By FRANCO PANIZO
The MLS Combine has come to a close, and the final day of action saw some of the lesser-known players raise their stock.
Both of the day's games ended 1-0, with defender Tennant McVea heading home the winner in F50i's match vs. Predator X, and a long-range blast from midfielder Eric Alexander proving to be the difference in Condivo's win over Jabulani.
Alexander and McVea ended their four-day stays in South Florida with solid performances, but they weren't the only ones. Midfielder Michael Stephens looked good, showing off some creativity with his nifty passing while also coming close to finding an equalizer by hitting the crossbar with a shot from distance.
U.S. U-17 defender Zac Herold also shone in chilly Fort Lauderdale, showing off some toughness at right back and center back in his match on Tuesday. Herold, one of the younger players at the combine at 17-years-old, feels he performed relatively well in his three matches.
"Overall I think it was a pretty good week," said Herold, a native of Port St. Lucie, Florida. "I came in here just trying to increase my stock and I feel like I did that a little bit, not much, but I feel that I played well."
Another player involved with a U.S. youth national team that played well was Brian Perk, who was unquestionably the best goalkeeper at the combine. Perk made a pair of nice saves against Jabulani to record his only shut-out of the Combine.
"I thought today was my best performance, but I also had the most to do (compared to the first two days)," said Perk. "I don't think any of us have played in a month or so, so as the week progressed everyone collectively got better and that's what you expect from a camp like this."
Some of the other day's top performers were Irving Garcia, Justin Morrow, Ronnie Bouemboue and Conor O'Brien. Among the disappointing outings were the performances of Tim Ream, Freddie Braun and David Walker.
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What do you think of some of these Day 3 assessments? Who do you hope your team drafts on Thursday? Intrigued by either Perk or Herold?
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