FC Dallas Makes 6 Selections in 2007 MLS Draft
Published 1/12/2007 8:23:11 PM by Media Relations from FC Dallas
FRISCO, Texas - FC Dallas today made six selections in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft at the Indianapolis Convention Center in Indianapolis. In his first draft as the team's head coach, Steve Morrow selected a pair of teenagers, Anthony Wallace (17) and Abdus Ibrahim (15), who became the second youngest player ever to be drafted in MLS.
"We're very pleased with our draft. We went into the draft with a lot of targets and we were very pleased to get some of those," said FC Dallas Head Coach Steve Morrow. "We're delighted to get Anthony Wallace with our first pick as we did not think that he would be there at No. 9. We then got another Generation adidas pick that we were delighted to get in Abdus Ibrahim who we think is a guy with a great future. We were also able to pick up some other very solid picks in Anthony Daniels, Ryan Guy, Scott Jones and Tommy Krizanovic. We feel that we got a lot of balance and covered a lot of spots as well, so all in all we think that we had a strong draft and are very pleased."
FCD selected defender/midfielder Anthony Wallace from the University of South Florida with the ninth overall pick of the draft. A member of the United States Under-20 National Team, the 17-year old Wallace started all 19 of USF's matches as a freshman in 2006. A native of St. Petersburg, Fla., Wallace has also played with the U.S. U-17 and U-18 National Teams. He is currently in Florida with the U-20 National Team preparing for CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying, which will be held in Panama later this month.
Dallas next selected 15-year old forward Abdus Ibrahim with the first pick in the second round (14th overall), a pick which was acquired from Toronto FC along with Adrian Serioux in exchange for Ronnie O'Brien on Nov. 17, 2006.
Ibrahim, who was born in Bik'a, Ethiopia, before moving to Minnesota at the age of 11, is the second youngest player to be drafted in MLS history behind Freddy Adu who was taken by D.C. United in 2004 at the age of 14. He is currently a member of the U.S. Under-17 National Team and has also appeared for the U-14 and U-15 National Teams.
With the 18th overall selection, the Hoops selected Brown University forward Andrew Daniels. The pick was acquired earlier in the day from Colorado in exchange for defender Greg Vanney. In four years with the Bears, the 6-foot-2, two-time All-Ivy League selection scored 19 goals and added 11 assists in 68 career games.
With the team's third and final pick of the second round, Dallas selected forward Ryan Guy from the University of San Diego. A two-time All-West Coast Conference first team selection, Guy scored 16 goals and added 24 assists in 79 career games with the Toreros.
FCD selected Dallas-native Scott Jones in the third round (28th overall), a midfielder from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Jones, who played at Jesuit College Prepartory in Dallas along with his new teammate Kenny Cooper, scored 25 goals and had 41 assists in his four- years with UNC-Greensboro and was a four-time All-Southern Conference first team selection.
In the fourth and final round of the SuperDraft, FCD selected forward Tommy Krizanovic, a native of Croatia from Jacksonville University with the 43rd overall pick before trading its final pick, the 48th overall selection, to Real Salt Lake for RSL's natural fourth round pick in 2008.
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