TFC waives little-used forwards Morgan and Bennett By Steven Sandor Posted on May 14, 2013 1 0 770 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Toronto FC needed to make roster changes in order to be compliant with the MLS rulebook ahead of this weekend’s match against Columbus. And for little-used forwards Ashton Bennett and Taylor Morgan, the writing was on the wall. Both were released by the Reds Tuesday. Both will be used as further evidence of just how much of a crapshoot the Supplemental Draft is for MLS clubs. Bennett, who has his Canadian residency and played his NCAA soccer for Coastal Carolina, fell into the Supplemental Draft after being projected as a SuperDraft proper selection. Morgan had an impressive camp after being selected later in the Supplemental Draft, and won himself a job. But, as coach Ryan Nelsen and general manager Kevin Payne continued to bring in new players — many of them on loan — there was simply no room at the inn for project players. Morgan made one sub appearance in MLS, in TFC’s First Kick match in Vancouver. Bennett got one sub appearance in the Amway Canadian Championship, and it was a game he might not want to put on his resume. That was the match that saw the Impact humiliate the Reds 6-0, rather easily overturning a 2-0 first-leg deficit. Yesterday, Payne spoke of the need to affiliate with USL-Pro in the future. The Whitecaps have already sent three players — Bryce Alderson, Ben Fisk and Emmanuel Adjetey — to the Charleston Battery. The Canadian Soccer Association is not warm to the idea of sanctioning the USL in Canada, but being tolerant of an unsanctioned USL program being run as an arm of a sanctioned MLS club. Or, TFC could look south for an affiliation with an American team. Maybe, if something was in place today, Bennett and Morgan would have had places to go and get some needed playing time. Right now, you wonder if it’s better for players taken so far down in the draft to actually crack an MLS roster — because, more often than not, they are parked well down the roster and struggle to find playing time. Maybe going to NASL or USL off the bat and putting a couple years of useful professional play on your resume before trying for MLS is the better way.
