Sounders scouting for No. 1 pick in MLS draft

When Brian Schmetzer lands in South Florida today, he'll have some pep in his step.

Not because of the sunshine and temperatures in the high 70s as much as how different his job will be this year at the annual Major League Soccer player combine.

Schmetzer gets to spend the next few days looking at the top tier of talent among college seniors and other prospects gathered for the combine in Fort Lauderdale. As top assistant coach for Seattle Sounders FC, Schmetzer is in the big time as he helps the club identify those players the team would like to draft.

Last year at this time, he and Sounders FC general manager Adrian Hanauer — as head coach and personnel executive for the United Soccer League's Sounders — were looking at the best of the rest in hopes of landing an undrafted player with potential on the USL Sounders roster.

"It just makes me appreciate just having the opportunity to test my mettle," Schmetzer said. "I get a chance to have my input at the highest level of soccer."

Which is where Sounders FC is in this country, and the pressure is on the club over the next week as its cadre of executives, coaches and trainers band together to identify the No. 1 pick of the 2009 MLS SuperDraft, which Sounders FC owns. The draft is next Thursday in St. Louis, so some in the group will head to the Midwest from Florida after the combine.

Players receiving the most consideration as the first overall pick include underclassman Steve Zakuani, a forward from Akron; Omar Gonzalez, a defender and underclassman from Maryland; and Connecticut senior striker O'Brian White. Zakuani and Gonzalez, both 20, are part of MLS's Generation adidas class, a group of younger players who haven't completed their college eligibility but who have been identified as elite U.S. soccer talent and have signed MLS contracts.

Seattle also owns the top picks in the second, third and fourth rounds in what will be another historic occasion for the team — its first draft class. There's always the possibility that the team could trade at least one of their picks for other teams' players, additional picks this year or in the future, or sell the picks for additional allocation money. All situations are being explored, Hanauer said.

The brunt of the scouting work has already been done, and this is a crew with vast expertise at MLS combines. Coach Sigi Schmid has been to every one of them. Hanauer and Schmetzer have attended the past six. Technical director Chris Henderson has gone as an assistant coach with the Kansas City Wizards.

Sounders FC front-office people scouted various college soccer postseason tournaments, conducted research and talked to college coaches, scouts and agents last season.

"We have 15 to 20 players who are high on our radar," Hanauer said.

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com