God, Country, Soccer

The Rapids went into the SuperDraft 2010 without a first round pick but came out with first round talent. The man pictured above is Andre Akpan. He is a forward from Harvard University. He was a finalist for the Hermann Trophy (College Soccer's Best Player). He scored 47 goals and 33 assists in college. He was projected as a first round pick. He had a poor combine. He fell to 6th pick of the second round (22nd overall) to the Rapids. He's no young project. He's 23 years old and ready to play. If and when Conor Casey gets called to the World Cup, Akpan could be ready to step in and play. I mean he couldn't be any worse than Pat Noonan right? Oh yeah, if you were wondering why the Rapids didn't have a first round pick, in a draft that was supposedly the deepest talent pool MLS has ever seen, it's because of the Pat Noonan trade. Here are the rest of the Rapids picks.

The Rapids have dealt their pick at number 20 to the Chicago Fire for their second round pick, #28 and also, GK Matt Pickens. Matt Pickens will step right in for the exiting Bouna Coundoul. Sad to see Bouna go, but this deal basically tells us that he's gone. The Rapids selected Kwame Adjeman-Pamboe (F/M 5-8 155 George Mason)with the pick they acquired from Chicago.

The SuperDraft is under way in St. Louis and as the first round comes to a close one guy is still in the draft pool that would look very good in the Burgundy and Sky Blue. Forward Baggio Husidic from the University of Illinois - Chicago. I'm hoping first of all that he'll be there at pick number 20, and also that the Rapids will help the offense out and take him.

SuperDraft 2008 is a very deep draft with a lot of talent coming out of college ( ESPN2 @ Noon ). However, the Rapids don't pick until the 20th selection. Don't look for the Rapids to come out of this draft looking any different than they went into it based upon draft selections. With the roster sizes being cut and developmental contracts at a minimum, if you can't snag a Generation Adidas player, why even bother with the draft? Is the player that gets picked by the Rapids at number 20 even going to make the team? If you are the Rapids, are you going to cut a guy you've had a year or two to work with, like Kosuke Kimura, in favor of a guy who is a prospect? Or do you let them go to the USL, prove themselves, get some game action in and try to build your team that way? I expect the Rapids to maybe try to make some deals, try to see if anyone will take Christian Gomez from them, and possibly try to deal to get a higher pick. Don't get me wrong, the draft is exc...

It's that time again, MLS Superdraft time. This year's version will take place on Thursday January 15th at noon. The Generation Adidas players have been finalized and announced , and if you remember last year, 6 of the top 8 draft picks were Generation Adidas players, so take a look.