If you were listing the obvious destinations for kiwi footballers leaving the humble shores of Aotearoa to make it in the professional ranks then England would be right up there. Sweden seems to be high on the list as well, the Netherlands are becoming a bit of a hub too (cheers, Ryan Thomas). Maybe a dash of South Africa, a hint of France or Portugal. But it seems like the overwhelming numero uno pathway these days is the American collegiate system.

And every year a few of the best graduates join the crowded race for Major League Soccer contracts. Two years ago Kip Colvey was drafted by San Jose Earthquakes. Last year Francis de Vries was drafted by the Vancouver Whitecaps. It seemed to signal in a new era of New Zealanders playing in America, pretty soon Myer Bevan and Stefan Marinovic were also on that Whitecaps team, along with the OG Deklan Wynne (OG in this case not standing for own goal). James Musa was given an MLS contract by Sporting Kansas City. Bill Tuiloma hooked up with Jake Gleeson’s Portland Timbers. Michael Boxall and Minnesota United. Mate, it was like the good old days of Ryan Nelsen, Simon Elliott and Duncan Oughton…

Except here’s the thing: only Marinovic ever played MLS of the All-Whitecaps quartet. Then De Vries was released at the end of the season. Colvey got a handful of games at the start of his first season then was basically a USL player from there on in. Tuiloma trained with the first team… but never played for them. Musa got one MLS game and one only, at a time when a lot of their starters were rested because of fixture congestion (they won the US Open Cup). Gleeson got injured and lost his starting place. Suddenly it was all a big old beat up.

Nah but wait, there’s more! Uncle Tony Hudson left the All Whites gig and took the ‘head coaching’ role at Colorado Rapids and promptly snapped up Kip Colvey in the waiver draft, traded for Deklan Wynne and then signed Tommy Smith (!) from Ipswich for an undisclosed fee. The Vancouver All-Whitecaps were on their last legs but Myer Bevan was given an MLS deal to fight for a spot in that first team, while Tuiloma, Gleeson and Musa all escaped the various waivers and protections and releases and re-signings that litter the American offseason. So far, at least.

Which brings us to the 2018 SuperDraft, named such in order to distinguish it from the Expansion Draft, the Re-Entry Draft, the NWSL Draft, the Military Draft, etc. This year’s edition arrived with a very highly rated NZ prospect as well, defender Cory Brown. Four years at Xavier Uni had brought him plenty of success, as the All Whites U17 and U20 international was named 2016 Big East Defensive Player of the Year, captaining the team for the last two years. He was invited to the MLS Combine and everything.

One day out from the SuperDraft, MLSsoccer.com’s David Gass listed Brown as the third best left back prospect and fifth best centre back. The feeling being that he isn’t a perfect fit in either position, due to his relative lack of height and speed, but he’s too good of a natural player, too comfortable on the ball and too good at reading a game to overlook him at either possie as well.

The same dude wrote a similar thing about him after the last day of the combine, highlighting how Brown had upped his stocks with some variety in his play.

David Gass/MLSsoccer.com: “Spent most of his college career playing as a slightly undersized left center back. He shined in that position at the combine, showing that his athleticism and soccer IQ can outweigh his height. He played at left back Wednesday and he while doesn’t have the 1v1 skill to break the game open, his passing off the winger opened up dangerous chances for his team.”

Yet as the first two rounds progressed, defender after defender was taken ahead of him. Obviously there’s stuff about being an international player or whatever… and you know what American sports scouts are like with physical attributes, Brown’s height counting against him here. But there were still a couple more rounds to go. Then, three picks into the third, 49th overall, we finally got a New Zealand flag represented… but it wasn’t Cory Brown, it was Elliot Collier!

The Chicago Fire got that pick as a chuck-in balancer when they traded Kennedy Igboananike to DC United (also getting some of that golden Target Allocation Money) back in July 2016. Collier becomes the first Loyola player ever drafted into the MLS and you can assume that geography played a bit of a part – Loyola being a Chicago university and all that. He’s a tall striker who won a few regional accolades in his time, scoring 15 goals in four years.

Loyola Head Coach Neil Jones: “As an entire program, we are extremely excited for Elliot. He was not only an outstanding player at Loyola, but an even better teammate and leader of young men.  This is a fantastic opportunity with one of the top MLS franchises in the country.  We wish him all the best and look forward to following his progress.”

