Polster emotional about being picked by Fire

The Chicago Fire picking a defender in the first round of Thursday's MLS SuperDraft wasn't a surprise. Picking Matt Polster was, maybe even a little bit to the former Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville player.

Polster let his emotions show when he reached the podium at draft headquarters in Philadelphia after the Fire picked him at No. 7 overall.

"I've been playing since I was 3, and my goal was to go pro," he said via a conference call with Chicago-area reporters about 30 minutes after being picked. "To finally have the opportunity ... really got me, so now I've just got to go in and work hard. But yeah, definitely emotional because I've always wanted this to happen."

That it was the Fire, a team for which he played a few Premier Development League games last summer, made it even more special, he said.

"I'm very excited. I played PDL this year, so I have a little bit of an idea what it is about," Polster said.

Polster said he prefers to play central midfield, but Fire coach and director of soccer Frank Yallop said Polster projects to central defender, where the team has more need.

Whether he sticks with the club depends on how he fares in preseason training. Last year's first-round draft pick, right back Marco Franco, no longer is with the club.

Players report for the preseason Jan. 25.

"I'm the kind of player that's going to come in and work hard," Polster said. "I don't know if that means I'm going to get minutes or if I'm going to get loaned out, but I'm going to give everything I have to make the most of it."

In the second round the Fire took forward Kingsley Bryce from St. Louis University. Bryce could play wide right for the Fire, Yallop said.

It's no coincidence both players played collegiately in the St. Louis area.

"You can scout closer to your home, obviously," Yallop said. "It's not a big, big journey. (Fire technical director Brian Bliss) saw a lot of the player over the years."

Yallop said both players did well at last week's player combine in Florida.

"After the combine I felt more confident that I was able to play with some of the best players in the country," Polster said. "After those three games I felt more confident that I could be this kind of a pick."

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