Thursday, December 04, 2008

2008 MLS Debuts

Overall, there have now been 1,255 players to play in a competitive match for a Major League Soccer team. 136 of those players made their debut during the 2008 season, a record for any year past the first:

Debuts By Year

1996 241
1997 80
1998 93
1999 62
2000 75
2001 63
2002 54
2003 68
2004 63
2005 120
2006 87
2007 113
2008
136


Total 1,255

No surprise that the three expansion years rank 1-2-3-4 after the first season, and that post-contraction 2002 saw the lowest total of new players.

The average team blooded 10 new players in 2008. The team breakdown is as follows:

CHI 9
CHV 11
CLB 6
COL 7
DAL 7
DC 15
HOU 5
KC 11
LA 10
NE 13
NY 14
RSL 8
SJ 7
TOR 13

The Earthquakes' total of 7 seems really low for an expansion team. You can see how Frank Yallop's approach was way different than that of Mo Johnston and Toronto FC, who introduced 20 new players in 2007. Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake had 14 and 17 in 2005, as well.

Talent Breakdown

Let's see where these new players came from, started with those drafted. The team listed is the one that gave the player his first minutes, not the one that drafted him.

2008 Superdraft (36)

1 Allen, Ely LA
2 Avila, Eric DAL
3 Beltran, Tony RSL
4 Cameron, Geoff HOU
5 Cordeiro, Ryan DC
6 Edwards, Brian TOR
7 Espinoza, Roger KC
8 Franklin, Sean LA
9 Germanese, Joe NE
10 Grazier, Brian COL
11 Horst, David RSL
12 Iro, Andy CLB
13 James, Julius TOR
14 Josten, George CLB
15 King, Stephen CHI
16 Leathers, Jonathan KC
17 Lenhart, Steven CLB
18 Lowry, Peter CHI
19 Marquess, Matt KC
20 McDonald, Brandon LA
21 McKenzie, Rauwshan KC
22 Miller, Ryan DC
23 Myers, Chance KC
24 Nyarko, Patrick CHI
25 O'Brien, Ciaran COL
26 Phelan, Pat NE
27 Roberts, Jamil SJ
28 Roth, David NY
29 Salinas, Shea SJ
30 Sassano, Luke NY
31 Savage, Keith CHV
32 Shea, Brek DAL
33 Valentin, Julian LA
34 Valentino, Rob NE
35 Washington, Austin CHI
36 Zaher, Mike DC

12 first rounders, 8 second rounders, 8 third rounders, and 8 fourth rounders saw action.


2008 Supplemental Draft (14)

37 Alcaraz, Johnny HOU
38 Borman, Danleigh NY
39 Chiles, Kraig CHV
40 Dube, Kheli NE
41 Elenio, Cory CLB
42 Gavin, Michael LA
43 Gilkerson, John NY
44 Nunez, Tino RSL
45 Smarte, Adam SJ
46 Stratford, Dan DC
47 Thompson, Craig DC
48 Thorpe, James DC
49 Tierney, Chris NE
50 Zambrano, Cesar COL

By round: 8, 4, 1, and 1. Now, let's look at the leftovers from the previous drafts who finally debuted:


2007 Superdraft (4)

51 Burling, Bobby CHV
52 Ebert, Eric CHV
53 Ibrahim, Abdus TOR
54 Igwe, Amaechi NE

2007 Supplemental Draft (8)

55 Cepero, Danny NY
56 DiRaimondo, John COL
57 Kljestan, Gordon NY
58 Kraus, Michael KC
59
Noble, Nick CHI
60 Smith, Jarrod TOR
61 Wileman, Chase DAL
62 Woolard, Daniel CHI

2006 Superdraft (1)

63 Kronberg, Eric KC

2006 Supplemental Draft (1)

64 Paladini, Daniel CHV

A player like G.Kljestan makes this complicated, as he spent time on an MLS roster in 2007, was cut, and then played indoor soccer earlier this year before signing with New York. So I suppose you could say he came from the MISL instead, but it's easier just to count it this way. Same thing for Paladini, who was cut and played in the PDL (which is not a pro team), then came back.


