Surprise at the top of MLS SuperDraft as newcomers Austin choose Virginia Tech midfielder Pereira

It wouldn’t be an MLS SuperDraft without surprises, and it didn’t take long for the surprises to begin on Thursday.

With the first overall pick in Thursday’s draft, Austin FC opted not to select Clemson’s Philip Makaya nor Wake Forest’s Calvin Harris, the near-unanimously projected top two picks in the draft. Instead, the expansion side turned towards Daniel Pereira, the midfielder from Virginia Tech that became the club’s first-ever draft pick as he was selected first overall on Thursday.

Pereira, a central midfielder that has typically played as a No. 8, was among those surprised to hear his name called first overall, but Austin FC boss Josh Wolff says they believe they have the draft’s best player in both the short and long term.

“Danny is a very good player and has good potential,” Wolff said. “He plays a number of positions in the midfield, he’s very comfortable between lines. We’ve picked up a player who is ready to come in and play in MLS but also has room to grow. He’s a hungry, humble player.”

Pereira added: “I wasn’t really expecting to be No. 1 because of all the mock drafts, it’s an honor, I’m really happy. My family is crying, it’s a moment I’ll never forget.”

The now-Austin FC midfielder had six goals and six assists in 26 matches during his college career as he earned a Generation Adidas deal ahead of the draft.

Pereira, who moved to the U.S. ahead of high school as his family fled Venezuela, will now join an Austin FC midfield featuring former New York City FC captain Alex Ring, ex-New England Revolution midfielder Diego Fagundez and Costa Rican midfielder Ulises Segura.

“For the way we want to play, we felt he fit a lot of the needs we’ll expect in that part of the field,” Wolff said.

With the second overall pick, FC Cincinnati turned towards Harris, who should step in and provide help in the attack. Harris, an English-born forward, scored 10 goals and set up five more during his two seasons with Wake.

Harris was seen as the most talented forward in the draft, and is a player that could develop into either a winger or a central forward.

And with that, Makaya, widely projected as a straightforward No. 1 overall pick, fell to the Colorado Rapids, who snapped up the Kenyan-born midfielder from Clemson.

Makaya was hailed as the draft’s most complete midfielder all through the buildup to the draft, with the Rapids getting the chance to draft him after trading up with the Houston Dynamo earlier in the day.

“Philip is an explosive midfield talent who’s demonstrated great ability on both sides of the ball,” said Rapids general manager Padriag Smith “We’ve shown our commitment to developing young players and believe Philip has the qualities to thrive in this league.”

D.C. United rounded out the top five with back-to-back picks, selecting Clemson forward Kimarni Smith and Wake defender Michael DeShields.

Highly-rated defenders Ethan Barlow and Bret Halsey were up next, joining the Houston Dynamo and Real Salt Lake, respectively, before a string of forwards completed the top 10.

Georgetown’s Derek Dodson ended up in Orlando, Akron’s David Egbo will head to Vancouver to join the Whitecaps and Inter Miami added Indiana forward Josh Penn.

2021 MLS SuperDraft Round 1

Pick	Club	Player	Position	School
1	Austin FC	Daniel Pereira	Midfielder	Virginia Tech
2	FC Cincinnati	Calvin Harris	Forward	Wake Forest
3	Houston Dynamo	Philip Mayaka	Midfielder	Clemson
4	D.C. United	Kimarni Smith	Forward	Clemson
5	D.C. United	Michael DeShields	Defender	Wake Forest
6	Houston Dynamo	Ethan Barlow	Defender	Washington
7	Real Salt Lake	Bret Halsey	Defender	Virginia
8	Orlando City	Derek Dodson	Forward	Goergetown
9	Vancouver Whitecaps	David Egbo	Forward	Akron
10	Inter Miami	Josh Penn	Forward	Indiana
11	Austin FC	Freddy Kleeman	Defender	Washington
12	San Jose Earthquakes	Thomas Williamson	Forward	California
13	New York Red Bulls	Luther Archimede	Forward	Syracuse
14	Los Angeles FC	Daniel Trejo	Forward	Cal State Northridge
15	FC Dallas	Nicky Hernandez	Midfielder	SMU
16	LA Galaxy	Josh Drack	Forward	Denver
17	Minnesota United	Justin McMaster	Forward	Wake Forest
18	Minnesota United	Nabilai Kibunguchy	Defender	Cal Davis
19	Orlando City	Rio Hope-Gund	Defender	Georgetown
20	Nashville SC	Irakoze Donasiyano	Forward	Virginia
21	Austin FC	Aedan Stanley	Defender	Duke
22	Orlando City	Brandon Hackenberg	Defender	Penn State
23	Vancouver Whitecaps	Javain Brown	Defender	South Florida
24	New England Revolution	Edward Kizza	Forward	Pittsburgh
25	Toronto FC	Matt Di Rosa	Midfielder	Maryland
26	Inter Miami	Aime Mabika	Defender	Kentucky
27	Columbus Crew	Justin Malou	Defender	Clemson