Corner is a new feature each Monday on US Soccer Players that attempts to breakdown an issue trending in the world of soccer in under 400 words. Yes, this explanation counts.
How many viewers began to wonder if there's such a thing as a bad draft pick after watching ESPN2's coverage of the first round of the 2012 Major League Soccer SuperDraft? All of the players invited to the combine and eventually drafted seem to hail from Lake Wobegon where all are above average by MLS standards. Add to that the bulk of the pundit coverage, and you might begin to think that college soccer is producing a caliber of player that offers immediate answers for every club.
We know that's not true. Few drafts produce more than a handful of players that end up impacting a team's immediate future. Yet what we got was the non-stop hard sell.
Let's set aside the critiques that begin and end with the age and experience of college players as compared to players that join clubs as teenagers and have big game experience before turning 20. The college system is no more broken now than it was 20 years ago in that regard. College players factor in MLS, and foreign clubs have no problem signing them. Whatever disadvantage it creates is no more severe than the European leagues cycling through youth prospects. Enough once upon a time prodigies having to revamp their careers at the outskirts of the professional game tells that particular story.
For MLS, the expectation is the SuperDraft doing enough to bolster the resources of a handful of clubs. All involved know that, so why the pick-by-pick hype? The no mistake draft, where everyone is a winner on a Thursday afternoon in Kansas City?
MLS is borrowing from the established sports here, where every event is a big event simply because it's yours. If it doesn't live up to the hype? By the time that's obvious, the game has already moved on. That's why we get expansion drafts the day after the MLS season ends, and why whatever follows on the MLS agenda will quickly take the stage and the attention.
Training camp, for those keeping score at home. It opens today, just in time to shift the conversation to what happens next.
Corner Rating: (1-11 with 11 being a lock that this issue doesn't go away) 8
Last Week's Corner: In the comments section, another benefit of the winter break was raised: rest for players participating in the summer National Team competitions. The Bundesliga is still a few days from returning, spending time in training camp where the pressure and the fatigue shouldn't be what it normally is in season. As for the Premier League? See that comment. This is a competitive advantage that can't be underestimated. We've already rated the Winter Break issue at 11, and at 11 it stays.
