When Team adiTunit Meets Team Trofeo. (Or: MLS Combine Lists)

By: Laurie | December 15th, 2007

Take a deep breath. Through your nose.

Smell that? That’s the smell of hope. It wafts through the air as you read the names of the 54 young men who make up the initial list of those who have been selected to attend the 2008 MLS Combine.

Those who are fans of the game in non-US parts of the world may be unfamiliar with the concept of the Combine. It’s a draft thing.

A “draft” is an MLS thing, designed mainly to bring the best post-college players into the MLS. And a “Combine” is the big playing event MLS does every year right before the MLS SuperDraft. Coaches, etc. from all of the MLS teams attend every year to “scout talent.”

It’s a unique system that a lot of fans would like to see abolished, since most of the rest of the world gets by just fine without anything resembling a draft. But it’s what we have for the moment, and it’s most of these guys’ best hope of getting picked up by an MLS team.

So how does this work?

The 2008 adidas MLS Player Combine will separate all players into four teams and feature two games per day at Lockhart Stadium on Jan. 12, 13, and 15. Each team will be led by an experienced Division I coach and will be assigned a youth coach, to be named at a later date.

Sounds good. But here’s my favorite part of the MLS promo piece:

Former MLS coach and current assistant head coach at Duke University Mike Jeffries has been selected to coach Team Predator PowerServe. Ed Kelly, head coach at Boston College for the past 20 seasons, will coach Team adiTunit. Bobby Muuss, in his first season as the head coach at Denver University after six years as the top assistant coach at Wake Forest University, will lead Team adiPure. Tim Lenahan, head coach of Northwestern University has been chosen to coach Team Trofeo.

Team Predator PowerServe? And Team adiPure? (I’m getting visions of Sir Galahad in “The Holy Grail.” Think this ones for virgins only? Did I really just say that?) And Team adiTunit? What the hell is an adiTunit? And what’s a Trofeo, besides an Oldsmobile?

Naming rights. Adding an air of surreality to everyday events since the twentieth century.

Here’s the complete list of players. For a list by school, click on the above link.

2008 ADIDAS MLS PLAYER COMBINE LIST BY POSITION
GOALKEEPERS (5): Dominic Cervi (University of Tulsa); Brian Edwards (Wake Forest University); Andrew Kartunen (Stanford University); Casey Latchem (Ohio State University); Steve Sandbo (Southern Methodist University);

DEFENDERS (19): Scott Bolkan (Stanford University); Matthew Britner (Brown University); Eric Brunner (Ohio State University); Adrian Chevannes (Southern Methodist University); Sean Franklin (California State University Northridge); Matt Hatzke (Santa Clara University); David Horst (Old Dominion University); Andy Iro (University of California – Santa Barbara); Julius James (University of Connecticut); Jonathan Leathers (Furman University); Rauwshan McKenzie (Michigan State University); Ryan Miller (University of Notre Dame); Brandon Owens (University of California – Los Angeles); Andre Sherard (University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill); Julian Valentin (Wake Forest University); Yomby William (Old Dominion University); David Worthen (University of North Carolina – Greensboro); Mike Zaher (University of California – Los Angeles); Geoff Cameron (University of Rhode Island);

MIDFIELDERS (23): Jeremy Barlow (University of Virginia); Eric Burkholder (University of Tulsa); El Hadj Cisse (North Carolina State University); Hugh Cronin (North Carolina State University); Pavle Dundjer (University of Illinois – Chicago); Joe Germanese (Duke University); Brian Grazier (Saint Louis University); Pat Healy (Towson University); Andrew Jacobson (University of California); George Josten (Gonzaga University); Stephen King (University of Maryland); AJ Kulp (Old Dominion University); Peter Lowry (Santa Clara University); Ryan Maduro (Providence College); Pat Phelan (Wake Forest University); David Roth (Northwestern University); Shea Salinas (Furman University); Luke Sassano (University of California); Ben Shuleva (Southern Methodist University); Dan Stratford (West Virginia University); Michael Videira (Duke University); Andy Wright (University of West Virginia); Cesar Zambrano (University of Illinois -Chicago);

FORWARDS (7): Ely Allen (University of Washington); Xavier Balc (Ohio State University); Ryan Cordeiro (University of Connecticut); Kevin Forrest (University of Washington); Joseph Lapira (University of Notre Dame); Sherron Manswell (Boston College); Lukasz Turnicz (University of Rhode Island)