On the heels of Louisville City FC’s open tryouts held last month, coach James O’Connor and his assistant, Daniel Byrd, jetted West over the weekend to evaluate a new batch of players.
The LouCity duo is observing games at the MLS Combine in Los Angeles through Wednesday while attending a number of United Soccer League meetings geared toward technical staffs. If there’s time, they’d also like to visit with returning defender Tarek Morad, a California native.
“It’ll be a busy few days,” O’Connor said.
Standouts from the University of Louisville (Michael DeGraffenreidt), University of Kentucky (Napo Matsoso) and Indiana University (Billy McConnell, Tanner Thompson) were among the more than 50 college players invited to participate in the combine. It’s run conjunction with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s convention.
“The MLS Combine is difficult for us because, obviously, you have all the MLS teams with preference,” O’Connor said. “A lot of them will either take players for their rosters or for their second team — MLS 2 teams. For us, it’s a case of going, being aware of the players who may go under the radar.”
Those not selected Jan. 13 in the upcoming MLS SuperDraft could be invited to an invitation tryout later this month in Louisville. Or, in the case of a few players signed in the past by LouCity, observed may become prospects down the road if they part from an MLS club.
“We had some players this year who I can recall from two and three years ago watching their (Premier Development League) games,” O’Connor said. “It never does harm to see more games.”
LouCity has 15 players on its 2017 roster so far. New additions include midfielder Devon “Speedy” Williams from the New York Red Bulls II and Sean Russell, who played last season for the League of Ireland’s Limerick F.C. Both are coming off championship seasons.
