Jump to content

TFC Draft JAMAICAN INTERNATIONAL !


Guest Ed

Recommended Posts

Hooray. Following their time honoured tradition of helping develop the young players of our CONCACAF rivals, Toronto have acquired two players who could one day be playing against us in WC qualifying.

First pick (#2 overall) - midf Sam Cronin.

Second pick (#4 overall) - striker Obrian White. Was on the woeful Jamaican side that finished last in the group of 4 in Honduras in qualifying for the 2005 U20 WC. Canada of course won the group.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 51
  • Created
  • Last Reply

What's the big deal? Were there any Canadians that would be deemed more talented in this draft?

The obvious answer is no, so go for whom you think is the most talented. The fact that he's a domestic for roster purposes is a huge deal.

And "time honoured", Ed? That's a little silly, don't you think? This is Toronto's third ever draft. What are they supposed to do, forfeit all of their picks in the draft and only select Canadians?

I'm all for developing Canadians, but not at the expense of improving the franchise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by Rudi

What's the big deal? Were there any Canadians that would be deemed more talented in this draft?

The obvious answer is no, so go for whom you think is the most talented. The fact that he's a domestic for roster purposes is a huge deal.

And "time honoured", Ed? That's a little silly, don't you think? This is Toronto's third ever draft. What are they supposed to do, forfeit all of their picks in the draft and only select Canadians?

I'm all for developing Canadians, but not at the expense of improving the franchise.

I think the problem people have is that White being drafted had a lot to do with his roster status as a Canadian (I doubt TFC would have taken him at #4 if he was American). Whereas he isn't the kind of Canadian that those roster rules were intended to protect.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by jonovision

I think the problem people have is that White being drafted had a lot to do with his roster status as a Canadian (I doubt TFC would have taken him at #4 if he was American). Whereas he isn't the kind of Canadian that those roster rules were intended to protect.

The rules are the rules, and they're not even set up by MLS, but rather the respective governments of each country. TFC would be fools not to take advantage of that.

It's the same situation in the States, anyone with a green card counts as a domestic even if they play for another country.

I don't see the outrage here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm all right with calling him a Jamaican International but it's tough to blame TFC for drafting those guys. They have to draft somebody and if there isn't canadians good enough in this draft they'll have to look elsewhere which is likely to be a player from another CONCACAF country...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by Rudi

I'm all for developing Canadians, but not at the expense of improving the franchise.

I agree with that statement. But at the same time, something has to be done at the league level in order to recognize the unique status and situation of Toronto FC and of the fact that TFC is a Canadian franchise. The league rules were conjured up from its infancy with an eye to developing US talent. As such the structure exist and recognize the the US college system as the devopment vehicle for drafting and developing talent. But Canadians kids may not have access to the US colleges in the same way as american kids. And, Canadian kids might have a different cultural perspective on college athletics as a place to develop from a profesional careers.

Take players like Ian Hume, Atiba Hutchison and Julian De Guzman for example. They didn't go to the NCAA. But what is MLS doing to ensure that future players of that talent have access to TFC and are available and acessible to TFC when they start off their careers. Right now MLS is doing nothing for those types of players. If those players would have scouted and enterred the TFC academy in when they were 15 and 16, TFC would not have had the flexibility and motivation to work on developing them and being certain that they will be available to the senior roster at some point in their futures.

Right now the system is working ( for lack of better word) to force feed american players down our throats. Granted, I know the circumstances and unique and I dont fault TFC for this. Nor do I fault TFC for choosing the best available talent.

But at the very least TFC should be permitted to do the folowing:

1) Run an academy that permitts and allows a residency status

2) Grant the rights to TFC to allow all of ( or a greater number of) the academy developed talent rather than having a system that steers them towards US colleges and forces them to re enter the draft so that they can be picked by someone like Colorado.

Right now, the simple math works against TFC and against Canadian soccer. Populationwise, there are ten time more americans than canadians. I would gladly favour system wereby TFC forgoes the the opportunity to particpate in the NCAA draft in favour of being allowed to secure the right to Cnd talent right from the age of 15.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by loyola

I'm all right with calling him a Jamaican International but it's tough to blame TFC for drafting those guys. They have to draft somebody and if there isn't canadians good enough in this draft they'll have to look elsewhere which is likely to be a player from another CONCACAF country...

