Minnesota Stars Announce Player Combine for March 2-4
BLAINE, Minn. (January 31, 2011)
The NSC Minnesota Stars pro soccer team will hold an invitation-only combine March 2-4 at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minn. Head Coach and Director of Soccer Operations Manny Lagos said he expects to invite 60-80 players to the tryout, which will feature two-a-day training sessions on all three days.
Some of the players will be invited based on their performances at the North American Soccer League’s invitational combine February 4-6. Others will be players Lagos has scouted himself, heard about through contacts and coaches around the country, and who have impressed during the open training sessions the Stars will start Tuesday.
“Scouting the Major League Soccer combine and attending the league combine are important steps in finding players, but hosting our own is particularly critical,” Lagos said. “I’m eager for a chance to have guys up here to see how they fit into our style of play and how they form relationships with the guys we’ve got coming back. It’s also important for prospective players to see our facilities and have a chance to see some of what Minnesota has to offer both on and off the field.”
Last year’s combine produced several key players for the Stars. Devin Del Do and Simone Bracalello, who formed the heart of the team’s attack during a four-game winning streak to close the season, were combine signings. Midfielder Kentaro Takada tried out unsuccessfully for the Minnesota Thunder in 2009 before impressing for the Stars at the 2010 edition and earning a spot on the team. Midfielders Leland Wright and Leilei Gao were also products of the 2010 combine.
An application for the combine is available for download here. Applications must be received by February 18 along with a one-page resume detailing the player’s past clubs, achievements, strengths and weaknesses, injury report, statistics and references. Invitations will be sent to players no later than February 23.
Comments are closed.
@BQ – We continue to see signs that all the league’s teams are moving forward toward April 9th in a business as usual manner. I really hope this is a good sign. It further strengthens my belief that even if D2 sanctioning is not returned to the league, they will settle for D3 for 2011 and work toward getting the D2 sanctioning at last for 2012. One other question – I thought that the league bought out the NSC’s ownership of the Stars, but your article still refers to them as the NSC Minnesota Stars. Has the name not officially changed to just Minnesota Stars?
I am getting very concerned that the NASL teams push to move forward with a fantasy season is creating a heightened fervor that will have unrealistic expectations for the fans. NASL should just make a public comment that if they do not gain D2 sanctioning they will move forward with D3 sanctioning, and this will give the markets comfort that a season will in fact exist.
If NASL continues with this D2 or bust approach, it is going to hurt soccer for 2011.
@Bart
I agree! Although I think, that they think, that the Division II or bust mentality is what we want to see as fans, and that strong stance will reassure us. It does and it doesn’t. I prefer a lot of communication.
If Granum does not return, I hope the Stars are able to sign at least one player from Norway.
What Davidson should have said. “No matter what decision the USSF makes, we will play soccer in 2011.” Outside of the crazies, no one cares if they are D2 or D3. The is no real difference unlike between D1 and D2/D3.
But instead Davidson says it’s D2 or bust. It seems without D2, the NASL goes away. Now under that scenario, can you blame anyone for not getting juiced for the season or caring about combines and scheduled games? Why would anyone emotionally invest in a league that might not even play? The fact that the teams are trying to go about their business doesn’t mean much since the league could shut down at any time. It’s happened many times before.
Just something to also throw in the fire. The Miami whatevers FC have a friendly scheduled for Feb 26th against Red Bull New York. That should be a huge deal for Miami, but you can’t find a peep about it on their horrible website, nor were there any press releases. South Florida fans found out about it on NY’s MLS website, not through their own club. No season tickets holders were called. Embarrassing. And they still don’t even have an official name! These are the type of things that scare fans about Traffic running things.
@Bart – You do realize saying things like “push to move forward with a FANTASY season” is just trolling right? I could just as easily say it’s “fantasy” to believe that pretty much any of the teams in the USL “International” division will survive the season. Just not sure what you’re trying to accomplish with the jabs other then more arguing. Maybe you could try and make your points without the swipes at the league and its fans?
@Dave – Your points about the MLS friendlies at Lockhart are the same thing I have been expressing concern over to other Strikers fans. Not only do the Strikers have a match booked against the Red Bulls, but the Fire will be in town as well, playing the Red Bulls at Lockhart, and with a couple more TBD matches, presumably one against the Strikers as well. I’m hearing now that the name and kit rebranding might not be complete until the end of the month, which probably means the Strikers will take the field in these friendlies as Miami FC, and wearing the Miami FC kits. Talk about confusing fans……..
I perfectly understand the situation being faced by Davidson and his people right now. I’m betting he and Traffic personnel are the ones basically doing all of the NASL work right now. Maybe that means no one has been availabel to work on the Strikers details. But you’re 100% right – we should not be hearing about something as important as MLS friendlies, to be played in less then four weeks in OUR stadium no less, from the Red Bulls and Fire websites. I have an e-mail in to my ticket rep at the Strikers asking about the games, so we’ll see what info that brings. But it’s getting to be real late in the game to be missing the marketing opportunities they have that are right around the corner. MLS teams from New York and Chicago coming here to play is exactly the kind of thing that the organization should be doing, and I applaud it. BUT – you HAVE to let your community know they’re going on!!!
