FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Even the Sunshine State weather doesn't seem to have thawed the nervous energy coursing through the veins of participants in this week's Major League Soccer combine.

Goodness knows just what the coaches on display have made of the tense and uninspiring performances so far. Surely, they have gathered little information that will help them for Friday's draft in Baltimore.

Los Angeles Galaxy head coach Ruud Gullit flew back to California before Tuesday's final round of combine games, while Galaxy technical director Paul Bravo admitted that, unless the players can learn to relax, there is little value to the combine.

"We understand that there is a lot on the line for these guys and that they are nervous. But it seems they are too afraid to make mistakes," Bravo said. "They have got to go out there and take a chance. We want to see them express themselves."

The present format of the players being split up into four teams, and playing three matches in four days with unlimited substitutions, does not appear to have much merit. There are some suggestions that a different format for the combine may be appropriate in the future, possibly involving a week of training, including some mini-games.

Heading into the final day, here are a few guys who look to be in decent shape to be taken high in the draft. Virginia Tech's Patrick Nyarko will probably be the top pick:

• Julius James, defender, University of Connecticut

• Andy Iro, defender, UC Santa Barbara

• Dominic Cervi, goalkeeper, Tulsa

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

"They're not good things they are doing. They cut off bits of the body" – Watford's Al Bangura on why he feared for his life at the hands of a voodoo sect if he were deported from Britain and forced to return to Sierre Leone. Bangura won his appeal this week and will stay in England.

Here are some Related Links: