Real Salt Lake: Sound expansion in Seattle

Jason Kreis has mixed feelings about the Seattle Sounders' expansion success.

The club owns the fourth-best record in MLS heading into this weekend's match at Real Salt Lake, and many believe Seattle has what it takes to duplicate's Chicago's 1998 championship during its expansion season.

Kreis can't help but be a bit bitter. He suffered through a miserable expansion season with RSL in 2005, and admits frustration about how much easier things have become for expansion teams since.

"From my point of view as somebody that was in Real Salt Lake from the beginning, and struggled so mightily for two years in a row, I think teams should have to earn it a little bit more. I don't think it should be given to anybody," said Kreis.

The RSL coach gives full credit to Seattle general manager Adrian Haneaur, technical director Chris Henderson and coach Sigi Schmid for putting together a solid team, but he questions the framework with which the organization was allowed to work.

"They've done a tremendous amount of work and they've made some tremendous signings and selections for their team this year, but if they hadn't been afforded some of the opportunities with the allocation money and the expansion draft being changed the way it was, I think they may be struggling a bit more," said Kreis.

Instead, the Sounders own a 7-4-8 record and are the envy of the league with easily the best fan support.

Realistically though, Toronto and San Jose enjoyed similarly less expansion restrictions when they joined the league in 2007 and 2008 respectively, and never came close to duplicating Seattle's success.

All three had it easy compared to what Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA were forced to go through as expansion teams in 2005. It started with the expansion draft.

The 10 MLS teams were allowed to protect 12 senior roster players, and their developmental roster players — roughly five or six additional players — were exempt. That left a grand total of 68 players for RSL and Chivas to select from in a mini 10-round draft.

It was slim pickings at best, and the proof was on the field as Real Salt Lake finished with a 5-22-5 record and Chivas a 4-22-6 mark. There was never enough talent among the 68 players to expect an expansion team to be competitive, let alone two teams.

Perhaps recognizing how much it handicapped the two clubs, Major League Soccer sensibly eased off its expansion restrictions.

For Toronto's expansion draft, the league reduced the number of players existing teams could protect from 12 to 11, and developmental players were no longer exempt, just Generation Adidas players. The rules remained the same for the San Jose and Seattle expansion draft, enabling each to choose from a much broader talent pool.

For a player like Kreis who captained one of the worst teams in league history, it's easy to see why he would be jealous of Seattle's success.

e-mail: jedward@desnews.com