Bruno Guarda Joining MLS...Late...

Bruno Guarda has decided to forgo his senior season at SMU and join MLS, in late July. He's been on my watch list since a solid freshman year earned him 2nd team All-Freshman honors in 2005. For the past two seasons he has been a semi-finalist for the Herman Trophy at the end of the fall seasons. He was on my short list for Generation Adidas.

Why all of a sudden has he decided to go pro when he could have signed a Generation Adidas contract back in January? Speculation here at FCTP is that former SMU coach and head man in Dallas, Schellas Hyndman, had something to do with it. However, MLS has said that Guarda will be put in a special weighted lottery to determine who will be able to sign him. If Hyndman did approach Guarda about signing with FC Dallas, I wonder, and if I were a full time journalist I would try to find out, if Coach Hyndman knew how MLS would allocate the player when he first made contact.

This is one of those arcane processes MLS still holds onto when they should probably just get rid of it. I know, I know...if MLS allowed teams to just sign players out of college the whole draft would be worthless. But isn't the draft going by the wayside as teams develop their own youth academy?

Climbing The Ladder has a nice look back at previous "special" weighted lottery draft allocation processes. Here is my question for readers...what do you think of this process. If Guarda was convinced to join MLS by Hyndman, should he be able to sign with FCD? On the other hand, do you think it is important to give other MLS teams a crack at signing the youngster?

Furthermore, Dallas recently traded for two additional international spots. There are lots of rumors about FCD signing two South American players, but could Guarda be one of them? He is of Brazilian birth. I'm not sure how MLS will classify him.

The weighted lottery is later today. Based on Climbing The Ladders work it looks like FCD is second in line to sign Guarda. Will they get their man? Is he joining MLS because of his former coach leaving SMU? Time will tell.