Player Profile: Jeff Parke

The Seattle Sounders portion of Jeff Parke's career started later than Hanauer and Schmid wanted it to, but in the end he was one of the two best Expansion Draft picks of the team.

Parke earned his first call to the United States National team after a good 2011. It took injuries and was "just" the January camp. He then lost his starting role on the Sounders. When he won it back he did not play at his 2011 level, but rose up to become somewhere around the 5th to 10th best centerbacks in the league.

Skills on offense: Parke was the most likely of the defenders to boot it long. His lack of comfort under pressure meant that he would rather have a 50/50 situation further up the pitch than a mistake in a threatening space. But there were times, every 5th match or so, when he wasn't under pressure and instead he would dribble, and dribble and dribble and all of the sudden Parke would have taken the ball over the centerline. He is not a large threat on set-pieces, but is often marked by one of the large men of the opposition.

Skills on defense: There are bigger defenders in MLS. There are faster defenders in MLS, not many, but some. There are more aggressive defenders in MLS. Parke has just enough of all of that, but what makes him stand out is his ability to read the game. Like an American football corner he will often bait the other team into passing to his man just so he can take the ball. He is positionally strong, a good man-on defender and was the leader of the backline that did well as a unit in 2012. He does not get beat on set-plays.

Best Case in 2013: Parke could be an All-Star if paired with Valdes and Philly gets a capable performance from their keeper. He will likely be on the bubble again though.