Like a beehive, the lobby at the Manhattan Beach Marriott is abuzz with officials from teams all around Major League Soccer as they work to find any bit of information from their counterparts around the league. Every coach, GM and scout takes a different approach to how they work the room, but they all agree on one aspect.
“It’s a madhouse,” laughed Real Slat Lake Head Coach Jeff Cassar.
Longtime friends and former teammates who now work in various front offices around the league, meet and greet each other with ear-to-ear grins, handshakes and hugs. And while the conversations flow each angles for a bit of information that may help form rosters, draft specific players or form the basis for trades that may or may get finalized.
The gamesmanship and friendly banter runs rampant, but behind it all is an effort to gain an upper hand in the tight-knit world of American soccer.
To some, it’s embraced as a chance to gain some marginal level of competitive advantage – sometimes perceived, sometimes actual. To others, it is something to avoid like a fifth-minute red card.
“I don’t go down to the lobby. If I do, I go down to the basement and go back around the lobby,” chuckled RSL Head Scout Andy Williams while Cassar calls him anti-social from across the table. “I stay in my room.”
In a busy week filled with meetings, interviews, combine games and other discussions, the hotel lobby is the perfect metaphor the chaos surrounding the MLS SuperDraft. It all culminates on Friday when Minnesota United FC goes on the clock with the first pick. Real Salt Lake picks 13th overall and while predicting the available players seems an impossible task, Cassar and his staff will do what they can to prognosticate who could be on the board.
“There’s a lot of work that goes into it. There’s not much time off. It’s a full week,” Cassar said. “We know there are going to be two or three surprises. You try and gather as much information, but you never know what’s going to happen.”
So while Cassar works the room to gather as much information as he can, Williams prefers a more calming approach with scouting tape in his hotel room.
“It’s crazy down there,” he grinned. “It’s like vultures.”
