The Seattle Sounders will pick 16th and 22nd in the first round of the 2017 MLS SuperDraft on Friday, Jan. 13. With that in mind, let’s take a look back at some of the league’s notable players drafted in those slots. Follow the Sounders’ SuperDraft picks live.
2001: Brian Ching (No. 16)
The LA Galaxy selected Brian Ching from the PDL’s Spokane Shadow with the fourth pick of the second round in 2001. All Ching went on to do was become one of MLS’ all-time greats.
Ching spent part of the 2001 season and all of 2002 on loan to the USL’s Seattle Sounders before joining the San Jose Earthquakes in 2003. He went on to score 82 goals and record 34 assists in 12 seasons with the Earthquakes and Houston Dynamo, was a three-time MLS Cup champion, a six-time MLS All-Star and finished his career in 2013 as No. 11 on the all-time MLS goals chart.
Ching also scored 11 goals in 45 caps for the United States national team.
2006: Dominic Oduro (No. 22)
FC Dallas selected Dominic Oduro out of Virginia Commonwealth University with the 22nd pick in 2006. An MLS journeyman, Oduro has scored 62 goals for seven teams over his 11-year career.
Most recently, Oduro has 14 goals and six assists over the past two seasons with the Montreal Impact. He led Montreal to the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League final in 2015 before leading the Impact to the brink of the 2016 MLS Cup Final.
Oduro has a single cap for Ghana, which he earned in a 2012 friendly against Chile.
2007: Robbie Findley (No. 16)
The LA Galaxy selected Robbie Findley out of Oregon State with the 16th pick in 2007. LA traded Findley to Real Salt Lake in June of that year and he would score 29 goals over the next four seasons.
Findley then spent three years in England with Nottingham Forest before returning to RSL for the 2013 and ’14 seasons. His final MLS season came in 2015 with Toronto FC before spending the 2016 campaign with the now-defunct Rayo OKC.
Findley made 11 appearances for the United States national team from 2007-10.
2012: Dom Dwyer (No. 16)
Sporting Kansas City selected English forward Dom Dwyer out of the University of South Florida with the 16th pick in 2012, and he has been one of the league’s most dangerous strikers over the past three seasons.
SKC sent Dwyer on loan to then-USL side Orlando City in 2013 where he flourished and brought his scoring touch back to Kansas City. He has scored 50 goals over 90 matches the last three regular seasons, and his 61 goals in all competitions is already second all-time in Sporting KC history.
He helped SKC win the 2013 MLS Cup — he scored once in three playoff starts — as well as the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. He was an MLS All-Star in 2014.
2015: Cristian Roldan (No. 16)
The Seattle Sounders selected Cristian Roldan out of the University of Washington with the 16th pick in 2015.
As noted in our list of Sounders’ first-round draft picks, Roldan has four goals and four assists in 39 starts over the last two seasons. He has improved dramatically while working alongside defensive midfield partner Osvaldo Alonso and was a key component to the Sounders’ run to the MLS Cup in December.
Major League Soccer named Roldan to is annual “24 Under 24” list highlighting the league’s best players under 24, and he is also on United States national team head coach Bruce Arena’s radar for 2017.
