Battery Notes
After posting the A-League's third-best regular-season finish last season, the Battery will have the 19th of 21 picks in each round of the upcoming draft.
The Minnesota Thunder and the Milwaukee Rampage, who ranked 1-2 ahead of Charleston in the overall points table, will have the 21st and 20th picks.
The annual three-round draft, set for Feb. 8, will open with the territorial round, limiting team picks to players from college programs and high schools within a pre-determined territory surrounding each club's home city.
The Battery's territory is the entire state of South Carolina. However, Charleston shares territorial rights for Clemson and Furman players with the rival Atlanta Silverbacks. Atlanta is ninth in the draft order.
The expansion Portland Timbers and the newly promoted Charlotte Eagles (up from the USL D3 Pro League) will draft first and second, respectively, in each round as new members of the second-division league.
The defending league playoff champion Rochester Rhinos, 15th in the draft order, traded away their second- and third-round picks with an undisclosed amount of cash to the San Diego Flash for goalkeeper Kevin Rueda.
Charleston's last two picks will be the 40th and 61st players drafted.
• Battery head coach Alan Dicks recently returned from his native England, where he spent time promoting the club's interests abroad.
While back home, Dicks extended invitations to English Premier League and First Division teams to visit the Lowcountry as part of their 2001 preseason preparations.
Dicks maintains extensive contacts in the English game because of his many years of work there. He played for Chelsea (EPL) and coached Bristol and Fulham.
Dicks' focus now is on filling the Battery's remaining roster spots.
"With the draft quickly approaching, I am concentrating all my effort on analyzing this year's crop of college players and making sure we find new additions to complement the strong team we have already assembled for the 2001 season," he said.
• Midfielder Daniel Alvarez, who spent the latter part of last season with the Battery, suffered a torn knee ACL while training with the Tampa Bay Mutiny of Major League Soccer. He faces several months of rehabilitation.
The Battery, an A-League affiliate of the Mutiny, holds a contract option on the former Furman standout for 2001. The Mutiny acquired Alvarez's MLS rights in an April 2000 trade with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars. Alvarez logged 108 minutes in four Battery games last season, making one start.
• Battery captain Nicky Spooner, currently on loan with Leigh RMI of English Conference soccer, scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Hucknall Town last Saturday. The game was important, since it was the third round of the nationwide FA Trophy. Leigh RMI plays Hereford United on Feb. 3 in the fourth round.
Spooner has captained Charleston for the last two seasons.
• Former Battery midfielder Ivan Polic has already begun his second season with MLS' Los Angeles Galaxy.
Last season, the Yugoslavia native and former SMU collegiate standout appeared in 12 Galaxy games and made four starts.
Before joining the Galaxy, Polic played in four Battery games in 2000, scoring one goal in 300 minutes.
On Friday night, Polic and his Galaxy teammates beat MLS cohort D.C. United on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw in the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinals in Los Angeles. The Galaxy qualified for this summer's FIFA World Club Championship in Spain along with CD Olimpia of Honduras, which beat Pachuca CF of Mexico 4-0 in Friday's other semifinal. The Galaxy and CD Olimpia met in the Conference final on Sunday.