Hey, I am not blaming anybody for anything, just stating the facts. TFC in its 3 short years has established a tradition of developing young players for our CONCACAF rivals, and nothing at all in terms of developing young Cdn players. End of story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by Free kick

Right now, the simple math works against TFC and against Canadian soccer. Populationwise, there are ten time more americans than canadians.

Yes, but there are also 15 American MLS teams compared to 1 Canadian team.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't have a problem with them drafting White but it seems to me that they drafted him way too early. I would have waited for their last pick in the first round or even later, he wasn't projected to go as one of the top picks. The risk of someone else drafting him would be well worth picking a better more coveted player with the #4 pick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by youllneverwalkalone

Hey the MLS draft board now shows Kyle Hall at #39. I swear somebody else was there before (Gen Adidas, no less) but good for the CanCon. Great goal against Guatemala.

EDIT: Must be confusion over his surname. They had Jeremy Hall up before, who went #11.

That's right. They had Jeremy Hall at both 11 and 39 spots. Good to see TFC draft a Cdn, although it's been posted here that no Cdn was 'good enough' in this draft.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by TFC07

I hope Mo trades those players. None of those players address our weakness (defence!).

I totally disagree with your assessment....TFC wasn't going to find a player that addressed its weaknesses in the draft. You don't find a lockdown CB coming out of college.

They picked 3 very talented college players. Frei, based on what Squid2 has told me, is a very talented keeper who could possibly start right now. He's a great pick up for TFC....he'll legitimately push Sutton for a starting position and he's a long term asset (i.e. good candidate to be sold on to Europe in 3-5 years, especially since he carries a Swiss Passport which simplifies matters significantly).

Cronin adds good depth in midfield. Guevara will be away alot this year. I've been told that Cronin is a more polished player than Rosenlund already.

White scored lots of goals in college. who knows what he's capable of at the pro level but its a risk worth taking, especially since he fills a CDN spot on the roster (which makes me sick but such is life).

TFC's most pressing remaining need is at CB....they'll have to be creative to go and find 1 or 2 of these players from somewhere other than college. I will judge Mo not by the players he picked today (because I think he did a good job making his team more stocked with talent) but rather by what CB's he brings into the lineup to help TFC win in 2009.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

I don't have a problem with them drafting White but it seems to me that they drafted him way too early. I would have waited for their last pick in the first round or even later, he wasn't projected to go as one of the top picks. The risk of someone else drafting him would be well worth picking a better more coveted player with the #4 pick.

Ives Galarcep reports that White would not have been available at #13. DCU would have taken him at #6 or 7.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by Ed

That's right. They had Jeremy Hall at both 11 and 39 spots. Good to see TFC draft a Cdn, although it's been posted here that no Cdn was 'good enough' in this draft.

Kyle Hall is no lock to make this team. This is a case of picking an interesting Canadian who "might" be good enough but probably isn't.

He definitely did not impress me when he played for Canada at Pre-Olympic qualifying tournament. What struck me was that his 1st touch was consistently attrocious (but he is very fast).

I find it interesting no one took a flier on Tosaint Ricketts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by Ed

That's right. They had Jeremy Hall at both 11 and 39 spots. Good to see TFC draft a Cdn, although it's been posted here that no Cdn was 'good enough' in this draft.

Actually, it was posted here that there were no Canadians in the draft deemed more talented than O'Brian White (the titular draft choice).

VPjr's post above mine seems to concur with that sentiment.

But hey, let's throw away real possible assets based on some jingoistic sense of responsibility.

quote:Originally posted by VPjr

I find it interesting no one took a flier on Tosaint Ricketts.

I hear he's pretty close to signing in Norway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by Rudi

Actually, it was posted here that there were no Canadians in the draft deemed more talented than O'Brian White (the titular draft choice).

What I meant, and Ed probably knows it, is that there's not a ton of canadians available in this draft. The history of this draft, even before TFC existed, indicates that very few canadians usually gets drafted. It's a question of quantity, TFC can't draft an average canadian playing in the NCAA just for the sake of giving canadians opportunities.

I'm glad to see Hall getting drafted BTW. I wasn't impress as well during the U-23 but he has speed, so let's hope he can improve on the other aspect of his game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad to hear that we drafted a local Canadian boy (by that I mean Hall, not White). I am surprised that TFC doesn't appear to have made a move to help solve the CB problems. Perhaps they have high hopes for Harmse & Nana at the back. Or are trading one of these surplus picks in deal to get Serioux, but I'm not holding my breath for that one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...