I try to ignore most things MLS these days, mostly because a good chunk of the conversation surrounding that league has nothing to do with soccer. However, every now and then, something that concerns that league has a tangential impact on the USL and Louisville City, such that it bears mentioning.

Friday is one of those times. The 2019 MLS SuperDraft is this weekend, where MLS teams get to pick players from college that they don’t already have some other mechanism to sign. There’s a pretty good crop this year. However, the trend has been for MLS teams to look elsewhere for talent in the last five to ten years, no matter how expensive it may be. The knock-on effect of that practice is that guys picked up in the draft seldom ever see first team minutes in their first season, if ever.

The college game is obviously very different from the way soccer is played everywhere else. That’s not to say college players don’t know how to play regular soccer, because a lot of these guys play in PDL (excuse me, League 2) in the summer. The problem is that a lot of the more talented American players have started either signing professional MLS contracts while they’re still teenagers, or started to look to play overseas rather than risk stunting their careers in a format where teams play twice a week for just ten weeks and then maybe play in a postseason tournament or two and that’s it. Compounding that problem is the fact that so many schools shop for talent overseas, which further limits the availability of roster spots for U.S.-based kids.

That said, the proliferation of USL clubs of late offers a lot of landing spots for guys that either didn’t make it to a college team, or did make it but didn’t get picked up in the draft. Lots of USL clubs, ours included, like to wait until after the draft to see who’s still unsigned and then finish building out their roster, often via private, closed tryouts.

Louisville City presently has twenty players on the roster. I expect three or four more will be coming once the draft is over to fill a couple of areas of concern, namely right back and defensive midfielder. Those spots might get filled by players from elsewhere, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see at least one MLS Combine attendee get a few looks.

UNITED SOCCER LINKS:

• Duba Dos Santos is reunited with Bob Lilley as a part of his undying effort to turn the Riverhounds into the Rhinos.
• While the super-awesome Lincoln Yards stadium project might be dead, USL apparently hasn’t given up on Chicago just yet.
• PSA: your cat hates your kids.