Johnston picks James.
Phelan with ninth and 10th picks in SuperDraft.
The Canadian Press (metronews.ca)
Toronto - Julius James of the University of Connecticut and Pat Phelan of Wake Forest are the newest members of Toronto FC.
Toronto head coach Mo Johnston selected James with the No. 9 pick in the Major League Soccer SuperDraft on Friday, then took Phelan with the No. 10 selection.
The six-foot, 180-pound James was named the Big East defender of the year the past three seasons at UConn, and was named a first team all-American in 2006 and 2007.
The 23-year-old played on Trinidad's under-17 national team.
Phelan, a six-foot-one, 175-pound midfielder/defender was a first-team all-American this past season at Wake Forest, and earned all-ACC first team honours.
The 23-year-old played on both the under-18 and under-20 U.S. national teams.
The Kansas City Wizards took UCLA defender Chance Myers with the top pick Friday, while FC Dallas selected Brek Shea, a midfielder/defender with the U.S. under-17 national team, second overall. Real Salt Lake selected Anthony Beltran, a midfielder/defender from UCLA, with the No. 3 pick.
Johnston has garnered a reputation for his decent draft choices. He took Maurice Edu with the No. 1 overall in last year's draft, and the Toronto FC midfielder went on to win the MLS rookie of the year title.
He also had the top pick two years ago when he was with New York, selecting defender Marvell Wynn with the first overall pick, and young forward Jozy Altidore - one of the league's top young stars - with the second-round selection.
Toronto would have had the second overall pick Friday based on the team's final standings, but Johnson traded the pick to FC Dallas last spring for Richard Mulrooney. The midfielder was later traded to Houston for defender Kevin Goldthwaite and a first-round pick. Johnston eventually sent Goldthwaite to New York for defender Todd Dunivant.
Newest TFC member excited to contribute.
By: Ryan Johnston Sportsnet.ca
Sportsnet.ca -- In a thick island accent, Julian James explained how he was excited to begin his professional career in Toronto.
"I love the Caribbean people, and I found out there is a big community (in Toronto)," James told Sportsnet.ca from the Baltimore Convention Center. "I know Maurice (Edu), and the coach is great, I am a big fan."
The native of Trinidad played his collegiate soccer at the University of Connecticut, where he earned Big East defender of the year honours the past three seasons, and was named a first team all-American in 2006 and 2007.
The 23-year-old played on Trinidad's under-17 national team.
There was a definite buzz surrounding the defender's status at the SuperDraft, with a few pre-Draft blogs ranking James as high as No. 2. When TFC coach Mo Johnston relayed his No. 9 selection to MLS commissioner Don Garber, James was not surprised at his new destination.
"I had no idea, but I wasn't surprised," James said. "There was a buzz around many teams, and Toronto was one of them."
With plenty of hardware to support the hype around his game, James is now looking forward to contributing wherever he can.
"I am a defensive guy," James said. "As of now, I am unsure of my role. When I speak to the coach he will tell me what is required of me and I will do it."
Johnston, who has proven himself as a solid evaluator of talent, was pleased with the 2008 SuperDraft.
"We are delighted to have two players of the quality of Julius and Pat, said Johnston. "Both had superb senior years and we think they are capable of battling for a place in our first eleven. From what we have seen and heard they have all the attributes to be solid professionals."
Connolly: King James Falls to Toronto.
By: Marc Connolly (Goal.com)
Goal.com USA's Marc Connolly believes that Toronto FC got the steal of the draft by selecting big centerback Julius James with the ninth pick in the first round.
Baltimore -- Even as other players were hearing their names called ahead of him and striding confidently to the podium top greet MLS commissioner Don Garber, Julius James was more worried about not getting caught laughing by the ESPN cameras than anything. As the first round unfolded, his cell phone was being inundated with dozens of text messages from friends and former teammates at the University of Connecticut.
