At Major League Soccer’s Combine in sunny southern Florida, Montreal Impact technical director Matt Jordan has been having a last look at many of the U.S. college players who will be eligible for Thursday’s SuperDraft in Philadelphia.
But the bulk of the scouting has already been done, Jordan said, and the Combine will factor very little into the Impact’s final draft choices.
"You can’t base your decision solely on this combine, because these aren’t realistic conditions," Jordan told Sportsnet via telephone.
"Sometimes you’re playing with guys you don’t know or you’re playing out of position, so as a technical staff, we feel we’ve already done quite a bit of work in preparing for the draft and that we’re ready for it."
Soccer Central podcast: SPORTSNET.CA’s Soccer Central podcast, hosted by John Molinaro and James Sharman, takes an in-depth look at the beautiful game and offers timely and thoughtful analysis on the sport’s biggest issues. To listen and subscribe to the podcast, CLICK HERE.
Despite the lessening importance of collegiate soccer due to the fact that MLS clubs are now beginning to produce their own players through local academy systems, the Impact are hoping that they can get the most out of the draft, where they have the 10th pick in the first round. Montreal also has two second-round picks—29th and 37th overall.
"The landscape of the draft is changing each year, with academies and homegrown players becoming more relevant. But we’re looking to find players that we hope can contribute to the team and that’s been our focus, just like it’s been the last couple drafts," Jordan stated. "Each of the last two years we drafted players that have contributed to the success of the team and not a lot of clubs can say that.
"We’re pleased with how the last two drafts have gone and we’re hopeful that this one will go well too."
In last year’s draft, the Impact unsuccessfully tried to trade for a higher pick and Jordan didn’t rule out the possibility of a trade in the coming days. That said, he’s not disappointed with having the 10th overall pick. After all, Dillon Powers, who had a stellar first season with the Colorado Rapids and won the rookie of the year award for 2013, was last year’s 11th overall selection at the draft.
What is different from last year for the Impact is that there’s a new coach on board.
Marco Schällibaum had only just been hired as Montreal coach prior to the 2013 draft in Indianapolis. Since it was the Swiss native’s very first experience in the league he wasn’t able to offer any insight into what players the Impact could acquire and was a mere spectator at the event. But this year, Frank Klopas is in charge, and as Jordan explained, the former Chicago Fire player and coach has been able to lend a helping hand with the team’s preparation ahead of Thursday’s draft.
"Frank has a very good idea of the draft and the landscape," Jordan said. "He’s very familiar with the players available, so it’s a pretty smooth transition."
Jordan didn’t reveal which specific positions the Impact would be looking to address in the draft, and admitted that sometimes it’s best to take the best player available rather than one that plays the position you need to fill. But given the wide array of defenders available in the draft and the off-season departures of Alessandro Nesta, Nelson Rivas and Zarek Valentin, it’s likely that the Impact will use their first-round pick on a centre back or fullback.
What makes Thursday’s festivities all the more important for the Impact is the fact that they don’t have a whole lot of salary cap space left to work with and the draft provides a great opportunity to strengthen the squad without having to really break the bank.
