Annual event will take place in Chicago on January 11
The beginning of a new year brings with it an annual event for MLS: the SuperDraft. Every team in the league and their representatives must therefore get to work as soon as festivities are over; January 2 marks the beginning of the 2019 adidas MLS Player Combine, in Orlando, where the top collegiate, youth, and international players are invited by MLS to try and impress coaches and other team officials.
Here, coaches have an opportunity to closely scrutinize this pool of prospects. In the Combine, players participate in physical testing, interviews, and full-field matches. MLS coaches will then make their way to Chicago, where they can apply all the knowledge they’ve gained in the past week or so to make picks (or trades) at the MLS SuperDraft.
The full list of Combine invitees can be found here.
SuperDraft structure
For those familiar with the draft processes of other major North American leagues, the MLS SuperDraft isn’t much different. Each team selects players over the course of two rounds, while the third and fourth rounds will be held via conference call. The order in which teams select players is based on where they finished in the overall 2018 regular season standings, except for expansion team FC Cincinnati, who will select first overall, just like Montreal did when it entered the league in 2012.
If the SuperDraft has proven one thing in the past, it’s the fact that it’s unpredictable. Coaches are constantly wheeling and dealing in the days, hours, minutes and seconds before they have to make their pick. What will Rémi Garde’s game plan be this time around? Tune in Friday at 1pm to find out.
