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No. 1 Pick Nikolas Besagno of Real Salt Lake Becomes Second Youngest Player Drafted in MLS History

January 14, 2005 - Major League Soccer (MLS) News Release


BALTIMORE, MD (Friday, January 14, 2005) - At the age of 16 years and 60 days Nikolas Besagno became the second-youngest player ever drafted in the history of Major League Soccer as he was selected with the No. 1 pick by Real Salt Lake in Friday's MLS SuperDraft held at the Baltimore Convention Center. For the third consecutive year the 2005 MLS SuperDraft was held in conjunction with the 58th Annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Convention.

Besagno, a defensive midfielder for the U.S. Under-20 and Under-17 National Teams, became the second-youngest draftee in MLS SuperDraft history, following Freddy Adu who was selected No. 1 last year by D.C. United at the age of 14. Current Real Salt Lake Head Coach John Ellinger coached Besagno at the Under-17 level and invited him to Under-17 residency in April of 2004. In November 2004 Besagno was also invited to U.S. Under-20 National Team camp and made his debut for the team just six days after celebrating his 16th birthday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Official Statistician of Major League Soccer, Besagno became the eighth player in League history drafted at age 16 or younger:

Yrs / Days Player, Team Birthdate Draft Date

14 / 228 Freddy Adu (D.C. United) 6/02/1989 1/16/2004

16 / 060 Nikolas Besagno (Real Salt Lake)11/15/1988 1/14/2005

16 / 084 Eddie Gaven (MetroStars) 10/25/1986 1/17/2003

16 / 114 Santino Quaranta (D.C. United) 10/14/1984 2/05/2001

16 / 169 Michael Bradley (MetroStars) 7/31/1987 1/16/2004

16 / 218 Craig Capano (Chicago Fire) 7/07/1985 2/10/2002

16 / 255 Bobby Convey (D.C. United) 5/27/1983 2/06/2000

16 / 311 Eddie Johnson (Dallas Burn) 3/31/1984 2/05/2001

The First Round of the SuperDraft was dominated by defenders with seven of 12 selections, including six in a row (No. 5 - No. 10). Generation adidas players were the most popular selections with seven of the first 12 and 11 of the top 18 picks being Generation adidas players. The winner of the 2004 Hermann Trophy winner as the college player of the year, Danny O'Rourke, was selected fourth overall by two-time MLS Cup champion San Jose Earthquakes and with Besagno was one of only two midfielders taken in the First Round.

The top three picks in the SuperDraft were all Generation adidas players with goalkeeper Brad Guzan (University of South Carolina) and forward Chad Barrett (UCLA) selected by Club Deportivo Chivas USA (No. 2) and the Chicago Fire (No. 3) respectively. Along with Barrett, the only other forward taken in the First Round was Trinidad and Tobago international Scott Sealy, tabbed by the Kansas City Wizards with the 11th overall selection.

There were six trades made on the day with the most high profile exchange involving San Jose midfielders Richard Mulrooney and Arturo Alvarez moving to FC Dallas along with the No. 6 and No. 29 overall picks in exchange for midfielder Brad Davis, an allocation and the 4th overall pick in the 2005 SuperDraft. Starters Sasha Victorine (Los Angeles Galaxy to Kansas City Wizards) and goalkeeper Henry Ring (Chicago Fire to FC Dallas) were also traded to new teams.

Participating in their first MLS SuperDraft were expansion teams Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake with each club coming away with four players each. In addition to Besagno, Real selected another former Ellinger player from the U.S. Under-17 team as Jamie Watson was taken with the No. 13 pick. The other Real Salt Lake additions were two-time NCAA Champion goalkeeper Jay Nolly of Indiana (No. 22) and the recipient of the Tom Fitzgerald Award for MVP of the adidas MLS Player Combine, Luke Kreamalmeyer (No. 37).

