As the 2013 season comes closer to beginning, the Orlando City coaching staff is filtering months of preparation into a few short weeks- evaluating talent at the Major League Soccer (MLS) combine, USL PRO combine and 2013 open tryouts to hopefully target and bring in a few players for the 2013 squad.

Starting with the MLS combine two weeks ago, Head Coach Adrian Heath and Assistant Coach/Midfielder Ian Fuller went into the combine/draft with a specific mindset- to see the placement of players they targeted.

“Obviously we wanted to see the best players coming out of college,” said Heath. “Just by sure numbers, half of them aren’t going to be taken by MLS. So from our point of view, we’re there to see if there’s anyone we like that happens to fall through the cracks. Even players that were taken, we’ll continue to see their progress and if it doesn’t work out, we can bring them into camp.”

The process of following targeted players once signed by MLS in the preseason is trickier than you think. A type of gentlemen’s agreement between the two clubs lays the groundwork for getting a player in camp when he didn’t work out with the MLS side.

“You tap the (MLS) club on the shoulder and say ‘hey if it doesn’t work out, would you mind sending him our way?” Heath said. “You may then leave a position open (during preseason) longer than you like just in case one or two happen to fall. You never want to run into a situation where your squad is full one week before season start and players we like become available to us. It’s a happy medium, really.”

The USL PRO combine over this past weekend has a similar setup to that of Major League Soccer’s, but as Heath put it, the players come out with a chip on their shoulder.

“They (USL) run it very similar, the only difference is those competing at the combine probably have a chip on their shoulders. There’ll be quite a few of them that thought they should’ve been invited to the MLS combine. We’ve seen that before. Even this season, 2 or 3 players we thought would go high in the draft, didn’t.”

Brand recognition is also a bump to the coaching staff, with the coaching staff saying the Orlando City name helps draw higher profile players. Heath and Fuller are still pursuing 5-6 players for the 2013 season, with the USL combine a potential place to find real talent for the Lions. Combining that with the recently announced partnership with Sporting Kansas City for the 2013/14 seasons, the future is looking bright for the 2011 and 2012 USL PRO champions.

“I don't think that we could have picked a better, more progressive – on and off the field – club to partner up with,” Heath said in an interview with MLSSoccer.com. “I think I speak for everybody within our organization: We're incredibly impressed with everything about Sporting. From our view, it's a no-lose situation.”

The final part of the preseason evaluation comes this Saturday and Sunday at the open tryouts. Such gems as Dennis Chin have been found via open tryouts, with the same hope by the coaching staff in 2013.

“Some boys have traveled thousands of miles and have some great stories behind them. We never take these (open tryouts) lightly and look forward to ours.”

*Photo credit: USL PRO