youllneverwalkalone Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 List is up: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/01/06/mls-player-combine-team-rosters-revealed For Canadian content, I spot Evan James, Babyele Sodade, and coach Sasha Cirovski. Anyone else? Andrew Wenger is conspicous by his absence. Mattocks is there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegan Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 List is up: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/01/06/mls-player-combine-team-rosters-revealed For Canadian content, I spot Evan James, Babyele Sodade, and coach Sasha Cirovski. Anyone else? Andrew Wenger is conspicous by his absence. Mattocks is there. Nice to see Sodade added after the season he had, hopefully one or both can impress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Do either of these two guys have a legitimate shot of going in the first round? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegan Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Do either of these two guys have a legitimate shot of going in the first round? Probably not, it will be tough to be drafted altogether for these two from the mock drafts I've seen and the fact that there are only 76 picks this draft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youllneverwalkalone Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 38 picks in the superdraft, 76 in the supplemental. I've seen James showing up in the second round on a few lists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegan Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Announcers are talking about Sodade at the end of the match.. this kid is a MONSTER on the pitch, he only came on for the last half hour but they commented that all eyes will be on him in the 2nd game when teams look at what he did with his vertical and agility tests, combined with his college stats on the year. The announcers said if he shows well in the next game or two they would be shocked if he lasted through the first two rounds simply because teams will want to take a chance on such an athlete. They also said that looking at youtube videos of him he's not only big but he can take on guys and finish. In his 30 minutes he had an assist as his team lost 3-2 to the best team on paper, I watched him for about 15 minutes he was alright missed one tough chance and never lost a ball in the build up I saw. Not bad for a kid who wasn't even invited to the initial combine.. Also just glanced at the FB comments from fans and one said that #94 (Sodade) reminds him of Danny Mwanga Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lattes Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Are those games being aired anywhere? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A_Gagne Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Are those games being aired anywhere? Apparently MLS is live streaming all of the matches: http://www.mlssoccer.com/superdraft/2012/news/article/2012/01/04/watch-combine-live-mlssoccercom-starting-friday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lattes Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Anyone have any numbers on how many draft picks work out? Been watching some highlights but I wish they would stream the entire games even after the fact because unfortunately you can't pick out anything but good strikers from highlights... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Sabetti Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 The Montreal Impact should pick Andrew Wenger | My latest for Rogers Sportsnet.ca http://bit.ly/yn50T2 Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lattes Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 From the clips Sodade from Prime looks nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil M Brown Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Here's a link to the goal scored by Evan James at the Combine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lattes Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 The Montreal Impact should pick Andrew Wenger | My latest for Rogers Sportsnet.ca http://bit.ly/yn50T2 Thoughts? Thanks for that Nick, as I said just watching clips you don't get a feel for defenders. If they don't take him what do you think TFC's chances of picking him up with #4 pick are? Who else do you like on Defense or as a Defensive Mid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Impact Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 I think who ever ends up taking Kelyn Rowe (UCLA play making Mid) is going to be very happy. I'm hoping its Montreal Impact. Vancouver at #2, seem keen on Andrew Wenger. TFC at #4 should jump at the chance of drafting this kid if he's still available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 I think who ever ends up taking Kelyn Rowe (UCLA play making Mid) is going to be very happy. I'm hoping its Montreal Impact. Vancouver at #2, seem keen on Andrew Wenger. TFC at #4 should jump at the chance of drafting this kid if he's still available. Rowe may be a good player but the Impact would be crazy to select him instead of Mattocks or Wenger. Certainly a good option at #4 for TFC though one of several fairly equal alternatives. I would expect Rowe to get selected somewhere between 4th and 6th pick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ag futbol Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 and coach Sasha Cirovski. Anyone else? hey that's a good nugget, had no idea he was Canadian. If he wasn't so damn stable and dominant with the terps maybe his name would have come up more often for the canadian coaching positions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Impact Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 You're probably right, as IMFC is stacked with Mids, too bad, as creative mids are a rarity coming out of NCAA. Who ever drafts him, has the added bonus of having his generation adidas contract not counting against the cap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 You're probably right, as IMFC is stacked with Mids, too bad, as creative mids are a rarity coming out of NCAA. Who ever drafts him, has the added bonus of having his generation adidas contract not counting against the cap. I don't disagree that creative mids are a rarity coming out of