[Xulu]

American sports, by and large, have peculiarities that European sports lack. Most major world sports hold their top league in the United States. Soccer* is not one of those sports. The beautiful game in America has been heavily influenced by both American tradition and European additions. This makes the American top flight (Major League Soccer) a league in which most non-Americans find very confusing.

One of the traditions of American sports is the draft. Many American players go play for a few years in a university setting. The NCAA requires that all athletes be amateur players, so you may not sign a professional contract while you are bound by a scholarship to a university. As any American will tell you, the athletic culture at most universities is huge. Once you finish, you can declare yourself eligible for the draft. If you are confused, think of the draft as a transfer window - just that each club in the league gets to take a turn in selecting a player and the worst teams go first. That's right; while in Europe the best teams will usually snatch the top young talent first, in the US the top young talent is filtered through a system that lets the worst teams have the first crack. So with that in your head, let us move into the MLS and their dark world of drafting.

You will need a draft strategy to succeed in the MLS. Drafting is an easy way to build the success of your team for the future. In the MLS SuperDraft for FM2011 there are 4 rounds, and each team has a pick in each round. You also can trade picks for players or other picks; the first pick of the first round is the most valuable pick and the last pick of the fourth round is the least valuable pick. So you have all these good young players in the draft, who do you take and when do you take them? Since I have rambled on the means long enough, I figure I will skip to the ends for the actual pointers on draft selection.




Top 5 picks are extremely valuable. If you have one of these, keep it at all costs. If you can get one of these picks without giving up your entire team, you should strongly consider doing so. With a top 5 pick, you should select the player with the highest creativity and flair you can find, usually a midfielder or a forward. The exception to this is if you can get a sure star at defender of keeper, and that would be a perfectly acceptable pick should you have that need. Creative players selected after these top picks are have very mixed results and your chances of landing a dud are higher than a stud. Save your creativity and flair for the top 5. The three Designated Players (whose salary does not count against the cap) along with your Top 5 picks should form most of your offensive core.

The rest of the First Round contains good selections, but usually forwards and attacking midfielders are not among them. Defensive players are usually solid all-around, and this part of the round is no exception. You should be able to get good quality here by selecting a Defender or Keeper, but a good Winger might do the trick as well. Keep your first round picks unless you can get an absolute proven star. It is okay to trade down to pick up more options later on, but do not trade out of the first round or drop too many slots. Do not trade up in the first round unless you can get into the Top 5, and only give up role players and late round picks to do so.

Anything outside of the First round is essentially a crapshoot. Most of these players probably will not even make your squad. If at anytime you can trade some of these picks for an established player, you should do it. Trade down if you can, picking up more picks in the process, or package some of these picks with a first rounder/player to get a Top 5 pick. Here, look for defenders, project goalkeepers, and versatility. If you have issues with depth at a particular position, this is your chance to give them a quick fix. Do not be afraid to bargain these picks off for better deals.


Goalkeepers are usually good selections, no matter the round.
Defenders are solid picks, no matter the round.
Defensive Midfielders are usually good selections, no matter the round.
Attacking Midfielders are great in the Top 5, and mixed to poor elsewhere.
Creative Forwards are great in the Top 5, and mixed to poor elsewhere.
Target Forwards are great in the Top 5, and mixed elsewhere.

Designated Players are best at AM or ST (perhaps GK). Do not trade 1st Round picks except to get a Top 5 pick. Any other pick is expendable for whatever you need.


*Soccer is what the game is called to me. Football evokes a different image. For purposes of talking about the game outside of the US/Canada, I call the game football. Inside US/Canada, it is soccer.