4. IAN HARKES (D.C. United). The 2016 Hermann Trophy winner out of Wake Forest has started all but the first D.C. United game, playing alongside Argentine Luciano Acosta to form one of the youngest central midfields in MLS.
D.C. United got off to a rough start, going without a goal in its first three games before beating Philadelphia and NYCFC in back-to-back games.
“Ian is growing before our eyes, and that’s a lot of fun for a coach to watch,” said United coach Ben Olsen after the NYCFC games. “He still has moments where he needs to get better. The good thing about that is he takes information on very well, and he’ll fix it.”
5. BROOKS LENNON (Real Salt Lake). The 19-year-old winger grew up in the RSL Arizona academy program but left RSL AZ in 2015 to join Liverpool. He never broke into the Reds' first team so they loaned him to RSL for the 2015 season.
Injuries forced RSL to put Lennon and Sebastian Saucedo after their return from the Concacaf U-20 Championship, where they helped the USA win its first championship. Lennon capped the 2-1 comeback win against Colorado on Saturday with a rocket into the bottom corner in the 88th minute for his first MLS goal.
"That all came down to Brooks," said RSL coach Mike Petke, who gave Lennon a peck on the cheek after the game. "I was set to bring on an offensive sub and move Brooks over to the other
side and he looked at me and said: 'I got this guy.'"
6. MARCO
FARFAN (Portland). The Timbers' first academy signing and first Oregon native has been revelation at left back, starting four games while filling in for injured Vytas. The amazing
thing is he's still in high school, attending Centennial High School.
Also ...
7. Niko Hansen
(Columbus). The New Mexico product, taken with the ninth pick in the first round of the SuperDraft, had a memorable MLS debut, coming off the bench to score the winning goal in the dying
minutes of the Crew's 3-2 win over Portland. Made first start on the wing Saturday in 2-1 win over Toronto FC.
8. Josh Smith (New England). No. 75 pick in SuperDraft out of San
Francisco had a man of the match performance in debut April 4 at Portland and has kept job at center back since then.
9. Daniel Johnson (Chicago). Made name for himself with strong
Combine and ended up being taken by the Fire with No. 11 pick. He's only played 58 minutes but looked very good and should get more playing time.
10. Abu Danladi
(Minnesota United). Back spasms sidelined the No. 1 pick in the SuperDraft for the Loons' first two games, but he was used in their next four games. United coach Adrian Heath says Danladi will
make it hard on him to keep him out of the lineup if he stays healthy.
Good choices let's see how their numbers look by mid season. I am liking the fact that so many of these players are from college. My personal belief is Brooks Lennon is the real deal. He has the physical built, fast, very good ball control with excellent anticipation and most of all consistent. I would trade him to Europe and bring him on the senior team after 2018 World Cup in anticipation of a Christian/Brooks front line for US soccer future.