Two MLS sides are blowing it ... big time; Red Bull and Chicago remain leaderless as Draft approaches

There’s a Major League Soccer draft next week, right?

That’s what my calendar says. Yep, right there. It’s listed in my datebook, Jan. 14. It’s written down right next to my monthly meeting of the local Bacon of the Month club. Bacon – Ummm.

But I guess we need somebody to put on their snowshoes and or ride Paul Revere-like through the wintry mess and get an important message to a couple of teams up in the cold, cold northeast.

Apparently, the suits and Red Bull New York and Chicago missed the news! "Yo, fellows! You need a coach! There’s a draft next week."

Word is coming out of Chicago that Carlos de los Cobos, formerly El Jeffe at El Salvador, could soon be the man with the plan in Bridgeview. Well, dig this: the only thing worse than hiring a manager with no time to prep for a draft is hiring a manager who has never even heard of the MLS draft.

Managers need players who fit their style. And they need players they can get along with. That’s why other clubs have spent so much time and money scouting college games last fall, braving the security lines and our rediscovered fears of flying to hit all those college tournaments and the NCAA Final Four.

Meanwhile, the suits in New York continue to comb Mother Earth for a splashy choice to lead their Red Bulls. I’ve beaten these teams like rented mules for their pitiful infatuation with the foreign choice, so enough said about that. But the very least they could do is give the poor schmoe a fighting chance.

In case the execs at Chicago and Red Bull weren’t watching last year, the MLS draft was put to considerable use. True, it was a peerless class in terms of Jim Dandy talent. The 2010 draft class is unlikely to reap such a whirlwind of prime-time-ready performers. Still, the draft certainly has some usefulness in building a roster.

There is some precedent here of managers parachuting into the draft at the last minute. In 2007, for instance, Preki had not been named manager as yet for Chivas USA. He was de facto manager, and did run the draft for the Goats in Baltimore that January. But he probably didn’t benefit from the full range of prior scouting and autonomy of choice. So, how’d that work out for the Home Depot Center’s second tenants?

Chivas had two just one early selection that year and used it to take John Cunliffe at the No. 7 spot. He stuck around briefly with Chivas, then had an uneventful season with San Jose and has found his level now with the Carolina Railhawks of USL. So, that was was poor return on a relatively high choice.

The 2007 draft was no landmark, but it wasn’t a bad draft. Plenty of guys taken before and after who have enjoyed productive MLS careers so far.

Denis Hamlett was officially named to Chicago’s top post just before the 2008 draft. That one didn’t work out so badly, as the Fire got Patrick Nyarko with the No. 7 overall pick. Nyarko hasn’t set MLS on fire but he does have some goal-scoring pop, and he could be a productive player moving forward. With the No. 12 pick, Chicago selected Dominic Cervi, who hasn’t done much. So, we’ll call this one a draw in terms of 11^th-hour appointments (as it related to MLS drafts, that is). Besides, Hamlett had been a long-time assistant, so he was infinitely more prepared than a total newcomer will be.

Anyone headed to Chicago or New York in the next couple of days? Drop by the local soccer clubs there and give ‘em the heads up, would ya?

(Note: some bad info in the initial posting has been corrected. I must have had some bad clams or something and gone into brain lock. Props to the good readers for pointing out the error.)