INDIANAPOLIS – The day before draft is crazy.
People speaking in hushed undertones, coaches in the lobby and hotel bar talking quietly on their cell phones. Could be checking in with the wife, could be locking up the No. 1 spot. It’s 6:26 p.m. at the time of this post and we already know going into tomorrow, that New England swapped cash to acquire Toronto FC’s top pick heading into tomorrow’s MLS SuperDraft.
It’s probably not going to be the last change between now and tomorrow’s noon start time which you can watch via philadelphiaunion.com/live MLSSoccer.com and the WatchESPN app. And as of now, the Union still holds picks No. 26 and 29; although manager John Hackworth told MLSSoccer.com’s Dave Zeitlin that he isn’t averse to moving up especially if it could net a promising candidate.
“A first-round pick has value and from that regard, we don’t want to necessarily not have one,” Hackworth said. “But I think we have enough flexibility right now to either move up or down. There will be a lot of negotiating going on, back and forth.”
While the coaches were doing their thing, front office staff and brass were in league wide meetings all day today. On the digital end (which is where we come in), you might notice a change among the social media platforms across the top of this and future posts. This is because the league launched Gigya, our one-stop social media enterprise that is supposed to make interacting with you on our end a whole lot easier. I would get into specifics, but it’s geek stuff. If you are interested check out Gigya.com for more information or leave us a comment below if you want more of a layman’s terms elaboration. But this is draft so we’d rather talk about that.
Only 13 of the draftees are scheduled to attend tomorrow’s festivities so it’s possible that if the Union stay in their current position we might not even get a glimpse of the newcomers until camp begins next week and for you fans, our open training session at YSC Sports in Wayne on Jan. 21. All of the Generation adidas players are scheduled to be in attendance, however. Not sure what Generation adidas really is? Or you kind of know but aren’t sure? Union writer Andy Jasner wrote a really solid SuperDraft 101 piece gearing you up for what to expect tomorrow.
Think you have a handle on tomorrow’s draft? Follow the college scene? Who do you think the technical staff should draft tomorrow if available? Drop a comment below, we love to get your input.
And finally…
Zach Pfeffer is still tearing it up at Hoffenheim. The Union’s homegrown stud scored four goals in a friendly today playing with Hoffenheim’s U-19s. Pfeffer posted via his Twitter site:
January 16, 2013
Pretty amazing stuff that makes the goal count a whopping SIX for Pfeffer in three matches; making him a shoo-in for a starting role once Hoffenheim’s U-19s resume their German league schedule next month against Bayern Munich’s U-19s…Didn’t get that many responses to our question is yesterday’s "Daily DOOP" regarding a post draft chat tomorrow evening. At this point it’s kind of impromptu, but if you want to talk draft, the players we got and more given just 45 days remain until First Kick (March 2), let us know, and we’ll set one up.
Catch you all tomorrow, be safe…
Contact Union writer Kerith Gabriel at kgabriel@philadelphiaunion.com