Words of encouragement, endless needling and quick in-jokes from his four years in Storrs helped soften the blow from falling to the ninth selection of the MLS SuperDraft as property of Toronto FC when some observers thought he could actually be the number one overall pick just an hour before.
“I had to turn my phone off,” joked James, a first- team All-American this past season for the Huskies.
Hermann Trophy winner O’Brian White, who would likely have been selected as the first pick in this draft had he decided to leave UCONN after his junior year, was texting James like crazy, trying to lighten his mood. Even assistant coach Paul McDonough got into the act after he saw a glimpse of the strong centerback on his television screen back in Storrs.
“He looked like he was going to chew through a chair,” he said.
But once James finally heard his name and knew he was going to a team where he’ll have every opportunity to play right away, any anxiousness he had was gone.
“I really was surprised, yes,” he said. “But the adidas Generation kids are like free picks. And any smart coach will definitely get a free pick if he can. I wasn’t too disappointed because I know I played pretty well down at the Combine. And now I’m just really excited to go to Toronto.
In total, six of the eight players selected before James were Generation adidas players, who do not count against the salary cap, making them a prized commodity. And while players such as 17-year-old Brek Shea (FC Dallas) and 20-year-old Ciaran O’Brien (Colorado) have loads of talent and endless potential, there might not be a player in the entire draft who is better prepared to step right in and handle the rigors of professional soccer than James.
“With the way the MLS is going, you need to be athletic,” said UCONN head coach Ray Reid. “And Julius is a gifted athlete. He’s big, strong, not bad with his feet and very competitive. He could’ve gone higher in the draft and it wasn’t at a spot he wanted to go, but it’s not where you go it’s what you do in preseason to show the coaching staff who you are.”
While he is listed at 6-foot, 180 pounds, James has broad shoulders, a muscular frame, and a basketball player’s ability to leap high in the air to win most all aerial challenges. At the same time, he knows how to organize a back four and run a defense, which he did all four seasons at UCONN.
What’s interesting to note is that if Reid and his staff had secured Connecticut native Patrick Phelan, who will be James’ teammate as Toronto FC after a stellar career at Wake Forest, James wouldn’t have been in the cards. In fact, UCONN only found out about James while recruiting Steve Sealy in 2003.
McDonough was down in Trinidad watching Sealy play for St. Anthony’s College when he couldn’t help but notice James’ ability as a defender. Since it was 50-50, at best, whether Phelan would commit to the Huskies, James suddenly became a priority. And with one-time West Ham United midfielder Brent Rahim being his favorite player and a former Husky himself, it was a no-brainer for him to leave the warm tropical weather of his small island nation for the cold weather and frozen fields of the Nutmeg State.
“He was the reason I went there,” said James, citing Rahim and Dwight Yorke as the players he looked up to when he was younger.
Now that he is going to Mo Johnston’s side, one of the first things he mentioned was the Caribbean presence in Toronto as well as the raucous atmosphere at BMO Field, where it’s as close to an authentic English stadium experience as it gets in MLS.
Along with Phelan, longtime MLS veteran Tyrone Marshall and Jim Brennan, James will be competing for time as a centerback on a side that gave up a league-high 49 goals last season. Johnston, who classified James as the best defensive player in the draft, hardly expected to see him drop to him at number nine, and expects to see him make a difference this season, saying he’s “capable of battling for a place in our first eleven.”
The 23-year-old back, who said he never considered leaving school early last year despite reports of the contrary, has never been to Toronto and admitted he doesn’t know a lot about the team he’s about to be joining. Yet, he has been schooled as to the ways of professional soccer, seeking out the advice of Damani Ralph, Willis Forko, Chris Gbandi and Shavar Thomas over the past month.
“It’s just about adapting to the professional quickness of play,” he says. “It’ll be a steep learning curve, but I’m up to it.”
“Julius now has eight reasons to keep himself motivated each day,” says McDonough, citing the teams that bypassed James on Friday. “He thrives on challenges like that. He’ll be ready.”