MLS' No. 1 pick begins to show promise for the future

	It's been an up-and-down rookie season for Marvell Wynne, the third UCLA defender to be selected No. 1 in the MLS SuperDraft. AP
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When you're a rookie in any sport, there's always that inevitable "Oh, my God" moment during your first season when it occurs to you what you've achieved. But it's not often an American soccer player has the surreal rookie encounter that Marvell Wynne experienced.

In August, his New York Red Bulls were up against defending European champion FC Barcelona in a friendly, and something otherworldly occurred to the 20-year-old as the Spaniards began pressing his side of the field.

"I just realized, 'All right, that's Ronaldinho, World Player of the Year -- twice,'" the fleet-footed defender recalls. "At one point during the game I was split between him and Samuel Eto'o. Um, this is normal for a first year."

To grasp the significance of an experience like that, pretend you've just passed the bar exam and discover that you're scheduled to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court. Understandably, Wynne's still a little in awe.

Perhaps four years from now, when many expect the No. 1 pick in the 2006 MLS SuperDraft to become a contributing national-team player, he'll look back at that uncommonly pleasant midsummer New Jersey evening as the moment he arrived as a pro.

For now, Wynne is trying to maintain perspective during an up-and-down rookie season. He began the year as a starter for New York, but he struggled to adapt to the pace of MLS and was soon benched. Meanwhile, the Red Bulls have been going through their own identity crisis as the club formerly known as the MetroStars adjusts to its new Austrian owners.

With three separate head coaches running the team at different points this season, continuity has been hard to come by. So have wins, as the Red Bulls languish near the cellar of MLS' Eastern Conference.

"It's been a big learning experience," Wynne admits. "I haven't done as well as I'd have liked. I think I'm learning and improving, but the level is still a little bit above me."

The one thing that has never been in question is Wynne's talent. The son of a former Major League Baseball player (outfielder Marvell Sr.), he boasts startling speed for a fullback to complement his solid defensive abilities. Those skills made him a linchpin both at the college level with UCLA and at the international youth level with the U.S. Under-20 national team.

His performance at last summer's World Youth Championship caught the eyes of several European clubs and made him one of the most talked-about American youth prospects since Freddy Adu.

"We always felt Marvell was the kind of guy you have to beat twice because you beat him the first time and he's going to catch you again," says Sigi Schmid, who coached Wynne on the U.S. Under-20s. "He brings a different athletic dimension to your team."

Despite Wynne's gifts, he's still battling the stigma of being a No. 1 pick. In 11 MLS seasons, not one top selection has lived up to the hype (with the exception of Brian McBride, who went to Columbus in the allocation draft in the league's inaugural season). Wynne hasn't stepped into the role of rookie sensation, either. He's shown flashes of enormous potential at the pro level, but it's fairly obvious that the pace of the game often overwhelms him as he tries to adjust.

"I wanted to come out and be different [from the prior No. 1 picks]," he says. "I wanted to come out blazing, starting every game and be talked about as a possible up-and-comer, but it just hasn't been that way."