Not to go off topic or anything, but…
Did I ever show you guys my flipping glass of water trick?
It is amazing.
I could be very wrong, but didn’t they hire a marketing group? They should be able to handle the game and rebranding promotion while Davidson and traffic work on league details.
@silly – Actullay, I hope PMI is hard at work helping ALL of the clubs with their marketing plans for this season. Which brings a good question to mind – anyone out there in any NASL market, have you seen evidence of your team doing anything at this point to advertise the club and the upcoming season as of yet?
@Strikers Return
I did not mean to strike a cord, but I fail to see how the statement was “trolling”. Your comment on what may happen in the future with the USL International division is a speculative one, but I would not call that trolling either.
The concern expressed is fan and local market based. NASL has stated that it is “D2 or bust”. That means that either they either get sanctioned or go dark. How can you effectively market season tickets for that? How can you get sponsor commitments when it is February and the season is only a few short weeks away? At least last year, the local markets and fans knew there was going to be a D2 season.
If Davidson merely stated that either way, D2 or D3, there would be a season, that softens any blow to the local markets and can enable the individual teams to progress with some degree of confidence, not brouhaha, that the sponsors and fans should get on board and sign up.
Even NASL’s own marketing consulting group should be telling them that.
@Bart – I think the answer is maybe a bit too much ego from Davidson, Traffic, whoever is ultimately calling the shots. I think they wanted to present confidence in their ability to secure the sanctioning. I think they really believe the statements I’ve seen saying they feel they have separated themselves from USL and D3. But I also think someone, somewhere behind the scenes has to be saying, look, this is how we’re going to stand on it, but we’re also going to plan on being a fully sanctioned USSF league for 2011. They HAVE to.
I know teams have dropped off cliffs before, but come on. How much money has been spent by Traffic alone to get NASL off the ground in 2011? How can they realistically just walk away from those millions and millions of dollars? Common sense says they can’t. So, while Davidson speaks confidently about getting back D2 status, I’d bet somebody in Traffic’s or NASL’s employ somewhere has already begun working up the paperwork for an emergency last minute D2 sanctioning application should it become necessary.
Outside of us “fanboys” and the fantabulous Kenn posting comments on the blogosphere, no one else considering buying tickets to NASL games gives a rat’s arse about what D2 or D3 mean. They want to watch pro soccer. NASL has to protect it’s teams, players, and investors. They play unsanctioned, and they can’t go dark. Do you think a Traffic employee is watching eBay making sure they acquire the Railhawks name just for kicks? One way or another, the NASL will be playing USSF sanctioned games this year, bank on it.
That should say “last minute D3 sanctioning application at the end of the 2nd paragraph there…..
My $.02
I understand the need for standards. I hope they are met. But, am I the only one in thinking that the standards that were created in response to 15+ years of failure by the USL are more punishing than rewarding. In other words, seems to me like TOA/Traffic wanted to start something new and are now be screwed because USL messed it up in the first place.
@superrookie – As a Strikers fan, it would be very easy for me to subscribe to that theory. However, I’m also a conservative, so conspiracy theories are usually just nonsense in my book. LOL I think the truth lies along these lines – the NASL just got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. I think the USSF did a study and came up with those standards in response to the decades of D2 failure, mostly led by the USL. But I don’t think anyone can honestly suggest it was to keep NASL, USL, or anyone else down really.
Maybe that’s giving USSF members too much credit, I don’t know. But anyone who is going to put forth the scenario that I have actually seen discussed recently, that the USSF made D2 standards too tough on purpose in order to allow MLS to come in and make and MLS2 at some point, I just think that’s nonsense. The MLS is about to embark upon Reserve League 2.0, and I really can’t imagine it winding up being anymore successful or useful to them then the first one. And I certainly don’t think it’s the mechanism by which MLS will expand into the D2 level. MLS teams are just now starting to become profitable. D2 has been an extremely UNprofitable business for a long time now. Why would MLS be looking to burden their bottom lines with this?
I just think that USSF did the research, said, ok this is what the research says needs to be in place for D2 to at least be viable. No more ridiculous team failure rates. No more “pro” teams playing in a league just below MLS on college football lined fields. No more amtuer hour. Either a league will step up and meet these standards, and thereby at least prolong the time between foldings, or no one will, and at least we don’t have to look on with horror at what is just below Garber’s feet, scratching to come up.
@strikers return- all good points. upon rereading my comment i do want to ammend the statement in saying that the usl has been a failure. it hasn’t been a failure as a business model as it is still around. i was speaking in terms of div. 2 soccer teams only.
As always, look for my combine player reports at USLDiscussions.com. They’ll begin appearing in a couple weeks or so.
I agree with others that the difference between D2/D3 is minimal. In fact, if there is no sanctioned D2, then D3 is the 2nd division in US soccer. I don’t think sponsors really care either, especially with the high failure rates and some low attendance for D2 sides. The NASL teams would be foolish to let an off season full of investing go dark instead of lowering themselves to D3. I firmly believe that many of the NASL teams will end up playing D3 and will not loose any more money than they would have at D2. They may be able to lower their output for salaries playing D3 instead.