Following the selection of phenom goalkeeper Guzan, Chivas USA opted for three players of Mexican descent and all from the state of California: midfielder Christian Jimenez (No. 14 of San Dimas, CA), Aaron Lopez (No. 26 pick from Santa Barbara, CA) and Esteban Arias (No. 38 pick from Bakersfield, CA). Jimenez is a U.S. Under-17 National Team player and son of immigrants from Guadalajara, Mexico - home of Chivas Guadalajara. Arias' parents are also Mexican immigrants and long-time Chivas Guadalajara supporters. Lopez, a Mexican national and green card holder, once trained with Mexican club Necaxa.

Other international players selected in the 2005 SuperDraft were the Wizards' Sealy (No. 11 from Chaguanas, Trinidad), FC Dallas' Winston Marshall (No. 27 from Scarborough, Ontario, Canada), New England Revolution defender Tony Lochhead (No. 33 from Tauranga, New Zealand), San Jose's Antouman Jallow (No. 41 from Uppsala, Sweden), Colorado defender Guy Melamed (No. 43 from Nofit, Israel), Los Angeles Galaxy forward Mubarike Chisoni (No. 46 from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) and Chicago's Gonzalo Segares (No. 35 from San Jose, Costa Rica), Boyzzz Khumalo (No. 36 from Soweto, South Africa) and Karim Dietz (No. 39 from Waldalgesheim, Germany). Chisoni will reunite with his friend from Zimbabwe and Coastal Carolina Joseph Ngwenya, who enjoyed a productive rookie season in Los Angeles. In all nine countries were represented in the SuperDraft.

After being selected by the San Jose Earthquakes with the No. 42 selection in the SuperDraft, defender James Twellman (Stanford) will be looking to join his brother Taylor Twellman, a star forward with the New England Revolution in the League. The Twellmans become the tenth set of brothers to play in the League following: Alexi and Greg Lalas, Jamar and DaMarcus Beasley, Seth and Sam George, Imad and Nidal Baba, Micah and Judah Cook, Chris and Sean Henderson, Daouda and Ibrahim Kante, Martin and Fausto Klinger and Antonio and David de la Torre.

Among the players to now be playing for their home MLS club are: Dallas, Texas native Drew Moor (FC Dallas - No. 6); Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution - No. 9) of Cranston, Rhode Island; resident of San Dimas, California Christian Jimenez (Chivas USA - No. 14); Michael Enfield (Los Angeles Galaxy - No. 15) of Ventura, CA; Aaron Lopez (Santa Barbara, CA) selected by Chivas USA at No. 26; forward Orlando Ramirez (No. 31 pick from Fresno, CA); Bakersfield, CA native Esteban Arias (No. 38) from Bakersfield, CA stays with Chivas USA

In total 33 colleges were represented in the SuperDraft with Wake Forest players proving most popular. The four selections from the school were: DF Michael Parkhurst (No. 9), FW Scott Sealy (No. 11), DF James Riley (No. 21) and MF Amir Lowery (No. 45). Four schools had three players picked in the 2005 SuperDraft: UCLA, Notre Dame, North Carolina and Indiana.

Of the MLS clubs, the Chicago Fire and San Jose Earthquakes had the most active SuperDraft with seven selections each. The selection breakdown of the other teams follows: the Los Angeles Galaxy had five picks; Chivas USA, FC Dallas, Kansas City Wizards and Real Salt Lake had four; the Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew and the New England Revolution had three; and D.C. United and the MetroStars made two selections.

For the second time in MLS' ten-year history, the League's annual SuperDraft was also telecast live by Fox Sports World and streamed live in its entirety on the League's official web site at www.MLSnet.com . The 2005 season kicks off on April 2, 2005 with a full slate of matches including the nationally televised game between reigning MLS Cup champions D.C. United and Chivas USA in the expansion club's inaugural game (ABC Sports 3:00 p.m. ET).

