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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Orlando City\u2019s first pick in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft caught nobody by surprise, even the player himself. Forward Cyle Larin, in Jamaica with the Canadian under-20 national team, thanked his new team by name in a pre-recorded message shown directly after his selection.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The consensus among executives, coaches and media leading up to the draft was that Larin would go first. But the real surprise set in when most people\u2019s No. 2 overall pick, Generation adidas and U.S. youth international attacking midfielder Cristian Roldan, fell to No. 16.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Seattle Sounders traded up to select him after the first few picks passed him by.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The team\u2019s new general manager, Garth Lagerwey, moved from table to table, looking for the right deal before finding it with his old team, Real Salt Lake.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Seattle got Roldan, and RSL received Seattle\u2019s No. 27 overall pick and allocation money.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Roldan seemed to be a perfect fit for New York City FC with the second selection, the type of central midfielder around which Jason&amp;nbsp;Kreis&amp;nbsp;based his team philosophy at Real Salt Lake. However,&amp;nbsp;Roldan&amp;nbsp;didn\u2019t play to his full potential at the MLS Combine in Fort Lauderdale, Florida last week.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CObviously, we\u2019re a little bit surprised,\u201D Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid said after selecting Roldan. \u201CI don\u2019t think he had the best combine \u2014 he\u2019ll probably be the first one to say that \u2014 but we\u2019re very happy. He\u2019s a skillful player. He\u2019s a good passer of the ball. He\u2019s a very humble kid.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Instead, NYCFC took Khiry Shelton, the next in a long line of Oregon State forwards to make the league, which includes a player Kreis led to the 2010 United States World Cup squad in Robbie Findley.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Injuries stunted Shelton\u2019s college career, as he only played six games his freshman year and 10 his junior year. He finished with a strong senior season, though, starting each of the Beavers\u2019 21 matches and scoring 10 goals in his most productive year to date.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI\u2019m healthy now, and I\u2019m very excited,\u201D he said. \u201CI\u2019m ready to go.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;One of the most familiar names in the first round to American fans was the Portland Timbers\u2019 No. 5 overall pick, Nick Besler. His brother, Matt, plays center back for Sporting Kansas City and made the U.S. team for the 2014 World Cup.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CIt\u2019s going to be a little different now that I\u2019m playing against him,\u201D Nick Besler said. \u201CI\u2019m really excited to go up against him, and I won\u2019t be easy on him.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A heady defensive midfielder, Nick Besler has an opportunity under Caleb Porter to create his own legacy in MLS. His soccer IQ matches Porter\u2019s philosophy, and his distribution ability from a deep-lying position complements the Timbers\u2019 primary attacking duo of Diego Valeri and Darlington Nagbe.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI talked to Caleb prior to the draft, and he said he liked how I play,\u201D Besler said. \u201CHe said he\u2019s been following me.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Every SuperDraft has its surprises, and this one was no exception after the No. 1 pick. Still, a clear trend emerged in the selection of players with the size and speed that can cope immediately with the physicality of MLS.&amp;nbsp;That selection philosophy seemed to rule the first round, as 13 of the 21 picks stand over six feet tall, including seven of the first 10.&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As at combines in other sports, MLS puts players through physical testing during its weeklong examination period before the draft. For example, Shelton won the 30-meter dash with a time of 3.81 seconds last week.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CAt the end of the day, it\u2019s what you can do with the ball or without the ball, making runs,\u201D Roldan said. \u201CI guess it takes away, but at the end, you hope to get drafted.\u201D\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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