Major Link Soccer: Recapping the SuperDraft

Seattle

The Sounders took home 4 awards, as the 2013 MLS Club and Executive award winners were announced:

Ticketing Executive of the Year - Chris Lawrence, Seattle Sounders FC

Club Broadcast Staff of the Year - Seattle Sounders FC

Match Presentation Staff of the Year - Seattle Sounders FC

Equipment Manager of the Year - Nolan Myer, Seattle Sounders FC

3 current and former Sounders have been named as nominees for US Soccer's 2014 National Soccer Hall of Fame class. Sounders sporting director Chris Henderson is on the player ballot. A-League Sounder and Houston Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear is on the veteran ballot. Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid is on the builder ballot.

2014 MLS SuperDraft

The Philadelphia Union made a last minute trade with DC United for the top spot in the draft, which they used to pick goalkeeper Andre Blake.

Pro Soccer Talk's Steve Davis lauded DC United for getting good value from Philadelphia for the top pick in the draft while still managing to take the player they wanted with the second pick, where they selected Steve Birnbaum.

ESPN's Jeff Carlisle echoed Davis praise for DC United's draft performance, adding plaudits for New England and Philadelphia while questioning the picks made by the Sounders.

Matthew Doyle of MLSsoccer.com judged Philadelphia, New England, Houston, Colorado and DC to have helped themselves the most in the first two rounds of the draft yesterday.

Damion Lowe isn't likely to overreact to criticisms of his performance at the MLS combine, confident in his ability to become a starter in MLS. If you would like to see how well Lowe and Jimmy Ockford can play against MLS competition, check out the full match between Reading United AC and the New York Red Bulls in the third round of the 2013 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, which is available on Youtube.

Sounders U23 and UW central defender Taylor Peay was taken by Portland with the 26th pick. The Timbers liked Peay enough to consider taking him in the first round, so they were understandably pleased that he fell to them in the second round. The other Sounders U23 player taken yesterday was Akron's Eric Stevenson, who was taken by New York

Chivas USA's selection of Thomas McNamara led the Goat Parade to ask its readers whether McNamara or Bofo Bautista has the best bad haircut.

MLS

Colorado Rapids

Pablo Mastroeni may have emerged as the favorite to replace Oscar Pareja as the head coach of the Rapids. He will meet with team officials on Monday.

New York Red Bulls

The Xavi to New York rumors took another hit yesterday after heating up again in the middle of the week, as he stated that he hadn't talked to Thierry Henry and doesn't know anything about a deal with New York. New York head coach Mike Petke said that he hasn't heard anything about Xavi coming to New York, before adding that anything is possible when your team is owned by Red Bull.

Philadelphia Union

Negotiations between Philadelphia and Maurice Edu are ongoing, but there is still a fairly high degree of uncertainty due to reports that MLS is uncomfortable with the ramifications of paying upward of $1.2 million for Adu. It's also still yet to be determined if the deal will be for a permanent transfer or just a loan.

Vancouver Whitecaps

At the SuperDraft in Philadelphia, MLS commissioner Don Garber addressed the ongoing saga involving Camilo Sanvezzo and Querétaro, admitting that a transfer would happen soon and that Vancouver will receive a large transfer fee. Garber expressed disappointment in the actions of Sanvezzo and his agent while the Vancouver player was still under contract.

Miami

Garber expects to announce Miami's expansion team sometime next month, as David Beckham's ownership group puts the finishing touches on its plans.

New York City FC

A town hall meeting in the Bronx over NYCFC's stadium proposal got a bit heated, as supporters and opponents of the proposal exchanged insults, eventually leading to one participant to be ejected from the meeting.

NASL

The league recently unveiled its newly redesigned website, along with a $5 per month subscription service for access to live video streams of matches.

NASL also released the schedule for its fall season.

US Soccer

The USMNT has scheduled a friendly on March 5 against Ukraine, in what will likely be the final warm up match before the pre-World Cup training camp.

FIFA

The new FIFA rankings are out, and the country that made the biggest jump was probably Egypt, which moved up 10 spots to #31. If this had happened a few months sooner, Bob Bradley would probably be preparing Egypt's national team for the World Cup instead of preparing for the 2014 Tippeligaen with Stabæk. The United States held on the #14 spot in the rankings.