A round-by-round summary of the 2005 SuperDraft follows:

ROUND 1

# TEAM PLAYER POS. HT WT DOB HOMETOWN CLUB/COLLEGE

1. Real Salt Lake Nikolas Besagno (GA) MF 5-8 140 06-02-89 Potomac, MD U.S. Under-17

2. Chivas USA Brad Guzan (GA) GK 6-4 210 09-09-84 Home Glen, IL South Carolina

3. Chicago Chad Barrett (GA) FW 5-11 180 04-30-85 Beaverton, OR UCLA

4. San Jose*** Danny O'Rourke MF 6-0 165 05-31-83 Columbus, OH Indiana

5. Los Angeles Ugo Ihemelu DF 6-0 184 04-03-83 Cedar Hill, TX Southern Methodist

6. FC Dallas*** Drew Moor (GA) DF 6-0 170 01-15-84 Dallas, TX Indiana

7. Colorado Hunter Freeman (GA) DF 5-11 170 01-08-85 Allen, TX Virginia

8. Los Angeles Troy Roberts DF 5-10 170 09-18-83 Fremont, CA California-Berkeley

9. New England Michael Parkhurst (GA) DF 5-10 155 01-24-84 Cranston, RI Wake Forest

10. Chicago Jack Stewart DF 6-2 180 05-29-83 Torrance, CA Notre Dame

11. Kansas City Scott Sealy FW 5-10 175 06-04-81 Chaguanas, Trinidad Wake Forest

12. MetroStars& Tim Ward (GA) DF 6-0 165 02-28-87 Waukesha, WI St. Louis

*** San Jose traded midfielders Richard Mulrooney and Arturo Alvarez along with the 6th and 29th overall picks in the 2005 SuperDraft to FC Dallas in exchange for midfielder Brad Davis, an allocation and the 4th overall pick in the 2005 SuperDraft

& MetroStars trade player to be named later to FC Dallas for the 12th overall selection in the 2005 SuperDraft

ROUND 2

# TEAM PLAYER POS. HT WT DOB HOMETOWN CLUB/COLLEGE

13. Real Salt Lake Jamie Watson (GA) FW 5-9 150 04-10-86 Dallas, TX North Carolina

14. Chivas USA Christian Jiménez (GA) MF 5-10 165 11-03-86 San Dimas, CA South Florida

15. Los Angeles# Michael Enfield MF 5-7 150 07-19-83 Ventura, CA UCLA

16. Kansas City Ryan Pore (GA) FW 5-11 165 09-23-83 Mansfield, OH Tulsa

17. San Jose Kevin Goldthwaite DF 6-1 175 12-09-82 Sacramento, CA Notre Dame

18. Chicago Will John (GA) MF 5-9 145 06-13-85 Overland, KS St. Louis

19. D.C. United Nick Van Sicklen MF 6-1 165 02-01-83 Madison, WI Wisconsin-Madison

20. Columbus Marcus Storey MF 5-9 155 11-09-82 Houston, TX North Carolina

21. New England James Riley DF 5-10 150 10-27-82 Colorado Springs, CO Wake Forest

22. Real Salt Lake% Jay Nolly GK 6-3 210 01-02-82 Littleton, CO Indiana

23. Columbus Domenic Mediate MF 5-9 165 06-01-82 Dallas, TX Maryland

24. Kansas City Chris Sawyer GK 6-2 190 10-20-82 Highlands Ranch, CO Notre Dame

# Kansas City Wizards trade No. 15 overall selection in 2005 SuperDraft to Los Angeles Galaxy for midfielder Sasha Victorine.

% Real Salt Lake trades an allocation to the Los Angeles Galaxy for the No. 22 overall selection in the 2005 SuperDraft.

