arvizu Wednesday: the Columbus Crew at 15.4 percent and the Kansas City Wizards at 12.4 percent. The MetroStars have a 9.7 percent chance, the Colorado Rapids have a 7.4 percent chance, FC Dallas have a 5.4 percent chance, and the Chicago Fire have a 3.7 percent possibility. Despite having won MLS Cup 2005, the Los Angeles Galaxy, at 2.3 percent, stand a better chance of acquiring Arvizu than three other teams. D.C. United has a 1.3 percent chance, while the New England Revolution (0.7 percent) and Houston 1836 (0.4 percent) stand almost no chance mathematically of winning the lottery.
Jason Halpin is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
