The 2012 MLS SuperDraft has come and gone.
All that conjecture and speculation as to which players may go at what spots, who will end up where and what picks may be traded for far better goodies, proved once again, that no-one can fully predict how these drafts are going to pan out and that the top players seem to be fairly evident. On paper at least. Wait till we actually see them on grass.
The end result for the Whitecaps is that they have now acquired two new players - should they decide to keep them both after evaluation.
So welcome to Vancouver <b>Darren Mattocks</b> and <b>Chris Estridge</b>.
Mattocks and Andrew Wenger were tipped by most pundits to be the top two selections. With Montreal seemingly needing some talented firepower up front, the money was on the Impact to go for Mattocks. It would have been interesting to see what he could have learned from a veteran like Brian Ching and what kind of partnership they could have forged, assuming the draftee became a first team regular and Ching does actually play a match for L'Impact.
The debate as to whether Mattocks or Wenger was the prime pick was split. Personally, from all that I read about both players, I was hoping that Montreal would take Mattocks and the Caps would get the far more versatile Wenger, a player who could have provided options at three, maybe even four, positions. Montreal clearly felt the same way about him and the Duke man went as the number one pick in this year's draft.
Shame to lose out on him, but we have a potentially excellent pick in Mattocks instead.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
When you 'end up' with most people's number one pick in the whole draft, you can't exactly be disappointed by that! Look at what Darlington Nagbe produced for Porltand as the number two selection last year. Many had tipped him to be the top pick, but his desire not to come to Canada benefitted our Cascadian rivals instead.
Caps coach Martin Rennie didn't sound too disappointed by his choice!:
<i>"Darren has great pace and an ability to get behind the opposition. He has power, athleticism, and a good eye for the goal, which is always hard to find. He also brings a solid scoring record and we are extremely pleased we were able to select Darren."</i>
Mattocks is a 21 year old, Jamaican U23 international from Akron University. His electric pace and goalscoring abilities have excited many in his two seasons with the Zips.
Last season he netted 21 goals in 22 appearances, and from what I saw of him in the first combine game, he's a player with a good sense of what's happening in a match and has a very welcome unselfish, team beneficial, attitude. There has also been pre-draft chat that if the Caps were to land him, he may be used as a winger. A much needed commodity in the side.
As a freshman, Mattocks was named MAC Newcomer of the Year after finishing third in NCAA Division I scoring with 18 goals in 25 appearances in 2010, earning him Freshman All-American honours with College Soccer News, Goal.com, Soccer America, and Top Drawer Soccer.
His sophomore year saw him named Mid-American Conference (MAC) Player of the Year and to the All-MAC First Team for a second straight year. He was also a Hermann Trophy semi-finalist, an honour which eventually went to Wenger.
The arrival of Mattocks undoubtedly raises a few questions around the Caps front line.
We have Hassli, Camilo, Tan, Salgado and possibly Harris and Jarju there right now, depending on where Rennie looks to play him next season. As we said when we looked at the <a href="http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?2637-Will-Whitecaps-Land-A-Carolina-Trifecta" target="_blank">possibility of the Caps making a move to acquire Etienne Barbara's MLS rights from Montreal</a> (which may be totally dead in the water now after this pick, rather than just floating helplessly), we need to have something better in there. Someone who can put the ball in the net, and apart from the two main men of Hassli and Camilo, we've yet to see that done on a consistent basis from the others.
Mattocks should immediately come in as our number three striker in the depth charts in our eyes. What this will mean for Tan and Salgado is open to debate. Salgado in particular seemed unhappy at having to bide his time and prove his worth last season. I'd have no hesitation in letting last year's number one draft pick move on. It would be better for both the club and the player.
We can only hope that Mattocks will not have similar gripes if he finds himself not featuring immediately. The difference in Mattocks and Salgado is surely going to be maturity both on and off the field. From the limited knowledge I've gleaned of the player, his game seems far more advanced and of immediate use to the Caps than Salgado's was/is.
Till we see him all suited and booted on the pitch in a Caps shirt, we won't really know what our draftee can do. I'm certainly looking forward to finding out though. Mattocks, who, despite never having set foot north of the US border, was almost certain to be Canada-bound post draft, is relishing the opportunity of coming to Vancouver:
<i>"It's always going to be a challenge coming to a new environment, but hopefully I can adjust quickly and show my stuff"</i>
The 2012 SuperDraft is felt by some to be particularly deep at the top end this year. I have no idea as to whether this is indeed the case, but we'll see soon enough when we get a look at the Caps other newbie from this morning - defender Chris Estridge.