ROUND 3

# TEAM PLAYER POS. HT WT DOB HOMETOWN CLUB/COLLEGE

25. MetroStars Chris Corcoran DF 5-9 165 03-30-83 Marshfield, MA St. John's

26. Chivas USA Aaron Lopez MF 5-11 170 02-28-83 Santa Barbara, CA UCLA

27. FC Dallas Winston Marshall DF 6-0 160 02-26-83 Ontario, Canada Wright State

28. FC Dallas Chris Gomez GK 6-2 190 08-04-83 Huntington Beach, CA Brown

29. Chicago *** @ Chris Rolfe FW 5-8 145 01-17-83 Kettering, OH Dayton

30. San Jose Victor Arbelaez MF 5-11 170 08-07-82 Las Vegas, NV UNLV

31. San Jose Orlando Ramirez FW 6-0 155 08-19-83 Fresno, CA Fresno Pacific

32. San Jose C.J. Klaas MF 5-7 170 08-23-83 Cherry Valley, IL Washington

33. New England^ Tony Lochhead DF 6-0 175 01-12-82 Tauranga, New Zealand UC-Santa Barbara

34. Los Angeles Quavas Kirk (GA) FW 6-1 165 04-13-88 Aurora, IL U.S. Under-17

35. Chicago Gonzalo Segares DF 5-11 162 10-13-82 San Jose, Costa Rica Virginia Commonwealth

36. Chicago Boyzzz Khumalo MF 5-10 160 10-27-80 Soweto, South Africa Coastal Carolina

*** San Jose traded midfielders Richard Mulrooney and Arturo Alvarez along with the 6th and 29th overall picks in the 2005 SuperDraft to FC Dallas in exchange for midfielder Brad Davis, an allocation and the 4th overall pick in the 2005 SuperDraft

@ FC Dallas trades 29th overall pick in 2005 SuperDraft to Chicago Fire in return for 2nd round pick in 2006 SuperDraft and goalkeeper Henry Ring.

^ Colorado Rapids trade No. 33 overall selection in 2005 SuperDraft to New England Revolution for 45th overall selection in 2005 SuperDraft and a player to be named

ROUND 4

# TEAM PLAYER POS. HT WT DOB HOMETOWN CLUB/COLLEGE

37. Real Salt Lake Luke Kreamalmeyer MF 5-9 155 09-28-82 Edwardsville, IL Bradley

38. Chivas USA Esteban Arias DF 5-10 180 08-26-82 Bakersfield, CA Connecticut

39. Chicago Karim Dietz FW 5-9 150 06-27-83 Waldalgesheim, Germany Birmingham-Southern

40. FC Dallas Julian Nash FW 6-0 185 03-01-83 San Leandro, CA Creighton

41. San Jose Antouman Jallow FW 6-0 165 06-11-81 Uppsala, Sweden Wisconsin-Milwaukee

42. San Jose James Twellman DF 5-10 165 12-24-82 Chesterfield, MO Stanford

43. Colorado Guy Melamed DF 6-1 185 09-12-79 Nofit, Israel Boston College

44. Columbus Knox Cameron FW 6-3 200 09-17-83 Bronx, NY Michigan

45. Colorado^ Amir Lowery MF 6-2 180 12-26-83 Washington, DC Wake Forest

46. Los Angeles Mubarike Chisoni FW 5-8 140 05-10-81 Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Coastal Carolina

47. Kansas City John Minagawa-Webster MF 5-9 155 08-12-82 Monroe, MI Michigan State

48. D.C. United Tim Merritt DF 6-0 180 06-25-82 Gig Harbor, WA North Carolina

^ Colorado Rapids trade No. 33 overall selection in 2005 SuperDraft to New England Revolution for 45th overall selection in 2005 SuperDraft and a player to be named

(NOTE: GA = Generation adidas)

TEAM-BY-TEAM SELECTIONS:

CD Chivas USA (4): GK Brad Guzan (No. 2), MF Christian Jiménez (No. 14), MF Aaron Lopez (No. 26), DF Esteban Arias (No. 38)

Chicago Fire (7): FW Chad Barrett (No. 3), DF Jack Stewart (No. 10), MF Will John (No. 18), FW Chris Rolfe (No. 29), DF Gonzalo Segares (No. 35), MF Boyzzz Khumalo (No. 36), FW Karim Dietz (No. 39)

Colorado Rapids (3): DF Hunter Freeman (No. 7), DF Guy Melamed (No. 43), MF Amir Lowery (No. 45)

Columbus Crew (3): MF Marcus Storey (No. 20), MF Domenic Mediate (No. 23), FW Knox Cameron (Michigan)

FC Dallas (4): DF Drew Moor (No. 6), DF Winston Marshall (No. 27), GK Chris Gomez (No. 28), FW Julian Nash (No. 40)

