Meet Draft Pick Josh Tudela (Or: ANOTHER Beckham-free post!!)

By: Laurie | January 29th, 2007

Okay, where’s Josh Tudela? Let’s see… Looking for him… I know he’s in there somewhere… Oh, wait, he’s buried. Because it was his goal here (way back in 2004) that cemented the win for the Indiana Hoosiers.

All righty. Robbie Findley was a Beaver. Josh Tudela is a Hoosier. Can somebody please explain to me what a Hoosier is? And is it possible to get, like, a NORMAL mascot among our new draft picks? Whatever happened to, like, Huskies? (Oh, wait, that’s tomorrow.)

But I digress. Josh is a central midfielder. Like Robbie Findley, he is 5′9″ and twenty-two years old. His dad, Fernando, played soccer at University of Evansville. And Josh once juggled for over 40 minutes, earning him second place in the USA Cup Juggling Contest.

Yeesh, only forty minutes? I do that all the time! Oh, no, wait, that was a dream.

Ridge Mahoney of SoccerAmerica says: “Josh Tedula (Indiana) is the kind of solid, dependable player who knows the game and knows how to win.”

Buzz Carrick of MatchNight is maybe a little less gung-ho based on Josh’s performance at the combine: “Looked slow against combine competition, dropping slightly. The red shirt senior is a four year starter at Indiana, a noteworthy feat at such an illustrious program. The 2006 Big 10 Player of the Year and third team All-American with three goals and two assists in his senior campaign, Tudela boasts a solid career set of numbers with eleven goals and seventeen assists. While perhaps not the most purely talented member of the team that won two National championships, Tedula was still a key part of those squads despite being a freshman and sophomore. A solid, well rounded, two way player and good leader, Tedula should prove capable of the transition to the MLS level although at 23 he may not be given as many opportunities as younger players who left IU before him.”

I think I read somewhere that performance at the combine in general was a disappointment, and a lot of people were blaming the Florida heat. And the Galaxy were apparently sufficiently impressed with Josh that they made him their number 2 pick, so the boy has some skills. Let’s all look forward to seeing what he can do with them!