KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - Thursday’s MLS SuperDraft served as the realization of dreams for 38 young men chosen by professional teams.

 

Of course, all of these players came from somewhere, and for a number of the selections, we’ve been able to highlight them in years gone by as part of our ongoing coverage of elite youth soccer at TopDrawerSoccer.com. We caught up with a few of those in the interview room at the Kansas City Convention Center during the draft proceedings.

 

Special thanks to MLS Director of Communications Will Kuhns for his help in facilitating our coverage. The atomosphere was pretty electric in the Grand Ballroom just before the SuperDraft began, as our Jahmal  Corner was able to highlight in this brief video.

 

 

Back to the players, Maryland’s Casey Townsend (selected by Chivas USA), started his soccer career in Traverse City, Michigan, way up in the northern part of the state. Casey’s dad, who I once accompanied on a trip to Argentina to watch Casey play for U.S. Youth Soccer ODP,  told me Thursday that the draft was shown live at Casey’s old school there. Listen as Casey recalls some of the long trips required to get himself to the level needed for Thursday to happen.

 

 

Creighton’s Andrew Duran, who was drafted by Seattle, played for Mike Matkovich’s Chicago Magic team many moons ago, and he recalled those days for us.

 

 

Louisville’s Austin Berry  was selected by the Chicago Fire, and he too had some youth memories to share, involving multiple clubs in the Cincinnati area.

 

 

Matt Hedges was a key part of North Carolina’s national championship run, and the towering defender had transferred to Chapel Hill from Butler, in Indianapolis. It was central Indiana club Carmel United where Hedges cut his soccer teeth, and he had a good word to share with us about his youth coach.

 

These were just some of the great stories on display Thursday, but as the game in this country continues to progress, the pipeline of soccer talent should flow more and more. One thing for certain is that the things youth players are doing now WILL matter when it comes to their respective professional prospects in the future.