SANDY, Utah (ABC 4 Sports) - Real Salt Lake kept all three selections in today’s 2012 MLS SuperDraft at the Kansas City Convention Center, the Utah side highlighting its picks with the selection of University of North Carolina midfielder and Generation adidas product Enzo Martinez towards the end of the first round (17th overall). Real Salt Lake closed out its draft day in the second round by plucking Southern Methodist University defender Diogo de Almeida and Spartanburg Methodist College midfielder Sebastian Velasquez with the 24th and 36th picks, respectively.
The RSL Technical Staff was more than happy to take the 21-year-old Martinez off the draft board, as the Utah side’s braintrust was shocked to see the creative midfielder drop down to the 17th spot. The Rock Hill, S.C., native has won championships at every level growing through the ranks, most recently as a member of UNC Tarheels, who he helped lead to the 2011 NCAA College Cup title last fall thanks to a nine-goal, 11-assist performance during his junior campaign. During his three seasons in Chapel Hill, Martinez scored 22 goals and assisted on 20 more in 72 appearances (53 starts) in the ultra-competitive Atlantic Coast Conference.
Real Salt Lake’s search for a left back of the future might have ended with the selection of Diogo de Almeida, an athletic, left-footed winger out of SMU. After coming off the bench as a forward for the Mustangs during his freshman season and a midfielder the following year, de Almeida found his stride after moving to the backline as a junior in 2010. The accolades and attention began to roll his way shortly thereafter, culminating with his selection as the Conference USA Defender of the Year last fall following a senior season in which the 23-year-old also bagged four goals during his 20 games (19 starts). During his collegiate career, the native of Piricicaba, Brazil, scored nine goals and added three assists in 70 appearances (46 starts).
With the third-to-last pick of today’s SuperDraft, Real Salt Lake went for a diamond in the rough in Sebastian Velasquez, a midfielder out of Spartanburg Methodist College, a junior college based in South Carolina. The Greenville, S.C., native, by way of his birthplace of Colombia, was an offensive juggernaut during his two seasons of collegiate ball, notching 20 goals and 17 assists during his freshman campaign (14 games) and bumping the production up to a ridiculous 35 goals and 16 assists last fall as a sophomore (19 games), leading to his selection as a NJCAA Second Team All-American. The 20-year-old Velasquez, who was a teammate of Martinez’s at the club level in South Carolina, was recommended to the RSL Technical Staff and impressed enough during the squad’s combine last month in Arizona to earn a SuperDraft selection.
As a member of the Generation adidas player development program, Martinez will not count against RSL’s base salary budget. All three players have not obtained full U.S. citizenship and would occupy one of the squad’s six International Player slots once officially added to the roster by Major League Soccer. The three RSL players currently under contract that occupy International slots are Argentineans Javier Morales and Fabian Espíndola and Colombia native Jamison Olave.