US referee Mark Geiger has been selected to the 25 member referee pool for the 2014 World Cup. He will be the first American to officiate a World Cup match since 2002.

A UK-based NGO called Engineers Against Poverty has recommended that migrant workers in Qatar be paid electronically, in order to avoid issues like late payment and non-payment, which have been problems in the past.

Spain

Lionel Messi is back from his injury and he wants to make sure everybody knows it, as his incredible goal against Getafe in the Copa del Rey indicates. Yesterday's goal was probably as incredible as his goal against Getafe in 2007. Barcelona won 2-0, advancing on a 6-0 aggregate. Xavi made his 700th appearance for Barcelona in the match.

Scotland

Due to rising costs, Rangers players have been asked to take 15% pay cuts over the next 18 months.

TV Listings

Friday

Ligue 1	11:30 AM	Saint-Étienne vs. Lille	beIN Sports USA, Univision Deportes
La Liga	12:00 PM	Málaga vs. Valencia	beIN Sports en Español
Liga MX	5:30 PM	Morelia vs. Tigres UANL	Azteca America, ESPN Deportes
Liga MX	7:30 PM	Santos Laguna vs. Puebla	Univision Deportes

Saturday

Championship	4:15 AM	Leeds United vs. Leicester City	beIN Sports USA
Premier League	4:45 AM	Sunderland vs. Southampton	NBC Sports
Premier League	7:00 AM	Arsenal vs. Fulham	Mun2, NBC Sports
La Liga	7:00 AM	Real Betis vs. Real Madrid	beIN Sports USA, beIN Sports en Español
Ligue 1	8:00 AM	Olympique Marseille vs. Valenciennes	Univision Deportes
Serie A	9:00 AM	Roma vs. Livorno	beIN Sports USA
La Liga	9:00 AM	Elche vs. Rayo Vallecano	beIN Sports en Español
Premier League	9:30 AM	Liverpool vs. Aston Villa	NBC, Mun2
Campeonato Paulista A1	11:00 AM	Palmeiras vs. Linense	ESPN3
Ligue 1	11:00 AM	Nice vs. Ajaccio	Univision Deportes
La Liga	11:00 AM	Granada vs. Osasuna	beIN Sports en Español
Serie A	11:45 AM	Juventus vs. Sampdoria	beIN Sports USA
La Liga	1:00 PM	Espanyol vs. Celta de Vigo	beIN Sports en Español
Liga MX	3:00 PM	América vs. León	Univision
Liga MX	3:00 PM	Veracruz vs. Guadalajara	Univision Deportes
Torneos de Verano	5:00 PM	Boca Juniors vs. River Plate	Fox Deportes
Liga MX	5:00 PM	Monterrey vs. Querétaro	UniMás
Liga MX	5:00 PM	Pachuca vs. Tijuana	Univision Deportes
Liga MX	7:00 PM	Chiapas vs. Cruz Azul	Univision Deportes
Liga MX	7:00 PM	Atlas vs. Atlante	Univision Deportes 2

Sunday

Premier League	5:30 AM	Swansea City vs. Tottenham Hotspur	NBC Sports
Eredivisie	5:30 AM	Utrecht vs. Feyenoord	ESPN3, ESPN Deportes
Serie A	6:00 AM	Genoa vs. Inter Milan	beIN Sports USA
Serie A	6:00 AM	Balogna vs. Napoli	beIN Sports en Español
Premier League	8:00 AM	Chelsea vs. Manchester United	NBC Sports, Telemundo
Ligue 1	8:00 AM	Toulouse vs. Monaco	beIN Sports USA
La Liga	8:00 AM	Villarreal vs. Almería	beIN Sports en Español
La Liga	10:00 AM	Levante vs. Barcelona	beIN Sports USA, beIN Sports en Español
Liga MX	10:00 AM	Pumas UNAM vs. Toluca	Univision, Univision Deportes
Serie A	11:45 AM	AC Milan vs. Hellas Verona	beIN Sports USA
Ligue 1	12:00 PM	PSG vs. Nantes	Univision Deportes
La Liga	12:00 PM	Atlético Madrid vs. Sevilla