After the first round picks are done, you're starting to move into pig in the poke, shot in the dark territory the further down the field you go. I know absolutely nothing about Estridge, other than what the Caps official press release has told me, but adding more defensive cover is definitely an area we've needed to look at and is welcomed.
Estridge is a 22 year old defender, who can play at right back and midfield, and will immediately be looked at as cover, and a future replacement, for Y-P Lee. He comes to Vancouver from Indiana University, where he spent two productive seasons, making 20 appearances and recording one assist in his junior year, and 22 appearances, three goals and five assists this past senior year.
These efforts saw Estridge named onto the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-American First Team and the All-Big Ten Conference First Team.
Prior to moving to Indiana, Estridge spent the first two years of his college career at Wake Forest University, where he 26 appearances in three different positions.
Despite being the 21st overall pick in the draft, Rennie is quite high on him as a player:
<i>"In our opinion, Chris Estridge is one of the best right backs in the draft and we’re pleased that he was still available for selection. Chris can play with both feet on either side of the field and he brings a lot to the table. We needed a bit more depth defensively and I really wanted to make sure that we got a defender out of this draft. I’m very pleased that we got Chris."</i>
It all sounds very promising and Estridge himself is delighted to be coming to Vancouver:
<i>"Everything that I’ve heard about Vancouver makes me extremely excite. I can’t wait to be coming to a team that has the whole city behind it. I’m really looking forward to a great year."</i>
With all the selections now done and dusted, all we're left to look forward to is the far less appealing four rounds of the Supplemental Draft next week. There can still be some diamonds found in that particular rough, as Michael Boxall proved last year, but they are few and far between and it would be a major surprise to me to find these selections on the Caps MLS squad come 'First Kick'.
This year I've tried to get excited about the SuperDraft, mainly due to having to write about it, but the whole draft concept is still pretty alien to me, as are many of MLS' rules really.
As a non North American brought up on a transfer system and youth development, it's still hard for me to get used to drafts and the college ones in particular. I don't want to be dismissive of it though, simply because it's a cultural difference. There is no doubt that some great talent can be brought into the Caps, and the whole of MLS, this way.
I wasn't able to watch the draft this morning due to work commitments. This was actually a good thing, as no TV or internet access actually made my personal excitement levels build, as I relied on text updates from the Whitecaps <a href="http://www.twitter.com/whitecapsfc" target="_blank">Twitter feed</a>, and an excellent job they did. You just never knew what the next text was going to say!
From what Don Garber said <a href="http://www.mlssoccer.com/superdraft/2012/news/article/2012/01/09/mls-insider-combine-diary-chat-commssioner" target="_blank">on Monday</a>, the SuperDraft isn't going anywhere any time soon and could in fact be expanded, so I think I would recommend this way to those who feel a bit blah about the whole thing!
I really must make an effort to watch more of the college games this year. I did make the same resolution last year, but only caught a couple on the 'Big Ten' network. So maybe next year. Or more probably, maybe not.
Garber has stated that his hope/expectation would be that academies could produce many of the club's future prospects in ten to twenty years time. Although great, that is a pretty long timescale and one which I would love to see happening in at least half that time. Of course, we're a bit spoilt here in Vancouver as we are already producing our own future prospects through the Caps excellent Residency program.
And I think that's where a lot of this sticks in my craw (as we say in Scotland).
This season we've promoted Bryce Alderson from the Residency set up to the MLS squad. Last year it was Russell Teibert.
I'd love to see us produce more than one step up a year, especially as we have two excellent striking prospects in Ben Fisk and Caleb Clarke ready to make the move soon, if not now.
Bringing in a Jamaican forward, from the US college system, ahead of locally produced talent is a major disappointment for me.
I'll qualify that by saying that I don't care where we get our players from, Canada or wherever, as long as they're good enough to come in and do the job. When you've watched two players develop and grow like Fisk and Clarke, it just makes no sense to me that you then go and get another young guy from elsewhere in their position.
As long as Mattocks is ahead of them and, at the very least, going to be an immediate gameday squad player then that is some justification. If he's going to end up as another Salgado and not getting much playing time, or even ending up in PDL, then it would maybe have been better to look at the midfield or defensive options that were available. There didn't seem to be any great choices jumping out at you after Wenger mind you, and we did add Estridge in the second round.
Rennie and Ritchie have clearly indicated from the off that they know where they need to strengthen and what shape they want to take this team. I trust them to have made the right choices.
In eleven days time, the Caps 2012 Training Camp begins.
With four more additions to the Caps numbers to come from next week's Supplemental Draft, places and contracts will be at a premium. Then we'll start to separate the boys from the men from the players that are going to bring the Whitecaps some glory.
The hard work for Mattocks, Estridge and others, is only just beginning.
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