Johnston will make 10 picks from a pool of players left unprotected by the 12 current MLS teams to help stock the league's newest franchise. But the pool isn't all that strong, said Johnston, and there are few players that caught his eye.

``It's fairly poor, to be honest with you,'' Johnston said. ``And we knew that going in. Can we get something? Of course we can. We've got a few names.''

Johnston planned to be busy working the phones Thursday night in hopes of making a trade. But the coach was more excited about the imminent signing of four or five Canadian international players, which he expects to announce early next week.

``That part is very good, so we're looking forward to that,'' Johnston said.

The newcomers will join Jim Brennan, a 29-year-old midfielder from Newmarket, Ont., and the Toronto FC's only player. Brennan signed a multi-year deal with the club in September.

``We're obviously excited because it's coming up where we can add some more good players,'' Johnston said. ``We're obviously trying to add quality and not quantity.''

Johnston should select Houston Dynamo midfielder/defender Adrian Serioux of Toronto in the 1 p.m. ET draft, the one Canadian left unprotected out of the four that play in the MLS. The Dynamo protected Canadians Pat Onstad and Dwayne De Rosario, while the Los Angeles Galaxy did the same with midfielder Ante Jazic of Halifax.

Toronto FC officials have already said they won't sign a marquee player, despite the recent approval of the ``Beckham Rule.'' In a move meant to improve tickets sales as much as the product on the field, the rule allows teams to sign a superstar player such as David Beckham, Ronaldo or Luis Figo, outside of the US$2 million salary cap.

Johnston said the same goes for Friday's draft. He won't select a player on name recognition, and there are a few of those on the unprotected list, including Jason Kreis (Real Salt Lake), the MLS all-time leading scorer, U.S. World Cup team veteran Clint Mathis (Colorado Rapids), and Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Cobi Jones, who was part of the league's inaugural season.

``We don't need them,'' said Johnston. ``The tickets are going very well, they're flying off the shelf. I don't think it's all about having a marquee player in order to sell tickets. We're going to sell tickets with or without that.''

One player in the draft Johnston did get excited about was Chicago Fire's Nate Jaqua. But don't expect to see the talented young forward in a Toronto FC jersey.

``But we probably won't get him,'' said Johnston. ``His contract's up and (Chicago) felt he was leaving, going overseas. But he doesn't want to be in Toronto. He wants to go home to L.A. So I'm going to pick him and try and do a trade. Fairly easy.''

Johnston can only take one player per team. The MLS also altered the roster rules for Toronto, because it's the only franchise outside the U.S.

American teams are allowed a maximum of four non-American players, but Toronto will get to use four imports, and will be allowed as many as four Americans on top of that if it so chooses. That means as many as 11 Canadians might be on the 18-man roster.

A mock expansion draft on MLSnet.com had Johnston taking Serioux, forward Calen Carr (Chicago Fire), defender Tim Regan (Chivas USA), defender Mike Petke (Colorado Rapids), midfielder Matias Donnet (D.C. United), forward Roberto Mina (FC Dallas), Paulo Nagamura (Los Angeles Galaxy), defender/midfielder Jeff Larentowicz (New England Revolution), forward Edson Buddle (New York Red Bulls), and midfielder/forward Andy Williams (Real Salt Lake).

Toronto will also get first pick in the entry draft Jan. 12 in Indianapolis.

The club will also hold open tryouts Dec. 18-22 at the Ontario Soccer Centre in Vaughan, just north of Toronto. The tryouts are limited to 1,000 people, and Johnston said 750 Toronto FC hopefuls have signed up.

``We'll be watching them and watching closely,'' said the coach.