The Houston Dynamo announced Monday that 11 players were officially placed on the protection list ahead of Tuesday’s expansion draft.
FC Cincinnati will use Tuesday’s draft to build up its roster — notably including former Portland Timbers forward Fanendo Adi and former San Jose Earthquakes midfield Fatai Alashe, as well as Argentine midfielder Emmanuel Ledesma, and several contributors to this season’s USL version of the squad — for its inaugural MLS season.
The Dynamo’s protected player list includes all of its players international players and Designated Players, and also includes the team’s leading goalscorer (and its MVP) from 2018. The list includes:
- Juan David Cabezas (M)
- Darwin Cerén (M)
- A.J. DeLaGarza (D)
- Alberth Elis (F)
- Alejandro Fuenmayor (D)
- Adam Lundkvist (D)
- Mauro Manotas (F)
- Tomás Martínez (M)
- Ronaldo Peña (F)
- Romell Quioto (F)
- Joe Willis (G)
Three other players on the current Dynamo
roster — goalkeeper Tyler Deric, defender Erik McCue and midfielder Memo Rodriguez — are classified as homegrown players. As a result, they are not eligible for selection, and did not have to be included on the list of protected players.
That leaves the following six players on the current Dynamo roster unprotected:
- Eric Alexander (M)
- Eric Bird (M)
- Boniek Garcia (M)
- Kevin Garcia (D)
- Michael Nelson (G)
- Chris Seitz (G)
Additionally, free agents and out of contract players as part of the Dynamo 2018 roster are eligible, including Arturo Alvarez, DaMarcus Beasley, Leonardo, Conor Donovan, Luis Gil, Adolfo Machado, Philippe Senderos, Mac Steeves, Jared Watts. Though Dylan Remick and Andrew Wenger are also technically on the list, those players announced their retirements from MLS earlier this month.
FC Cincinnati may select up to five players from the eligible MLS player pool in the draft, set for Tuesday at 1 pm CST. Only a single player can be drafted from any one club. The five teams who had players selected by LAFC during the 2017 MLS Expansion Draft — Columbus Crew SC, San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders FC, Sporting Kansas City, and Toronto FC — are exempt from the 2018 Expansion Draft.