Brian Ching First Pick Of Montreal In MLS Expansion Draft
11/24/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
MONTREAL - The Montreal Impact, due to begin play as MLS's 19th team next season, now have 16 players and an unexpected rival down in Houston, where the Dynamo were the surprise losers in Wednesday's expansion draft.
Montreal coach Jesse Marsch stood at a podium in the club office to announce the draft selections and started off with a stunner. Former Gonzaga University veteran forward Brian Ching, the Dynamo captain and former U.S. national team staple who has 85 goals in a glittering MLS career, was the first name read.
Houston officials had gambled that Ching's age (33), salary ($412,500), recent injuries and public preference for retirement over Quebec would scare off Marsch. Instead, the coach called the Dynamo's bluff and made an instant enemy in Texas. Now, the Dynamo will either have to trade for Ching or let the long-time face of the franchise go.
"There's certainly a lot of respect from all of us for the kind of person he is and the kind of player he is. We were delighted that he's available," Marsch said. "Building your team (is about) what pieces you want to put into place but also how to maximize the value of the (expansion) draft.
"I understand that Brian doesn't want to be here. We'd be delighted to have him, but if it doesn't work out hopefully we can figure out another situation that's beneficial for everyone involved."
Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear told the Houston Chronicle, "This was a chance that we took in leaving him unprotected and obviously our gamble didn't pay off. ... I'm very surprised he was selected and very sad."
Houston president Chris Canetti implied that he would be willing to trade for Ching, writing on Twitter that, "We'll have more on this as the situation plays out."
Ching, a native of Haleiwa, Hawai'i, is one of the most decorated men's soccer players in Gonzaga University history, as well as the first successful player from Hawai'i in MLS and United States World Cup annals.
Ching came to the Bulldogs from Kamehameha High in Honolulu. His senior year he was the Interscholastic League of Honolulu MVP with 14 goals and 6 assists. His junior season he was a second team All-ILH selection.
Ching joined the Bulldogs for the 1996 season, and as a freshman played in 18 matches with five starts. He finished second on the team in scoring with 12 points on 3 goals and 6 assists. As a sophomore he appeared in 16 matches with 14 starts and was second on the team behind West Coast Conference Player of the Year and teammate Jeff McAllister with 10 goals and 23 points, ranking fifth in the WCC in both categories. The 10 goals were second on the all-time Gonzaga single-season list and his 23 points were third on the all-time GU list. He earned All-WCC second-team honors.
His junior season was cut short by a knee injury suffered in the season opener, then re-injured it in the next match, and received a medical redshirt year.
The injury bug continued to plague Ching in the summer of 1999 when he was kicked in the cheek and eye late in the summer while playing for the Spokane Shadow of the USL, the injury requiring surgery. But he was ready for the Bulldogs season opener and went on to start 17 of 18 matches. He scored 13 goals and had 8 assists for 34 points. The 13 goals were third on the all-time GU single-season list, the 34 points second. He scored his first goal of the season in a 2-2 tie against 11th-ranked University of Washington, got the insurance goal in a 3-1 victory over 7th-ranked Stanford University and had a pair of goals against 4th-ranked University of San Diego in 4-2 home victory. He earned All-WCC first-team honors.
His final season of 2000 Ching missed three matches with an injury but still scored 8 goals and recorded 22 points. He was named All-WCC first team and earned All-Far West Region first-team honors. Ching finished his Gonzaga career with 34 goals which still ties him third on the all-time GU list, and his 23 assists are a Gonzaga career record. Ching's 91 career points are still tied for second on the Gonzaga charts.
He is still ranked fourth (13) and seventh (10) on the single-season goals list; tied for fourth (7) and sixth (6 twice) in single-season assists, and is tied for second (33), is 8th (23) and ninth (22) on the single-season points list. His 71 shots are also a single-season record and his 168 career shots rank third.
Ching's professional career began when he was the fourth pick of the second round and the 16th pick overall by the Los Angeles Galaxy in the 2001 Major League Soccer Super Draft. He became the first Gonzaga player and the first player from his native Hawai'i selected in the MLS draft.
He played eight games for the Galaxy his rookie season, collecting one goal and one assist and made his first MLS Cup playoff appearance.
In 2002 he played for the Seattle Sounders of the USL First Division (formerly A-League) and was named to the 2002 A-League All-League Team while scoring 16 goals.
In 2003 he joined the San Jose Earthquakes and made his first Earthquakes start against Colorado, scoring his first goal in a San Jose uniform just 53 seconds into the match, but his season was cut short in August when he ruptured his right Achilles tendon and had season-ending surgery.
He returned to action in 2004 and was named to the MLS Best XI and recognized as MLS Comeback Player of the Year after being named the Earthquakes scoring champion and MVP with a career-high 12 goals and 4 assists while starting 21 of 25 appearances. He scored seven goals in 15 matches for the Earthquakes in 2005, a hamstring injury forcing him to miss 15 matches. He finished the season scoring a goal or getting an assist in six straight matches.
The Earthquakes moved to Houston and became the Dynamo for the 2006 season, and Ching responded with one of his best all-around seasons. He scored a career-high four goals in the season opener against Colorado to become the seventh player in MLS history to score four goals in a single match. His goal three weeks later was the only goal in a 1-0 win at Colorado. He was named to the U.S. World Cup team May 5 - the first Hawaiian so honored -and celebrated with a game-deciding goal the next day against FC Dallas. His impressive bicycle kick on Sept. 30 against DC was voted Goal of the Year, and the resulting 1-0 win secured a playoff spot for the Dynamo.
Ching's outstanding 2006 campaign carried over into the playoffs as he scored the series-winning goal with a header in stoppage time of the 2-0 win against Chivas USA in the second leg of the Western Conference semifinals. He went on to earn MVP honors of the 2006 MLS Cup after scoring the tying goal in the 114th minute, less than one minute after New England had taken a 1-0 lead, and scoring the winning penalty kick in shootout as the Dynamo captured the title.
The Dynamo advanced to the MLS title match a week ago, losing 1-0 to the Galaxy.
