IRVINE — Major League Soccer, the new professional outdoor league, will hold an invitation-only player combine beginning today at the Crawford Athletic Complex at UC Irvine. The combine, which is open to public spectators, will run through Jan. 15 and will include 260 players from around the world.
Some of the top players include Brian Maisonneuve, the 1994 Hermann Award winner (college soccer's equivalent to the Heisman Trophy) from Indiana; World Cup goalkeeper Khalil Azmi from Morocco; World Cup players Samuel Ekeme and Victor-N'Dip Akem from Cameroon; defender Ian Butterworth from Norwich City of the English Premier League; Splash players Sean Bowers, Doug Neely, Denis Hamlett and John O'Brien, and former Salsa players Yari Allnutt and Arturo Velazco.