D.C. United (2): MF Nick Van Sicklen (No. 19), DF Tim Merritt (No. 48)

Kansas City Wizards (4): FW Scott Sealy (No. 11), FW Ryan Pore (No. 16), GK Chris Sawyer (No. 24), MF John Minagawa-Webster (No. 47)

Los Angeles Galaxy (5): DF Ugo Ihemelu (No. 5), DF Troy Roberts (No. 8), MF Michael Enfield (No. 15), FW Quavas Kirk (No. 34), FW Mubarike Chisoni (No. 46)

MetroStars (2): DF Tim Ward (No. 12), DF Chris Corcoran (No. 25)

New England Revolution (3): DF Michael Parkhurst (No. 9), DF James Riley (No. 21), DF Tony Lochhead (No. 33)

Real Salt Lake (4): MF Nikolas Besagno (No. 1), FW Jamie Watson (No. 13), GK Jay Nolly (No. 22), MF Luke Kreamalmeyer (No. 37)

San Jose Earthquakes (7): MF Danny O'Rourke (No. 4), DF Kevin Goldthwaite (No. 17), MF Victor Arbelaez (No. 30), FW Orlando Ramirez (No. 31), MF C.J. Klaas (No. 32), FW Antouman Jallow (No. 41), DF James Twellman (No. 42)

COLLEGE-BY-COLLEGE SELECTIONS:

Birmingham-Southern College (1): FW Karim Dietz (No. 39)

Boston College (1): DF Guy Melamed (No. 43)

Bradley (1): MF Luke Kreamalmeyer (No. 37)

Brown (1): GK Chris Gomez (No. 28)

California-Berkeley (1): DF Troy Roberts (No. 8)

California-Santa Barbara (1): DF Tony Lochhead (No. 33)

Coastal Carolina (2): MF Boyzzz Khumalo (No. 36), FW Mubarike Chisoni (No. 46)

Connecticut (1): DF Esteban Arias (No. 38)

Creighton (1): FW Julian Nash (No. 40)

Dayton (1): FW Chris Rolfe (No. 29)

Fresno Pacific (1): FW Orlando Ramirez (No. 31)

Indiana (3): MF Danny O'Rourke (No. 4), DF Drew Moor (No. 6), GK Jay Nolly (No. 22)

Maryland (1): MF Domenic Mediate (No. 23)

Michigan (1): FW Knox Cameron (No. 44)

Michigan State (1): MF John Minagawa-Webster (No. 47)

Nevada-Las Vegas (1): MF Victor Arbelaez (No. 30)

North Carolina (3): FW Jamie Watson (No. 13), MF Marcus Storey (No. 20), DF Tim Merritt (No. 48)

Notre Dame (3): DF Jack Stewart (No. 10), DF Kevin Goldthwaite (No. 17), GK Chris Sawyer (No. 24)

South Carolina (1): GK Brad Guzan (No. 2)

South Florida (1): MF Christian Jimenez (No. 14)

Southern Methodist (1): DF Ugo Ihemelu (No. 5)

St. John's (1): DF Chris Corcoran (No. 25)

St. Louis (2): DF Tim Ward (No. 12), MF Will John (No. 18)

Stanford (1): DF James Twellman (No. 42)

Tulsa (1): FW Ryan Pore (No. 16)

UCLA (3): FW Chad Barrett (No. 3), MF Michael Enfield (No. 15), MF Aaron Lopez (No. 26)

Virginia (1): DF Hunter Freeman (No. 7)

Virginia Commonwealth (1): DF Gonzalo Segares (No. 35)

Wake Forest (4): DF Michael Parkhurst (No. 9), FW Scott Sealy (No. 11), DF James Riley (No. 21), MF Amir Lowery (No. 45)

Washington (1): MF C.J. Klaas (No. 32)

Wisconsin-Madison (1): MF Nick Van Sicklen (No. 19)

Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1): FW Antouman Jallow (No. 41)

Wright State (1): DF Winston Marshall (No. 27)

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