FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- For three of the next four days, some of the top senior collegians and Generation adidas players will strut their stuff and showcase their skills at Lockhart Stadium, trying to impress MLS coaches, technical directors and general managers.
The annual adidas MLS Player Combine will be their final chance to make their pitch to these decision makers before U.S. pro soccer's version of judgment day -- the Jan. 15 MLS SuperDraft in St. Louis.
The best way for coaches, general managers and technical directors to tackle the combine? Do your homework.
"You have to have a plan," Kansas City Wizards coach Curt Onalfo said.
"There's not a ton of secrets," said San Jose Earthquakes general manager John Doyle. "The good players -- everyone knows about them.
"Most of the players you know. You've scouted them in college. I think now there's a lot more eyes looking at players. A lot of this generation has grown up with MLS."
So, the combine should not be an end all for all MLS teams, but another tool as to which players will fit in with the club and fill a hole.
"If you're making your decisions based on the combine, you're going to be in a lot of trouble," New York Red Bulls sporting director Jeff Agoos said.
"What the combine does is confirm your suspicions of players of what you've been looking at. In some case, you might not have seen them before. If you've done your homework, you're going to the combine with the understanding of the maturity of the players, what they bring to the table."
Unlike the NFL and NBA, very few players are ready to step in and become starters, let alone impact players. Coaches and general managers realize this and have to be patient.
"Almost none of these players are the final product," Agoos said. "These are going to be players who probably will hopefully help you months or years down the road. There are very few players who can walk onto a team and be a starter."
Any prospect must answer the most basic of questions, according to Dominic Kinnear, coach of two-time MLS champion Houston Dynamo.
"Can this person play in MLS?" he asked. "A lot of people have a hard time adjusting and taking a jump from college to the pros."
MLS is more physical and faster than the college game. And it's season is longer. A typical college season lasts three months if a player is fortunate to reach the NCAA tournament. This year's MLS season will run eight months.
"A lot of technical players have a hard time adjusting to the league," Kinnear said. "It's not a kick-and-run league."
One team official in the league used the example of Ohio State forward Xavier Balc last year. He came in highly touted, but fell off everyone's radar. He wound up as Toronto FC's first-round pick in the supplemental draft and never played with the team.
"Everyone saw his lack of physical ability," the official said. "That's why he fell so hard."
Then there was the case of midfielder-defender Brek Shea of the U.S. under-17 national team. His performance at the 2008 combine boosted his worth. How much? He was selected second overall by FC Dallas.
"I thought the combine increased his stock because of his size (6-3, 180 lbs.) and ability on the ball," the official said. "It made people take notice of him."
But Doyle warned about anyone basing their player assessment just on the combine.
"To get too excited over a player at a combine is a mistake," he said. "It's the body of their work. They could have a good 3-4 days."
There's the flip side as well. "The guy can have a bad day," Kinnear said.
Indeed. Take, for instance, what happened to midfielder Roger Espinoza at last year's event.
"He didn't have the greatest combine," Onalfo said.
But that didn't deter the Wizards from drafting the one-time Ohio State standout 11th overall. "We knew he was a good player," Onalfo said.
Espinoza wound up playing in 22 games, starting 12 for K.C., scoring once and assisting on three goals.
And it's more than just what happens for three games on the field. Does a coach or technical director feel this particular player can fit in with the team and its system?
"You see their ability on the ball," Kinnear said. "You can see their versatility. When you stand on the field, you see some guy playing smaller than he is or taller than he is. The most important thing is the attitude."
Kinnear said that he looks for the little things.
"How a player reacts to the ball after it's turned over," he said. "Do they take three seconds to react? Do they stand and wait? Do they take part in defending? Defenders -- do they see guys who can communicate because they see so much on the field."
Many of the combine goalkeepers haven't been tested enough during the college season. Kinnear looks for the little things, such as distribution.
"You go to a college game and you're watching a goalkeeper playing for a top team," he said. "You don't see too much of him. He's rarely having to touch the ball. That's why his stats are 0.52 [goals against average]. You hope to see him in more action [at the combine]."
The combine also is a great opportunity to get to know the prospects a little better. And if possible, teams want to avoid headcases as much as possible.
"Nobody you talk to is going to say, 'Hey, I'm a real difficult guy," Seattle Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid said with a laugh. "They're not going to do that in an interview. They're going to put on their best front."
But that won't stop Schmid or any of his coaching colleagues in trying to find out about a particular prospect at the Yankee Clipper hotel, the combine's headquarters.
"You see them a little more extensively than if you just see them for a college game," he said. "So that give you a little more insight into their personality and character, which is an important ingredient."
Agoos agreed and elaborated.
"You've got to have a good attitude on what it takes to be a good team player," he said, "going from being a big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a big pond. ... It's a huge adjustment."
Most MLS teams will look for players to fill to add depth and fill in the gaps to their teams. Seattle Sounders FC, an expansion team, faces a different philosophy.
"When you're an established team ... you're a little more specific a lot of times in your needs," said Schmid, who directed the Columbus Crew to the 2008 MLS Cup crown. "So you're able to say, 'Hey, we really need to supplement ourselves at left back.'
"For example at the Columbus Crew last year we really needed to get cover in case Chad Marshall had another concussion or had another headache. That's why Andy Iro became an important player for us."
The Crew drafted Iro, a defender, out of the University of California-Santa Barbara in 2008.
"As an expansion team, you haven't seen your team play together," Schmid said. "So you haven't seen how its going to gel. You're not sure yet on how that whole mix is going to work. You're looking more general. You're looking maybe a little bit more for the best player whereas with an established team you're looking for a good player who might fill a specific need. Who can make the quickest impact? Who can step on the field right away for me?"
Last year the Earthquakes, an expansion team trying to fill slots. This year they want to solidify themselves in several areas.
But if the Quakes ever have a problem, Doyle realizes it could be as simple as going back to basics.
"One -- they have to be physically good for soccer," he said. "They have to be good mentally. They have to be good technically. Tactically they have to understand the game.
"You can always revert back to them."
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