Domestic-Based Players (20)

65 Attakora-Gyan, Nana TOR
66 Ayres, Jay SJ
67 Braun, Justin CHV
68 Brill, Sam NE
69
Carroll, Pat DC
70 Gaudet, Derek TOR
71 Janicki, Greg DC
72 Jordan, Bryan LA
73 Kandji, Macoumba NY
74 Khumalo, Thabiso DC
75 Mbuta, Matthew NY
76 Megaloudis, Chris NY
77 Parker, Lance CHV
78 Pizarro, Nelson KC
79
Saunders, Josh LA
80
Souter, Kevin KC
81 Tyler, Brandon NE
82 Velez, Marco TOR
83 Wicks, Josh LA
84 Wondolowski, Steve HOU

These are the guys who came from a lower league in the USA/Canada or were undrafted. Saunders and Velez were previously drafted years ago, but I'm not going to count that.


Foreign-Based Players (49)

85 Badilla, Gabriel NE
86 Caig, Tony HOU
87 Caraccio, Franco HOU
88 Carvallo, Jose DC
89
Castro, Mauricio NE
90 Cichero, Gabriel NY
91 Cordoba, Matias RSL
92 Crayton, Louis DC
93 Davino, Duilio DAL
94
Dalby, Greg
COL
95 Dejair CHV
96 Deuchar, Kenny RSL
97 Dominguez, Eduardo LA
98 Echeverry, Oscar NY
99 Ekpo, Emmanuel CLB
100 Fernandez, Argenis NE
101 Frankowski, Tomasz CHI
102 Gallardo, Marcelo DC
103 Gomes, Rafael COL
104 Hilgenbrinck, Chase NE
105 Huckerby, Darren SJ
106 Jimenez, Diego NY
107 Joy, Ian RSL
108 Kennedy, Dan CHV
109 Lima, Francisco SJ
110 Lopez, Claudio KC
111 Manzonelli, Brandon NE
112 Marmol, Lider CHI
113 Martinez, Gonzalo DC
114 McManus, Tom COL
115 Niell, Franco DC
116 Nurse, Roberto CHV
117 Olave, Jamison RSL
118 Padula, Gino CLB
119 Pappa, Marco CHI
120 Peralta, Gonzalo DC
121 Pietravallo, Juan NY
122 Pires, Alvaro LA
123 Ricketts, Rohan TOR
124 Robert, Laurent TOR
125 Rocha, Andre DAL
126 Rojas, Jorge NY
127 Rosenlund, Tyler TOR
128 Russell, Robbie RSL
129 Sikora, Victor DAL
130 Smith, Johann TOR
131 Somma, Davide SJ
132 Tebily, Olivier TOR
133 Trujillo, Ivan KC
134 Wicky, Raphael CHV

These are the players who came from teams in other countries. DC had the most with 6, while 5 teams only had 2. I should do a breakdown by region and/or league these guys came from.

Finally, we have two players who came into the league via "weird" circumstances:


Weighted Lottery (1)

135 Guarda, Bruno DAL

Emergency Loan (1)

136 Kambere, Diaz TOR

The weighted lottery is a famous, rare, and despised MLS tradition. Usually the players don't amount to much, except for Robbie Rogers. That drawing may have won a title for Columbus...

And Kambere was part of the John Carver meltdown over the national team callups in September. The other couple of players loaned (Regan, Titus) had previous MLS experience. Due to the expanded rosters, Kambere was the first non-goalkeeper emergency loan to play since Chris Carrieri for Chicago in 2004. We might be seeing more of that in 2009 thanks to the reduced rosters.

Comments on "2008 MLS Debuts"

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (10:54 AM, December 10, 2008) : 

unbelievable work! thanks!

 

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