The Chicago Fire Soccer Club announced Monday its 11 protected players ahead of the 2011 MLS Expansion Draft. The selected players will be announced via livestream on www.MLSsoccer.com at approximately 2:00 p.m. CT on Wednesday, Nov. 23. The Montreal Impact will select 10 players from MLS’ other 18 clubs. Montreal will select first in the MLS SuperDraft in Kansas City, Mo. on Thursday, Jan. 12 at 11:00 a.m. CT with the first round airing live on ESPN2.
Each club is required to protect 11 players. If a club has four or more foreign players, it is required to protect at least three. The Impact may not select two players from any one club. Second-year goalkeeper Sean Johnson graduated from the Generation adidas program. Below is the list of all 29 Fire players:
Protected (11):
Sean Johnson – GK
Cory Gibbs – DEF
Jalil Anibaba – DEF
Gonzalo Segares – DEF
Pavel Pardo – MID
Logan Pause – MID
Marco Pappa – MID
Sebastian Grazzini – MID
Patrick Nyarko - FWD
Dominic Oduro – FWD
Orr Barouch - FWD
Available for Selection (15):
Jon Conway – GK
Alec Dufty – GK
Yamith Cuesta – DEF
Dan Gargan - DEF
Steven Kinney - DEF
Josip Mikulic – DEF
Pari Pantazopoulos – DEF
Kwame Watson-Siriboe - DEF
Mike Banner – MID
Michael Videira – MID
Daniel Paladini – MID
Baggio Husidic – MID
Cristian Nazarit – FWD
Gabriel Ferrari – FWD
Diego Chaves – FWD
Players unavailable for selection due to Generation adidas/Home Grown status (3):
Corben Bone – MID
Kellen Gulley – FWD
Victor Pineda - MID