INDIANAPOLIS, IN - The Chicago Fire was among
the busiest of the 13 teams taking part in today's 2007 MLS
SuperDraft, which for the fifth consecutive year was held in
conjunction with the National Soccer Coaches Association of
America Convention at the Indianapolis Convention Center.
The Fire's Technical Staff wasted no time in making waves,
beginning the day by trading forward Andy Herron to the
Columbus Crew in exchange for forward Ryan Coiner and the
Crew's second overall pick in the draft.
After expansion side Toronto FC kicked off
the draft by choosing University of Maryland midfielder
Maurice Edu, the Fire used its newly-acquired pick to select
University of Virginia defender Bakary Soumare. Chicago's
braintrust wasted no time in increasing its attacking depth
by choosing University of Alabama-Birmingham striker Jerson
Monteiro with its second pick in the first round, the eighth
overall. Chicago would round out the 2007 draft by keeping
its natural selection in each of the last three rounds and
taking Notre Dame midfielder Nate Norman (second round, 21st
overall), Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville
midfielder Mike Banner (third round, 34th overall) and Penn
State forward Simon Omekanda (fourth round, 47th overall).
"The mindset going in is, 'Who are the best
guys out there,'" said Fire Head Coach Dave Sarachan. "We've
had a pretty good history of getting the guys we've
targeted. It's not always going to happen, but I think we
positioned ourselves to do that this year, and we followed
through."
In his three seasons with the Fire, Herron
notched 15 goals and three assists in 44 regular season
contests (34 starts). The Costa Rican international saved
his best for the 2006 season, when his nine goals led to his
first Fire/Budweiser Golden Boot crown with the club. Coiner
comes to Chicago after spending half a season with the Crew,
where he registered one assist in six contests (four
starts). Prior to joining MLS midway through the 2006
season, the University of San Diego product spent three
seasons in Germany with Arminia Bielefeld II (2003-04),
Union Berlin (2004-05) and Holstein Kiel (2005-06).
After redshirting in 2005, Soumare started 20
of his 21 appearances for Virginia during his freshman
season in 2006, in which he earned Second Team All-ACC
honors while helping lead the Cavaliers to the 2006 College
Cup Semifinals. Although he is a citizen of Mali, Soumare
holds a United States Green Card and therefore will not be
counted as a youth international player on the Fire roster.
Soumare was signed to a Generation adidas contract earlier
this month.
"I was very, very surprised. For the past
weeks we've heard of teams that were interested, but Chicago
was never one of those teams," said Soumare. "People have
been asking me every day for weeks, 'Where do you want to
go?' I wanted to stay in a big city, being from New York
City, so Chicago was definitely one of the teams on my list.
I've been there before for soccer tournaments but haven't
been around the city much, so I'm really looking forward to
going to Chicago."
"He's an imposing figure when you see him,
but you've got to have the rest that goes with it," Sarachan
said of Soumare. "If you've got size you're going to be
dangerous in the air. If you've got the mentality to go in
on tackles, if you can play with your feet out of the back
and you're a young player that's willing to learn, you can
succeed. I think he hits all of those components."
The Fire selected Monteiro as its second pick
in the first round, the eighth selection overall. A
four-year starter at UAB, Monteiro was a three-time
All-Conference USA player with the Blazers, being named to
the First Team in 2006 and the Third Team in both 2003 and
2005. The Angolan National Team pool member notched 34 goals
and 16 assists in 77 collegiate appearances (74 starts) and
shined the brightest during his senior season, when he
scored a career-best 14 goals and seven assists in 20
contests.
The Fire used the next two picks to add depth
to its midfield by selecting Norman and Banner. After coming
off the bench during his first three seasons at Notre Dame,
Norman would prove to be a key midfield cog in 2006,
starting all 23 of Notre Dame's contests and scoring two
goals and a team-high seven assists in helping the Fighting
Irish reach the College Cup Quarterfinals last November.
Norman tallied seven goals and 13 assists in his 82 career
games (33 starts) during his career in South Bend. After
playing his freshman season at Georgetown alongside new Fire
teammate Jeff Curtin in 2002, Banner transferred to NCAA
Division II program SIU-Edwardsville for his final three
collegiate seasons. Banner would play in 56 games across
three seasons for the Cougars, scoring 18 times and adding
15 assists in helping SIU-Edwardsville to NCAA Div. II Final
Four appearances in 2004 and 2005.
The Fire would close its draft day by
selecting Omekanda in the fourth round. The Penn State
striker was a four-year starter in Happy Valley, notching 20
goals and 26 assists in 83 games for the Nittany Lions,
including 73 starts. The former Gatorade High School Player
of the Year and NSCAA High School All-American continued to
rack up accolades at Penn State, where he was a First Team
All-Big Ten selection in both 2005 and 2006.
