VANCOUVER, BC – With the upcoming MLS Expansion Draft now less than two weeks away, Vancouver Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson has a lot to think about in terms of his protection list and some difficult decisions to make.
As with every team, Vancouver can protect up to 11 players for the draft, in addition to their Homegrown players and current Generation adidas player Christian Dean, who are automatically protected.
Whitecaps FC have 27 players on their current MLS roster (not including Homegrown midfielder Marco Bustos, who will officially be added to the roster in January), and as things currently stand, Robinson must decide which nine players he will leave unprotected for the Expansion Draft. How best to approach his protection list is a process that has been causing the ‘Caps coach a lot of deliberation.
“It's not an easy thing to do," Robinson told KIA Vancouver Soccer Talk earlier this month. “If you ask any person the 11 players that they'd protect, they're probably different to what you think.”
“There are a number of ways you can deal with it. Do you protect your assets? Well that's obviously the most important thing. Do you leave a high salaried player out there on the chance that he'll get picked up but it's not too damaging for you because you've obviously freed up a high salary player? But if you want to keep the player, I think you're very naive to do that."
Robinson's protection list quandaries got a little bit tougher this week when it was announced that both Kekuta Manneh and Omar Salgadohave graduated from the league’s Generation adidas program. As a result, both players will be eligible for selection in the Expansion Draft unless they are one of the players protected by Vancouver or are traded before the December 10 draft day.
Suffice to say, Robinson has some tough decisions to make – particularly around some of the veterans and internationals in his squad.
“The international players are obviously out there,” Robinson said. “The American players are probably more attractable, but also you've got to keep in mind that the two expansion teams might be trying to do deals with other teams as well.”
“If you try to read too much into it, you won't sleep, which is why I spoke to a number of managers within the league and you've just got to protect your players and the rest will take care of itself. It's out of your hands really.”
Robinson has joked that his protection list changes nightly, but although he indicated that he is close to finalizing his selections, he's keeping everyone speculating for now.
“Unfortunately I can't tell you,” Robinson said of his final protection list. “But if I gave you 11 guesses, you'd probably get eight or nine of them correct, so I'll leave that one with you.”
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