MLS SuperDraft : Who To Watch in the MLS Combine

PHILADELPHIA, PA - JANUARY 19: A ball signed by the draftees sits on display on the side of the stage during the MLS SuperDraft 2018 on January 19, 2018, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA. (Photo by Andy Mead/YCJ/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - JANUARY 19: A ball signed by the draftees sits on display on the side of the stage during the MLS SuperDraft 2018 on January 19, 2018, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA. (Photo by Andy Mead/YCJ/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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DURHAM, NC – NOVEMBER 25: Fordham’s Janos Loebe (GER) (10) and Duke’s Mattias Frick (AUT) (18) during the Duke Blue Devils game versus the Fordham Rams on November 25, 2017 at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, NC in an NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Tournament Third Round game. Fordham advanced 8-7 on penalty kicks after the game ended in a 2-2 tie after overtime. (Photo by Andy Mead/YCJ/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
DURHAM, NC – NOVEMBER 25: Fordham’s Janos Loebe (GER) (10) and Duke’s Mattias Frick (AUT) (18) during the Duke Blue Devils game versus the Fordham Rams on November 25, 2017 at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, NC in an NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Tournament Third Round game. Fordham advanced 8-7 on penalty kicks after the game ended in a 2-2 tie after overtime. (Photo by Andy Mead/YCJ/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Forwards

Andrew Shinyashiki, University of Denver

It seems that Shinyashiki is the consensus best college athlete out of all of the players in the draft. The Brazilian striker is a MAC Hermann Award finalist, First-Team All-American, Conference Player of the Year, and even the National Scholar Athlete of the Year. This is all after a landmark season scoring 28 goals in 21 games. Clearly, you’d think he should be going first overall. And you’d be wrong. Remember, the college game is very different from the pro game. A system that works towards getting him the ball in places to score may work at Denver, but may not work at, let’s say the Colorado Rapids. While he was able to score buckets of goals against most of the teams he played, when playing against ranked teams (Air Force, Stanford, Maryland, Virginia, and a friendly against Akron) Shinyashiki scored a combined 0 goals and 0 assists. The MLS Combine will pit him up against real competition and there’s definitely a chance he may not be up to it.

Janos Loebe, Fordham

This player is a fairly simple all-around forward. He scores as much as he picks up assists. As hockey scouts put it: “Good kid, loves the game.” Nothing he does truly jumps out at you and I think that may be the key here for him. He knows how to sit back into a system. He’s consistently scored exactly seven goals per season for the past three years and in that time he’s improved his assists numbers to the point where this past season he got 11. While other players with fancier numbers fizzle out quickly, we’ve seen another German with modest stats going into the draft find his way into a consistent starting role: Julian Gressel. The same as Julian, I think that Loebe will shine in the MLS Combine as a steady producer.

Ryan Sierakowski, Michigan State University

Sierakowski is a guy that I’ve actually been following fairly closely this season because up until the Combine list was released, I thought he was going to be signed as a homegrown player for the Chicago Fire. For some reason or other, they didn’t bring him in and I think that is just another dumb move in a history of dumb moves for the Fire. Although he never broke double digits in a single-season, Sierakowski was a consistent scorer for the Spartans. Not content with just the simple joy of scoring goals, he also knows the perfect time to score with 17 of his career 33 goals being considered game winners. Just like Loebe, I feel that his style of play may find greater success in being carried over to MLS than others.

Abdou Mbacke Thiam, University of Connecticut

Mbacke Thiam has started every single game of his college career. That is probably his most impressive stat, seeing as the UCONN soccer program is one the quietly good ones. Through those 77 starts, he’s scored 46 goals and racked up 18 assists, never having a season with less than 10 goals. Clearly, he’s been adding to his game, since his Freshman year saw no assists and this past year he dished out 10. While I did just say that UCONN has a sneaky good program, it doesn’t mean that it has a pro-like system and Abdou’s potential transition may prove difficult. That sort of reinvention, however, may prove helpful in it. The MLS Combine will show how helpful it can be.