![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/mccarthy2.jpg?resize=201%2C300\" "\\"2011")
<\/a>Stephen McCarthy will have to earn it if he's going to start in 2011. (Photo courtesy MLSSoccer.com<\/p><\/div>\n
Though Nicol and Burns expressed moderate satisfaction with their selections during Thursday\u2019s MLS SuperDraft, the coach and VP of Player Personnel were unequivocal in the sense that considerable work needs to be done before the start of the regular season. With three international roster spots vacant, the pair are hopeful the recent signing of Didier Domi will not be the team\u2019s last international acquisition this offseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were certainly looking for a central defender, we\u2019re looking for a central midfielder, and we\u2019re looking for a forward as well,\u201d said Burns. \u201cWe think in this draft we addressed a lot of our needs, obviously, from a domestic player standpoint, but this is just another step in the process. We\u2019re still looking to acquire a couple international players as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Should the club find themselves unsuccessful in filling those positions with seasoned internationals, the Revolution can take some measure of solace in the shrewd selections made on Thursday.<\/p>\n
On paper, Soares looks a perfect acquisition to fill the central defender role, while the 6\u20194\u201d McCarthy has the potential to develop a successful partnership with Shalrie Joseph in central midfield. Third round selections Steven Perry, Ryan Kinne, and Alan Koger will all have a shot to make the team as a striker.<\/p>\n
Of course, there is no way of knowing how well any of the five will perform at the pro level until they actually step on the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s normal when everyone leaves the draft [that] they always feel pretty good about who they\u2019ve drafted,\u201d said Burns. \u201cReally, the true test will [be] once we get preseason and get everyone acclimated and get them into the locker room and we start training. On paper, we feel pretty decent about what transpired today for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though neither Burns nor Nicol were ready to hand out starting assignments a full two months prior to First Kick, the two were clearly impressed with what they saw in Soares and McCarthy and felt both prospects could\u2019ve realistically been taken earlier in SuperDraft than they were.<\/p>\n
In Soares, a University of California product, the team saw a defender who reads the game well and can help coordinate the defense from the center, not to mention score a few goals (five in 2010) when needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe looks real mature,\u201d said Nicol. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in the back, defensively, you need someone who is organizing and who is taking care of what\u2019s going on behind the people in front of him. That\u2019s something he\u2019ll definitely be able to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCarthy, who was brought in to compete with the likes of Pat Phelan and Jason Griffiths for a spot in the center of the midfield, was a dynamic player the Revs scouted at ACC powerhouse University of North Carolina.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s definitely an imposing, physical player, that\u2019s hopefully going to have an additional presence in our midfield,\u201d said Burns. \u201cOur coaches had seen him a lot\u2026and knowing he was a signed player with the league, it was all positives with us. He\u2019s a big, physical strong player, but we feel he also is fairly technical as well. He could hopefully develop into an imposing central midfield player for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Overall, the Revs\u2019 coaching staff is bullish about their SuperDraft selections going into the 2011 season.\u00a0 Should the club fill their remaining international roster vacancies, and Soares and McCarthy play to their billing, the Revs will undoubtedly head into the new season with a much brighter outlook after a disappointing 2010.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think with the group that we got [Thursday] certainly one of them maybe two, but you never know, maybe three [could eventually end up starting], so we\u2019re more than happy,\u201d said Nicol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Steve Nicol and Mike Burns know the Revolution still have work to do before the season starts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[38,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/mccarthyfeature2.jpg?fit=490%2C225&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2455"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2495,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455\/revisions\/2495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}