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I was all set to watch the live stream of the of the adiPower vs. adiZero combine match yesterday, when I realized the feed was going to be unwatchable. I'm not sure if it was just my connection because I live out in the boot hills, or if it was MLS's stream that was horrible, but I had to eventually give up because I had no idea what was going on due to the glitching.
From the sound of it, Maryland product Casey Townsend had a heck of a match in adiPower's 2-1 win. In the other match, Creighton product Ethan Finlay scored a hat trick, and projected first pick Darren Mattocks (Akron) didn't look to shabby either.
Big day for a few players from Graham Zusi, Seth Sinovic, and Teal Bunbury's respective alma-maters.
Sporting KC CEO Robb Heineman was at it again last night when he tweeted the following:
Probably a long shot, but started a good dialogue w a 20 yr old Europeon attacking player today #SportingKC
This coming only a day after Heineman tweeted about injuries in Spain. One would think this is in reference to whatever player Sporting Kansas City had been wanting to sign as a designated player. Now, it's not certain whether or not that deal will actually fall through or not.
As painful as it is for me to say, Guti Hernandez suffered no known injury so it's more than safe to say that my pipe dream is officially over.
Now maybe James Starritt can find something better to do on twitter... Wait.. who am I kidding?
Over at USA10kit.com, they have a nice feature on our very own CJ Sapong, where CJ talks about his USMNT experience at the January camp.
And finally, USMNT midfielder Jose Torres played his first match for Pachuca since suffering an injury to his fifth metatarsal in September of last year. I'm definitely glad to see Torres back playing soccer, as he is one of my favorite players on the men's national team, and he started to look like he was coming into his own under head coach Jurgen Klinsmann before his injury.
Be sure to check out all of The Daily Links after the jump.
Ask any career adviser about how to land a good job, and they’ll likely stress the importance of making a strong first impression. One could forgive C.J. Sapong, then, if he were a little anxious about taking the practice field wearing U.S. colors for the first time as he seeks a job as a starting forward for the national team. But with his first outdoor training session with the team behind him, Sapong said he wasn’t nervous about what impression he might have made. "It’s important, but I’m sure Jurgen and all the coaching staff, they’ve been doing this for a while, and I’m sure they’re not putting all the chips in one basket off the first impression," he said. "If you score a bike, I don’t think that automatically means that you’re in their favorites. And if you have a bad day I don’t think that automatically means you’re put in a ditch somewhere."
Sporting KC Forward Sapong Focused On Future At January Camp - The USA 10 Kit
Ethan Finlay (Creighton) scored a first half hat trick to power adiPure past Prime, 4-2, in the fourth game of the 2012 MLS Combine on Sunday. Finlay, the Hermann Trophy runner up who missed the combine’s first day for the ceremony, didn’t skip a beat, scoring all three of his goals inside the game’s first 30 minutes to lead his side to a comfortable win. Prime added two second half goals through James Kiffe (UC Santa Barbara) and Babayele Sodade (UAB).
Combine: Finlay drives adiPure to 4-2 win over PRIME | MLSsoccer.com
Second half-goals by Casey Townsend (Maryland) and Chandler Hoffman (UCLA) paced adiPower to a 2-1 win over adiZero in the first game of Day 2 of the MLS Player Combine. Townsend supplied the service for Hoffman in the 48th minute, before converting an opportunity 20 minutes later. Evan James (UNC Charlotte) scored for adiZero with the goal of the game, a well-struck finish from distance.
Combine: Hoffman, Townsend lead adiPower over adiZero | MLSsoccer.com
Jose Torres returned from a 3½-month layoff following foot surgery, playing the entire match as Pachuca opened the Clausura season with a 0-0 tie at Santos Laguna on Saturday night. Torres, a midfielder on the 2010 U.S. World Cup team, had been sidelined since surgery on his left foot Sept. 21. American forward Herculez Gomez entered in the 72nd minute in his debut for Santos Laguna, which signed him after he left Estudiantes Tecos.
Jose Torres back from foot surgery, plays whole match - Soccer - SI.com
A trio of Americans saw the field for one team this weekend, but it is not the trio you might first think of. Mexican-Americans Edgar Castillo, Joe Corona and Greg Garza received minutes for Club Tijuana in its Clausura opener, a 1-1 draw with Morelia. Castillo started and went the distance in his debut for Xolos, while Corona and Garza came off the bench to play 45 and 16 minutes, respectively. Landon Donovan went the distance in his second game for Everton, and he helped setup the game-winning goal in the Toffees' 2-0 victory over Tamworth. Donovan whipped in a corner kick in the fifth minute that John Heitinga nodded home.
Generation adidas signing Kelyn Rowe’s combine experience is over. The 20-year-old is flying out to Los Angeles to join the US Under-23 camp first thing Monday morning, one of just a handful of college kids asked to join Caleb Porter’s squad. "My thought is I must have done something right [in the previous US U-23 camp], and I want to do it again and make a better impression to keep getting asked in," Rowe told MLSsoccer.com on Sunday.
Combine: Rowe's work done as he joins US U-23s | MLSsoccer.com