MLS Expansion Draft 2011: Sporting KC Projected Protected List

For me, most of the eleven I chose were clear-cut choices. I made sure to protect all four of Sporting Kansas City's backline (Chance Myers, Aurelien Collin, Matt Besler and Seth Sinovic), as all of them are 25 years old or younger, and keeping the unit together is only going to help the Kansas City's defense in subsequent seasons.

In the midfield, protecting Graham Zusi was a must. Roger Espinoza was one of the players I had to really think more about, but in the end I protected him, because he's still a young player, and I appreciate his extremely high work rate.

At the forward positions, protecting Kei Kamara, CJ Sapong and Teal Bunbury was a must. From all accounts from knowledgeable sources, Bunbury is expected to graduate from Generation Adidas, so I need to use one of my 11 spots on him. Omar Bravo was slightly more tricky, seeing as he's 31 years old, but in my opinion, he played too much of a pivotal role for the club to leave him unprotected.

I did run into trouble with having to protect three internationals, as my original intention was to have Soony Saad on my list. But, given the fact that I had to protect three players with international status (I already had Bravo, and Collin on my list), I opted to drop Saad and add goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen. After all, Sporting KC already has Bunbury and Sapong at the center forward position.

Initially I felt I could get away with taking the risk of leaving Nielsen unprotected (he's 34, and he makes a healthy chunk of change), as backup goal keeper Eric Kronberg could probably fill in admirably for Sporting KC. But with the international rule, I had to add someone else besides Omar and Aurelien, so I opted to go with Nielsen over Julio Cesar.