|
 Three players with Wisconsin ties are looking to impress coaches this weekend at the Major League Soccer Combine, which kicked off Friday in Lauderhill, Fla.
Midfielders Tony Walls (Wauwatosa East/UW-Green Bay) and Calum Mallace (Marquette) came off the bench for the adiPower team in their 3-2 win over Team PRIME in the first of six matches at the Combine. Maryland's Sasho Cirovski (UW-Milwaukee) is the adiPower coach.
Forward-midfielder Ethan Finlay (Marshfield) missed the first day of the Combine because he was in St. Louis for Friday night's presentation of the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy.
The former Creighton star was one of three finalists for the honor, which was awarded to Duke defender-midfielder Andrew Wenger. Finlay will play for the adiPure team under Yale coach Brian Tompkins, a former UW-Milwaukee coach.
Each of the four teams at the Combine will play again on Sunday and Tuesday, and the games are being streamed live on the MLS website. On Sunday, adiPower plays at 1:30 p.m. and adiPure plays at 3:25 p.m., and the teams play each other in the Combine finale at 10:55 a.m. Tuesday.
The MLS SuperDraft, which has been shortened to two rounds, is Thursday in Kansas City, Mo., and will be televised on ESPN2 and streamed on ESPN3.
Four more mock drafts were posted before the Combine started, with Mallace a consensus first-round pick in the predictions done by three experts for the MLS website and Soccer By Ives. Finlay also was listed in all four, twice in the first round and twice in the second round, while Walls was included in the first round in one mock draft and in the second round in another. Here are the latest projections and comments about the Wisconsin trio:
Calum Mallace
Simon Borg of MLSSoccer.com: No. 8 (1st round) to Portland Timbers. "A player after John Spencer’s own heart. Tough, spirited, no-nonsense and good on the ball. Can be Jack Jewsbury's double."
Jason Saghini of MLSSoccer.com: No. 10 (1st) to Columbus Crew. "With attacking help coming in via international waters, Crew find a solid option in the middle of the field who can help if injury prone mids O'Rourke and Tchani go down again."
Travis Clark of MLSSoccer.com: No. 17 (1st) to Real Salt Lake. "An intimidating holding midfielder who can cover a tremendous amount of ground, Mallace would make a reliable backup for Kyle Beckerman."
Soccer by Ives: No. 16 (1st) to Sporting Kansas City.
Ethan Finlay
Clark: No. 10 (1st) to Columbus Crew. "With Emmanuel Ekpo and Robbie Rogers on the way out, the Crew need help out wide, which is where Finlay projects to play in MLS. A hard worker on both sides of the ball, he’ll fit in very well in Columbus."
Borg: No. 19 (1st) to Los Angeles Galaxy. "The champs add some pace and attacking verve to the wings, which generally lack both unless Landon Donovan starts there."
Saghini: No. 22 (2nd) to New England Revolution. "Likely to move to outside mid in MLS, but talent is there and NE need a lot of help in attacking end."
Soccer by Ives: No. 35 (2nd) to Philadelphia Union.
Tony Walls
Borg: No. 18 (1st) to Houston Dynamo. "There’s not much depth at central midfield in Houston and Walls will bring the right mix of athleticism and skills that Dominic Kinnear appreciates."
Saghini: No. 33 (2nd) to San Jose Earthquakes. "Without glaring needs, Quakes take a shot with defensive midfielder who has a lot of tools, but also some questions marks."
|
