Fire Prepare for 2007 Season with SuperDraft Picks
By Todd McClamroch in News on Jan 12, 2007 8:36PM
Today Major League Soccer hosted its 2007 SuperDraft. The draft was overshadowed by yesterday's announcement that David Beckham has signed with the LA Galaxy. Today's newest members of Major League Soccer will get paid significantly less than Beckham's nearly $1 million per week in salary and endorsements.
Toronto FC, an MLS expansion team, had the first selection and picked University of Maryland product midfielder Maurice Edu. The Columbus Crew was scheduled to have the second pick but the Chicago Fire orchestrated a trade with the Crew dealing off a mystery player to be named later for the second pick. The word on the street is that the player dealt to the Crew was Fire 2006 MVP and top scorer Andy Herron.
Chicagoist is surprised to see Andy Herron dealt especially after the Fire lost forward Nate Jaqua earlier this year. It would appear the Fire have lost some firepower. Obviously Coach Dave Sarachan has a plan. We wonder if this means rumors of forward Brian McBride leaving Fulham FC for Chicago are true. Or, if the Fire are possibly close to signing either Jared Borgetti or Pavel Nedved, both capable of helping the Fire produce some goals in 2007.
The Fire utilized the their first pick, second in the draft, to acquire University of Virginia defender Bakary Soumare. Soumare is a 21-year-old, 6' 4" defender that Rob Stone labelled a "physically imposing" defender. Soumare will bring young legs to an aging Chicago Fire defense that gave up more goals after the 75th minute that any MLS team in 2006. With the 8th pick in the first round, the Fire selected University of Alabama Birmingham forward and Angolan National Team member Jerson Monteiro. Monteiro finished his collegiate career second on the all-time top scorers list at UAB having scored 34 goals for the Blazers. He might be able to help fill the void left by Nate Jaqua and possibly Andy Herron if he is, indeed, that traded mystery player.
Ongoing coverage of the SuperDraft can be found on MLSNet.com. Chicagoist welcomes the newest members of the Chicago Fire!