Chivas USA, like every team in MLS, submitted today its list of 11 protected players for Wednesday's Expansion Draft, in which Seattle Sounders FC, which starts play next season, will take 10 players. Here's our press release on our protected roster list, and you can find the league list, with all the players that have been made available, by clicking here.
A few notes on the Expansion Draft:
- Each team was only able to protect 11 players, though Generation Adidas players are automatically protected. Chivas USA doesn't have any current Generation Adidas players (Sacha Kljestan is an alum of the program), but FC Dallas, for example, has five such players. Since the Red-and-White also signed Season Ending Injury replacements for Eric Ebert, Lawson Vaughn, and Raphael Wickly late this season, it means we have 20 players available to be selected in the Expansion Draft, more than any other team.
- Seattle has ten picks in the Draft, and can pick no more than one player per team. This means that four MLS teams will not lose anybody in the Expansion Draft.
- The Sounders have until Wednesday to make their decisions; the Expansion Draft will take place at 10:00 a.m. PT on Wednesday.
It is also interesting to see how much the format has changed since Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake were involved in the 2004 Expansion Draft. Back then, teams were able to protect 12 players, and players on the development rosters of teams were not included. After the struggles of both Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake in their first seasons, the Expansion Draft format was changed, and this year's draft is nearly identical to that of 2006 (for Toronto FC) and 2007 (for the San Jose Earthquakes).
Chivas USA has lost defenders in each of the previous two Expansion drafts. In 2006, Toronto selected Tim Regan, who now works as a scout for Toronto FC and played one match this season when Toronto was missing players due to international call-ups; that game was a 3-1 Chivas USA win in Toronto on Sept. 6. Prior to this past season, the San Jose Earthquakes picked Jason Hernandez from the Red-and-White, and Hernandez was protected by the Earthquakes this year.
