Louisville City FC’s 2017 schedule hasn’t yet been set, so in the meantime coach James O’Connor will turn his attention to another sort of game.
Along with the 11 players LouCity has under contract for next year, three of its top midfielders — Aodhan Quinn, Kadeem Dacres and Andrew Lubahn — are free agents looking to move up the ladder.
“They want to see, is there a potential MLS opportunity? Is there something maybe in Europe?” O’Connor said over the weekend in an appearance on AM 790 WKRD’s “Soccer City” radio show.
But the timing of such moves could put a safe landing in Louisville in jeopardy.
O’Connor said Major League Soccer franchises, which begin preseason training in January, may hang on to a prospect until as late as March before signing or cutting them. By then, LouCity will already have completed its own two-week preseason, which the coach called “a critical time for us.”
“If we then turn around to somebody and say you can take preseason all the way up to March 1, and the MLS team actually signs that player, then we have a three-week period where most other replacements have signed with other teams,” O’Connor said.
To prevent such a scenario, O’Connor said he’ll aim to start making decisions in January.
“We need to get some players for next season,” he added. “It becomes a case of just having honest conversations and trying to figure out if people want to come back, or are they trying to use us as collateral, if you like.”
O’Connor touched on a number of other topics in the “Soccer City” interview as well…
—The coach said LouCity is likely to carry a smaller squad next year with the United Soccer League having announced a drop in substitutions allowed per game from five to three, the international standard. That tweak comes as the USL will also expand its regular-season slate to 32 games, but over the course of 30 weeks.
“It should lessen the likelihood of having so many games in such a short period,” O’Connor said. “Now if you’re a player, you obviously have five subs to get on the field and it gets reduced to three, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize there’s less playing time.”
O’Connor guessed, at this point, that he’ll sign about 22 players for 2017 — 19 in the field and perhaps a third goalkeeper.
—As he searches out new talent, the coach said he a left-footed left back is a “priority.” In LouCity’s first two seasons, right backs Bryan Burke (2015) and Kyle Smith (2016) have led the squad in assists, often pushing up in the attack and crossing into the 18-yard box. A lefty working the other side could create the same threat.
With Dacres and Lubahn both attacking midfielders — along with Magnus Rasmussen, a departing star who will remain home in Europe next year — that spot will require additions. O’Connor said he’ll seek out a forward in place of Chandler Hoffman, who scored 14 goals last season, but added he has “great belief” in returners Cameron Lancaster and Ilija Ilic.
