Brian Edwards takes plenty of abuse for his thin beard and mysteriously hairless upper lip, but perhaps more goalies should adopt the look if it will help them play like the Wake Forest star.
On Saturday, in his adidas MLS Player Combine debut, Edwards posted a shutout. On Sunday, he was perfect again, although he only played the first half. Then in Tuesday's final day, he watched as his adiPure team allowed their first goal of the Combine, in a 4-1 rout of adiTunit.
He also led Wake Forest to its first-ever NCAA soccer championship this past season, beating Ohio State 2-1. Edwards, a fifth-year senior who came back for one more shot at the title in 2007, made four saves and earned Defensive MVP honors for the College Cup.
But it was during that game that Edwards' rather odd facial hair caught the attention of ESPN's Eric Wynalda. The former U.S. national team star teased Edwards repeatedly about not being able to grow a proper mustache.
"After the game was over and we had won the national championship," Edwards said, "I got alll these text messages. None of them congratulated me on the win, they were just texting me about what Eric had said."
And although Edwards has never met Wynalda, he did watch the game tapes and found it amusing.
Wake teammate Julian Valentin had perhaps the best line when he called Edwards' beard a "chin strap."
Added Edwards: "I don't ever shave. I am 23 years old, and I am just physically unable to grow a mustache."
Edwards paused and then went in for the kill on his teammate Valentin, who has had stitches on his face five times because of soccer accidents.
"But at least," Edwards said, "I have a prettier face than Julian."
All jokes aside, Edwards has been impressive at the combine. Edwards was told by Wake coach Jay Vidovich that a few teams were looking at him, although no more specifics were given.
"He doesn't want me to focus on that," Edwards said.
Of course, from now until Friday's SuperDraft in Baltimore, that is probably all Edwards will think about. In fact, he is already keenly aware of which teams might need a young goalie.
"I know Joe Cannon just left L.A.," he said. "San Jose only has one goalie. D.C. is down a couple."
FINAL DAY OF PLAY: Edwards' adiPure team completed a sweep of all three of their Combine games, defeating adiTunit 4-1 in the final game Tuesday at Lockhart Stadium.
The drama was over early. After just six minutes, George Josten (Gonzaga University) put adiPure into the lead. Alex Nimo set off on an overlapping run on the left and laid the ball off to Matt Hatzke (Santa Clara University). Hatzke crossed into the box where Josten settled the ball at the penalty spot and banged into the left corner.
Three minutes later adiPure doubled their lead, when defender Eric Brunner (Ohio State University) dribbled about 40 yards up the center of the field and let fly from all of 25 yards to find the back of the net.
adiPure made it 3-0 in the 15th minute when Ricardo Pierre-Louis (Lee University) beat a player in the area and slotted home inside the left corner, and then Josten scored his second of the game in the 21st minute, converting a Pierre-Louis cross.
Cesar Zambrano scored adiTunit's lone goal four minutes into the second half. A long ball down the left flank found Brek Shea (U.S. U-17/Texans FC), who swung a cross into the middle of the box that Zambrano (University of Illinois-Chicago) hammered home first-time from close range.
In the day's first game, Predator PowerServe won their first game of the weekend, defeating Trofeo 1-0. The game's only goal came in the 18th minute when Kevin Forrest (University of Washington) beat goalkeeper Matt Allen from the edge of the area after left back Mike Zaher (UCLA) found him with a pass from the left flank.
Trofeo goalkeeper Josh Lambo continued the play that has made him among the more highly considered goalkeepers in the Combine, the Generation adidas signee making a number of quality saves after the break to keep his team in the game.
Given it was the third game in four days for the 60-plus players in the Combine, both halves were reduced to 35 minutes in length in each game.
COMBINE NOTES
Walter Villa is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