Sweet as. Colorado Rapids were up next, would they pick another kiwi for the collection? Nope, some goalie outta San Diego instead. Then Real Salt Lake passed, then some more Americans… ah, how about Portland Timbers at 61 overall? Nope, Caleb Duvernay, never heard of him. Vancouver Whitecaps up next and…

Bingo, there we go. Just as the All-Whitecaps contingent was fading down to two they go on and hook another joker from God’s Own. The Whitecaps had already picked Justin Fiddes and Lucas Stauffer, both defenders, in the first two rounds and they’d pass on their fourth round pick, settling for this trio of players. Then, two picks later…

Holthusen was one of four Akron players drafted in 2018, including Portugal’s João Moutinho who was picked first overall by the new Los Angeles FC team. He was also one of four players that the Timbers picked on the second day of the draft, having traded away their first round pick for defender Lawrence Olum during the last season and their second rounder for goalie Jeff Atinella a year earlier (the bloke who stole Gleeson’s starting spot). Holthusen scored 31 goals in 78 games for Akron over four years.

If you don’t already know, NZer Gavin Wilkinson is the General Manager at Portland, hence why they’ve been a little keener on kiwi lads there as well. The Timbers won the title a couple seasons ago but are entering a new period in their history now with Giovanni Savarese taking over for Caleb Porter as the head coach, which might mean an opportunity for Holthusen, though the real connection here is with their reserves team. The Portland Timbers 2 side, which Bill Tuiloma appeared for regularly in 2017, just announced Cameron Knowles as its new head coach. He’s a dude who once played for the team before they made the MLS, granted he did get a couple years in the big time prior to that, and he’s made his way up the coaching ranks in the system.

Oh and he was born in Auckland and represented the All Whites as a youth international. Oh and he went to the Uni of Akron, same as Stuart Holthusen. Seems like a little less than a coincidence, there.

Which also suggests that Holthusen’s in for a season in the USL much more than he’s in for a season in the MLS. That shouldn’t be a surprise, almost all the kiwis in these ranks played USL rather than MLS last year – they’re mostly all prospects still so hardly anyone’s ready for the Major League stuff. It’ll be interesting to see how close Bill Tuiloma, Myer Bevan and James Musa get as preseason drags on because that trio are all going to get proper opportunities to earn that status. Meanwhile Tommy Smith, Michael Boxall and Stefan Marinovic should be every week MLS starters, while Jake Gleeson will enter 2018 as the backup keeper on the bench.

The rest of them, we’re talking USL. The Whitecaps said as much in their article about Cory Brown: “over the next few days, Brown will either be invited to attend the club's first team camp or the club's USL affiliate Fresno FC”. That’s the thing with getting drafted – there are no guarantees. All that gets you is an invite to training camps, you’ve still got to convince them to give you a contract. Francis de Vries went through this last season and earned a one-year USL deal only to be released at the end of it… and he was picked in the second round as opposed to this year’s three third-rounders.

The tricky thing for Brown is that the Whitecaps no longer have a reserves team. They sold it to Fresno, who are now their affiliates instead. That shouldn’t make a huge difference, as Brown is likely to be loaned out to them anyway, but it does mean he’ll be playing for an independent franchise rather than one that exists to develop him as a player. Then again, ask FDV, Wynne and Bevan what it was like playing for a team full of prospects that lost every week. Might be an advantage after all.

Collier’s probably looking at USL action too, while Deklan Wynne it’s already been announced will be loaned out to that level for at least the first half of the 2018 season. Kip Colvey’s eligible as a domesticised player which helps his case, though San Jose mostly left him out on loan too. All these guys are close though, they’re on the ladder trying to climb on up.

Plus you can add Kyle Adams to that list as well. He was one of five new players signed by Rio Grande Valley FC in the week before the draft, RGV being the affiliate club of the Houston Dynamo – although the Dynamo basically control everything that they do.

HoustonDynamo.com: “Adams, a New Zealand Youth International, will join RGV FC pending receipt of his P-1 Visa. The defender represented his home country at both the Under-17 and Under-20 level and played collegiately at San Diego State University. In three seasons for the Aztecs, he earned United Soccer Coaches All-Far West Region honors three times, becoming just the fifth student-athlete in program history to earn that accolade three times.”

So a quick recap then to finish. Right now, until something inevitably changes (and there’ll be plenty of happenings as those MLS rosters begin taking shape), we’ve got:

• Portland Timbers – Jake Gleeson, Bill Tuiloma & Stuart Holthusen
• Vancouver Whitecaps – Stefan Marinovic, Myer Bevan & Cory Brown
• Colorado Rapids – Tommy Smith, Kip Colvey & Deklan Wynne
• Minnesota United– Michael Boxall
• Sporting Kansas City – James Musa
• Chicago Fire – Elliot Collier
• Houston Dynamo – Kyle Adams

And there you go. Bonus Yankee Edition of Flying Kiwis in the bag, exciting times are ahead. Probably don’t get the hopes up for the full contingent, we already know how that tends to go, but this is a bulky group of players and, by the way, only six of the 13 were in the All Whites squad that played Peru. Four of them are uncapped at the senior international level. That oughta float the old boat, champ.

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