D.C. United’s blue-collar defensive midfielder Brian Carroll was taken in the second round (11th overall) of the 2003 MLS SuperDraft. He finished the 2005 season as MLS’s acting iron man, appearing in a league high 62 consecutive games, a trend he extended to this point in 2006.
His origin, a 2002 Wake Forest University Soccer Team that ranked No. 1 in the country for close to 15 weeks. Their roster contained 12 future professionals, but only Carroll found his path through the Major League Soccer Player Combine in 2003. The following seasons saw a total of four invited to the MLS combine – the rest of the talented side was left to fade into obscurity or find their way on their own.
“Brian was a nationally recognized NCAA player,” said Carroll’s former teammate at Wake Forest, Vicente Bastidas. “He got invited to the MLS scouting combine where a number of teams and coaches were able to look at him. Nobody ever worked harder than Carroll and he deserves everything he accomplished. But several others, on a team full of future professionals weren’t considered in the upper echelon of NCAA players. We were on our own as far as finding a place to play after college.”
While Bastidas has made a career in soccer as USL’s ODP Coordinator, his professional playing career was cut short, partly because of North America’s lack of a fluid scouting system. A fact which has driven him and Premier Development League Director Lee Cohen to create USL’s first player combine.
“USL is soccer development in North America,” said Bastidas. “It makes a lot of sense for us to hold an annual combine. We don’t expect a player to choose our showcase over the MLS combine. Their event is perfect for the players who make that list, but that list is limited to around 50 players. It kills me knowing there are powerhouse NCAA programs each year that have players who don’t have this opportunity. Professional caliber players are simply overlooked.”
Beginning Sunday, December 17 and running through Wednesday, December 20 USL’s combine is expected to be the largest and most technically complete combine in the U.S. and Canada. Held at Skyway Park in Tampa, Florida the event will showcase up to 250 elite prospects under the age of 23 and draw scouts from an estimated 40 professional avenues throughout North America and abroad. The mission of the combine is to shine light on the otherwise narrow spectrum of scouting in North America. This event will provide an opportunity for gifted players to try out for as many teams as possible in one centralized event thus adding to the level of play across North America.
