The LA Galaxy will be many's favorites to win it all in 2014 simply because of the continuity in their squad. Nearly the entire roster – Michael Stephens is out of contract – is back for a new season and they just upgraded at forward with the acquisition of veteran Canadian Rob Friend.
So with their two picks, expect the Galaxy to take on long-term projects that they can gradually indoctrinate to become Bruce Arena players.
LA Galaxy SuperDraft Picks: #14 (1st Rd), #72 (4th Rd)
LA Galaxy Depth Chart (28 players):
Goalkeepers (4): Jaime Penedo, Carlo Cudicini, Brian Perk, Brian Rowe
Right Backs (2): A.J. DeLaGarza, Oscar Sorto
Left Backs (3): Todd Dunivant, Bryan Gaul, Greg Cochrane
Center Backs (4): Omar Gonzalez, Leonardo, Tommy Meyer, Kofi Opare
Center Mids (4): Juninho, Marcelo Sarvas, Kenney Walker, Rafael Garcia
Left Wingers (2): Robbie Rogers, Gyasi Zardes
Right Wingers (1): Hector Jimenez
Attacking Mids (1): Baggio Husidic
Forwards (7): Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane, Samuel, Jack McBean, Charlie Rugg, Chandler Hoffman, Rob Friend
International slots (2 of 7 remaining): Carlo Cudicini, Leonardo, Jaime Penedo, Marcelo Sarvas, Rob Friend
LA Galaxy's Primary Need: Backup for Juninho
The drop-off from Juninho to Rafael Garcia and/or Kenney Walker has been precipitous, even if it’s primarily been seen only in the US Open Cup or CONCACAF Champions League play. Bruce Arena has answered his depth questions in central defense and left back in the last two drafts – now he moves up the field a bit.
Targets:Jared Watts (Wake Forest), J.J. Koval (Stanford), Joey Dillon (Georgetown), George Fochive (Connecticut), Fifi Baiden (UC Santa Barbara), Romena Bowie (VCU)
LA Galaxy's Secondary Need: Playmaker
It gets really ugly for the Galaxy when one of Robbie Keane or Landon Donovan is out, and worse than ugly when they’re both on the sideline. With both solidly in their 30s, it wouldn’t hurt at all to get a younger chance creator to start learning the tricks of the trade.
Targets:Steve Neumann (Georgetown), Mamadou Diouf (Connecticut), Victor Munoz(UCLA), Enrique Cardenas (UC Irvine), Andre Lewis (Jamaica U-20s)
CATCH THE OTHER SUPERDRAFT TEAM PREVIEWS:
SJ EARTHQUAKES:Can Quakes find a player at No. 9 who can start right away?
FC DALLAS:Will Oscar Pareja make a run at NCAA top scorer?
