Greg Lalas, “It captured the spirit that the new league needs if it is to succeed.”

The Target Man: WPS Draft a Sign of Positive Things to Come

The inaugural draft for Women’s Professional Soccer’s did more than stock the league’s teams with players, says Goal.com’s Greg Lalas. It captured the spirit that the new league needs if it is to succeed.

ST. LOUIS – Meeting Room 275 is a low-ceilinged, nondescript box in the back corner of the America’s Convention Center. To get there, you have to walk the equivalent of at least two soccer fields, right past the grand ballroom where on Thursday Major League Soccer held its carefully choreographed, ESPN-televised SuperDraft.

But Women’s Professional Soccer isn’t a grand ballroom league (yet). They know that. Which is why they decided to hold their inaugural draft in Meeting Room 275. Honestly, they thought, how many people are going to show up for the draft of a league that has yet to kick its first official Puma ball? The top prospects would be there, of course. And probably a few local hopefuls and their families. A journalist or two. Maybe a smattering of curious onlookers from the NSCAA Coaches Convention being held downstairs in the center’s main hall. But other than that, not much. So, yeah, Meeting Room 275 would suffice.

However, by 9:30 on Friday morning, when the doors were meant to open, they realized they had guessed wrong. The line of fans who wanted to watch the WPS draft snaked down the hall and around the corner. The press seats were overbooked. “Wow, more media than I expected showed up,” WPS Director of Communications Rob Penner said, chuckling apologetically as he cleared some extra workspace for an in-limbo journo.

The room buzzed with a mix of business-like intensity and wow-this-is-cool excitement. Read more at goal.com >>

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