The nucleus of the Montreal Impact is in place – but for how long?
Major League Soccer’s newest franchise added to its growing roster by selecting 10 players, including Houston Dynamo striker Brian Ching first overall, during Wednesday’s expansion draft.
Impact coach Jesse Marsch revealed his picks during a press conference at the club’s new downtown office complex.
The selection of Ching, a 33-year-old who’s been an MLS mainstay since 2001, was a curious move. Earlier this week, the American national team veteran told a Houston newspaper he would retire if selected by the Impact.
Ching won a pair of MLS Cup championships with Houston (2006 and 2007) and one with San Jose in 2003. In 2004, he won the Golden Boot award as the league’s top scorer. He battled injuries throughout the 2011 campaign but still helped the Dynamo reach the final, which they lost to the L.A. Galaxy last weekend.
Ching made it known he wanted to spend one more season in Houston so that he could play in the club’s new stadium scheduled to open next April.
But Marsh, who said he spoke with Ching Wednesday morning, is hopeful of signing the experienced forward to a contract.
"I understand Brian doesn’t want to be here, but we’d be delighted to have him. … We’ll see where this goes," Marsch told reporters at the news conference.
If Marsh can’t convince Ching to sign, look for Montreal to trade him to another club.
The Impact also selected, in order, defender Zarek Valentin (Chivas USA), midfielder Justin Mapp (Philadelphia Union), defender Bobby Burling (San Jose Earthquakes), midfielder Jeb Brovksy (Vancouver Whitecaps), midfielder Collen Warner (Real Salt Lake), midfielder Josh Gardner (Columbus Crew), forward Sanna Nyassi (Colorado Rapids), defender James Riley (Seattle Sounders), defender Seth Sinovic (Sporting Kansas City).
After picking Riley, Montreal turned around and traded him to Chivas for forward Justin Braun and midfielder Gerson Mayern.
The Impact also acquired defender Tyson Wahl in exchange for allocation money in a separate trade with Seattle.
Unprotected players that the Impact took a pass on included Toronto FC’s Julian de Guzman, Philadelphia’s Freddy Adu, Omar Bravo of Kansas City, and Columbus forward Jeff Cunningham, the all-time leading scorer in MLS history.
The Impact had four players under contract for next season prior to Wednesday’s draft: goalkeeper Evan Bush, defenders Hassoun Camara and Nelson Rivas and midfielder Sinisa Ubiparipovic.
Montreal is set to enter MLS in 2012 as its 19th club, joining Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps as the league’s only Canadian teams.
Each MLS team protected 11 players and could only lose one player to the Impact in the draft. Generation adidas and home-grown players were automatically protected and did not count against a team’s protected list.
Designated Players did not have to be protected unless the player had a no trade clause in his contract.
The Portland Timbers had a deal with Montreal whereby the Impact agreed not to select anyone off its protected list. The agreement was part of the deal that saw Timbers forward Ryan Pore join Montreal on loan this past summer in the NASL. The Timbers also sent an international roster slot to the Impact in the deal.
Also on Wednesday, Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps waived a number of players.
The Whitecaps cut midfielder Nizar Khalfan and defender Bilal Duckett. TFC waived seven players: defenders Kyle Davies, Demitrius Omphroy and Eddy Viator; midfielders Leandre Griffit, Matthew Gold and Gianluca Zavarise; and forward Javier Martina.
Check back with Sportsnet.ca on Thursday morning as Nick Sabetti will have a full review and analysis of the Montreal Impact’s expansion draft.