Chicago Fire Announces Protected Player List For Expansion Draft

November 24, 2008 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Chicago Fire FC News Release

BRIDGEVIEW, ILL. (November 24, 2008) - The Chicago Fire today announced its protected player list in advance of the 2008 MLS Expansion Draft to be held on Wednesday, Nov. 26. Major League Soccer's 2009 expansion side Seattle Sounders will have the opportunity to select no more than one player from each of the 14 MLS teams in the 10-round draft (four teams will not have a player selected). All MLS teams today submitted a list of 11 players that will be protected from selection in the MLS Expansion Draft.

Chicago chose to protect a mixture of veteran and up-and-coming talent, most notably protecting: Chicagoland native Brian McBride, Designated Player Cuauhtémoc Blanco, the team's leading scorer for 2008 Chris Rolfe, and Panasonic MLS Goalkeeper of the Jon Busch.

The following is the list of Chicago's 11 protected players:

Goalkeeper: Jon Busch

Defenders: Wilman Conde, Bakary Soumare, Dasan Robinson, and Gonzalo Segares

Midfielders: Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Justin Mapp, Logan Pause, and John Thorrington

Forwards: Chris Rolfe, Brian McBride

** Forward Patrick Nyarko is protected automatically as a Generation adidas player. Defender Bakary Soumare will be graduating from the Generation adidas program and therefore will not automatically be protected.

The following is a list of Chicago players available for selection in the 2008 Expansion Draft:

Goalkeepers: Tyler Kettering, Nick Noble

Defenders: C.J. Brown, Lider Marmol, Brandon Prideaux, Austin Washington, Daniel Woolard

Midfielders: Mike Banner, Kai Kasiguran, Stephen King, Peter Lowry, Marco Pappa

Forwards: Calen Carr, Tomasz Frankowski, Andy Herron

Major League Soccer Stories from November 24, 2008

• Chicago Fire Weekly Notes - Chicago Fire FC
• Chivas USA Weekly Update - Club Deportivo Chivas USA
• Kansas City Wizards Weekly Update - Sporting Kansas City
• Earthquakes Announce List of Players Available For MLS Expansion Draft - San Jose Earthquakes
• Chicago Fire Announces Protected Player List For Expansion Draft - Chicago Fire FC
• Rapids Announce Protected Player List for 2008 MLS Expansion Draft - Colorado Rapids
• FC Dallas Announced List of Player Available for MLS Expansion Draft - FC Dallas
• Real Salt Lake Protects 11 Players in Advance of Wednesday's MLS Expansion Draft - Real Salt Lake
• Chivas USA submits 11-player Protected Roster for Wednesday's MLS Expansion Draft - Club Deportivo Chivas USA
• MLS Expansion Draft Takes Place November 26 - MLS
• Earthquakes Trade Jovan Kirovski to Los Angeles Galaxy in Exchange for a Conditional Draft Pick - San Jose Earthquakes
• Real Salt Lake Re-signs Defender Jamison Olave - Real Salt Lake
• Wizards Acquire Forward Adam Cristman from New England Revolution - Sporting Kansas City
• Revolution Trades Cristman to Kansas City - New England Revolution
• D.C. United holds Holiday Auction online - D.C. United
• Chicago Fire to compete in SuperLiga 2009 - Chicago Fire FC
• Revolution to Participate in SuperLiga 2009 - New England Revolution
• Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger

The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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