2011 MLS SuperDraft
Live from Baltimore, MD
11 a.m. CT
Live on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com
(Round 1 on ESPN2, Rounds 2&3 on MLSsoccer.com)
It's finally time for all the guessing and mock drafting to come to an end. If you ask me, it's not one second too soon.
Sporting Kansas City hold the 10th, 32nd (14th, second round) and 46th (10th, third round picks this morning/afternoon. With the first round scheduled only for an hour on the ESPN2 side of things, we should be able to expect that around 11:30 CT, or somewhere close to then, we will have the name of the newest Sporting KC first round draft pick.
In mock drafts over the last week, we've been slated to take players anywhere from AJ Soares to Jalil Anibaba, Omar Salgado and Michael Tetteh. Per their final mock drafts late Wednesday night, Soccer By Ives and WV Hooligan, my top two trusted sources of information for this draft, have us taking Omar Salgado and Michael Tetteh, respectively.
Wishlist
Soares or Anibaba fall to SKC at number 10. Particularly, Anibaba. Soares was the early favorite for top centerback in the draft, but Anibaba had an outstanding Combine and likely leapfrogged the Cal-Berkeley guy. Chance either fall to us? Looking increasingly slim; especially Anibaba.
Other Possibilities
A young creative midfielder. Anthony Ampaipitakwong, Michael Nanchoff and Michael Farfan (in that order) are slated as mid-first round guys. Farfan has fallen back slightly since the Combine, so it would look to be either Amaipitakwong or Nanchoff if Peter Vermes elects to go that route.
A falling Generation adidas player. Salgado looks to be the "big" name of the draft that could fall a few picks. He's young (17) and offers a ton of upside. He would be climbing and uphill battle for playing time, though, with the signing of designate player Omar Bravo, who was with Chivas Guadelajara, Salgado's former club, last year.
I feel anywhere from 13-76 percent sure that one of the names listed above will be Sporting KC's first round choice. Anyway, feel free to jump into the live thread section at the bottom and discuss. You'll need to sign up for an SB Nation account, which you can do here.