November 26, 2008

It could have been worse! Ronnie O'Brien has not been selected by Seattle and will stay in San Jose for now. However, the choice by the Seattle Sounders to select James Riley is not good news for the Earthquakes who were hopping to be one of the 4 lucky franchises not to have any player picked.

James Riley played 24 of the 30 MLS games played by the San Jose Earthquakes in the last season. He had some difficulties in the beginning of the season with a few poor performances and 2 red cards, but he never lost Frank Yallop's trust and finally proved to be an important defender for his team.

His ability to play in many positions was precious (he played in central defense, right back and center midfield in the last games of the season) and, at the age of 26, he seemed to still have a great potential for improvement.

Riley was also one the fans' favorite players for his behavior on the field as well as off the field.

This is probably the best choice Seattle could make among San Jose's unprotected players (read our article) and the Quakes' staff now have a new priority: find a competitive and polyvalent defender to replace him!

Thierry Heumann (email)

Seattle Sounders Expansion Draft Picks:

- Evans, Brad (Columbus Crew) - Jaqua, Nate (Houston Dynamo) - King, Stephen (Chicago Fire) - Parke, Jeff (New York Red Bulls) - Riley, James ( San Jose Earthquakes) - Smith, Jarod (Toronto FC) - Smith, Khano (New England Revolution) - Sturgis, Nathan (Real Salt Lake) - Vargas, Peter (Los Angeles Galaxy) - Wahl, Tyson (Kansas City Wizards)

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