NCAA but I would say that a striker like Mattock with both speed and some technical skills and a well rounded player like Wenger who also has some great technical and creative skills is even rarer. I hope the Impact select Mattocks because fair or not there is a premium on top skilled strikers and there aren't many strikers of Mattocks' age and ability available and those that are will probably not be released to play MLS by their current clubs. Mattocks looks like he is ready to be a first team MLS player right now. And one can never have enough strikers on the roster, for the most part it is the one position other than keeper that is not interchangeable. When necessary you can often put a defender in a midfield position or vice versa and get away with it even if it is not ideal. However, if you have strikers injured or not scoring there are not many players in other positions who can do a good or even adequate job as striker. Nick in his article makes the argument that we should concentrate on defence and not make the mistake of Vancouver and field an expansion team with good attackers but poor defence. I agree that this was among the many mistakes that Vancouver made but although we need some more depth on defence, I am pretty happy with the quality of defensive players we have signed already and our keeper situation is vastly superior to the Caps. The Impact are lacking in quality offensive players right now not defensive players and one can not forget that regardless of how good your defence is, if the offence can not attack and take the pressure off them the defence is going to suffer. What I like about Mattocks besides his speed is he is very tricky with the ball and can change his pace and change directions very quickly making it hard for defenders to deal with him. Added to that is he seems to know exactly where to place the ball when shooting. He takes the ball and if he is not in position to run around a defender he does some little change in speed or direction which gives him a clear shot on goal and he needs very little time to take the shot. Most of his finishes are on the ground and very well placed. From what I have seen of the other guys who are candidates as top picks like Hoffman, Wenger and Rowe they do have more technical ability than what we are used to from NCAA (though I think as soccer is more and more popular in North America, NCAA players with technical ability are and will be less rare unless the developing MLS academies start taking away a lot of their talent). However, all three are still in the mode of a typical American player, hard working, physical, good shot but still a bit more athletic than technical. If you look at their goal highlights there are the nice shots from a distance that curve right under the bar, ie. the highlight goals. That is fine but the most valuable commodity is a dependable consistent striker and those are usually the guys who can place a ball well and often on the ground. The wonder goal highlights usually don't show the numerous misses from the same players. As Canada fans we can all relate to the problem of having strikers who can score highlight reel goals yet who are not dependable or consistent scorers. Mattocks just seems to have something extra to me compared to the others. He looks to me to have the potential to play in any league in the world. He is big enough and physical enough to handle the physicality of MLS and with some development possibly the Bundesliga or EPL. However, I could also see him at some point being able to handle a league like La Liga. If the other 3 develop well I could also imagine them in the Bundesliga or EPL but I can't see them having the skillset for La Liga. It is always hard to predict how young players will develop but I see Mattocks having more development potential than the others as well as being able to help the Impact right away which may not be the case with any of the other players outside of Wenger. BTW they are all Generation Adidas players so that status does not favour the selection of any of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Impact Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Given the choice between Mattocks and Wenger, I'd go Mattocks aswell. Something tells me, that Marsch will be going with an American player with ties to the US under 23 program. He's well placed to know the qualities of players that are/were part of that program. Like all other sports, it will be interesting to see if they draft based on need, or do they draft who they deem to be the best player available. Time will tell I guess. As for Generation Adidas players, I was thinking more along the lines that most teams who need an attacking number 10 type of mid, have to shell out more bucks, even for younger ones. Rowe is that type of a player, and the GA contract is a bonus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Given the choice between Mattocks and Wenger, I'd go Mattocks aswell. Something tells me, that Marsch will be going with an American player with ties to the US under 23 program. He's well placed to know the qualities of players that are/were part of that program. Like all other sports, it will be interesting to see if they draft based on need, or do they draft who they deem to be the best player available. Time will tell I guess. As for Generation Adidas players, I was thinking more along the lines that most teams who need an attacking number 10 type of mid, have to shell out more bucks, even for younger ones. Rowe is that type of a player, and the GA contract is a bonus. Yes I also think/fear that Marsch will go with Wenger because he is American national team player and plays the American physical/athletic style that Marsch seems to favour. I think it would be a mistake and will be disappointed if that is Marsch's selection but Wenger is still a good player and on the plus side is probably less likely to attract the attention of European leagues in the near future. As far as the GA status goes I would say you have to shell out even more money for a good striker than a good number 10 so I still don't think that gives him much of an advantage over the other available players with the exception of Wenger but then Wenger can also play striker as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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