LAUDERHILL, Fla. – Carlos Alvarez knows where he’s going in the draft. Jose Luis Sanchez Sola –Chelís – told MLSsoccer.com on Monday evening that he’d already decided on the UConn playmaker as the No. 2 overall pick. So unless Toronto FC gum up the works with the top pick, expect Alvarez to be a Rojiblanco by Thursday afternoon.
And that’s fine by him.
“I’m very happy, because he wants me,” Alvarez, whose father played for Chivas Guadalajara, said after playing the last 20 minutes of Tuesday’s 2-2 draw between adiZero and Prime on the final day of the Combine. “Like I told you before, I would wear that jersey with pleasure, so if Chelís needs me I’m at his orders, and if any other team selects me I’m also at theirs. But I’m very happy with everything he said about me.”
What Chelís said in particular is that he loves the way Alvarez sees the whole field, and has the ability to make attacking plays from deep in the midfield. It’s a true playmaker’s role, as the coach described it, and the one that made Alvarez one of the nation’s top players as a Husky.
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“I talked to him yesterday and when he told me I had a big smile on my face,” Alvarez explained. “I didn’t tell anyone, not even my family, because I wanted it to be a surprise. I still have to wait until Thursday for anything to happen. But in the meantime I’m happy and I have to keep working.”
“Keep working” meant he didn’t get to take the final day of the Combine off, as Chelís had wanted him to. There’s still a chance, after all, that the script could change – though from his teammates’ perspectives, consider him as good as off the board.
“My teammates have told me ‘You’re a Chiva now,’ and I tell them that’s the word out there but I still have to wait until Thursday,” Alvarez said. “You never know what might happen.”
That much is true. But Alvarez didn’t bother to hide his smile when reflecting upon the last 24 hours.
“As of right now,” he said, “I’m happy.”
