Heath talks preseason, Benedetti, and depth in Florida

Austin David, a freelance reporter who covers Orlando City, was serving as our unplanned Florida correspondent as the Lions took on Minnesota United in a downlow preseason match.

David spoke to a variety of sources at the match, which was made up of two 60-minute halves. The match ended 4-1 to Orlando. Minnesota’s goalscorer and lineup combinations are unknown.

Manager Adrian Heath spoke to the media afterwards. “I thought the first group did well today,” he said. “The second group struggled a little bit with the strength and depth that Orlando have, but we expected that.”

He spoke highly of how the team performed in the two weeks they spent in Florida. “We had a great two weeks. We’ve had double sessions nearly every day but that allowed us to put a lot of work in. We played a couple college teams, which has been good for us.”

Heath also acknowledged that there still need to be some signings for the Loons. “I know that we need to get some more depth in the squad. That was pretty apparent today,” he explained. “We lack one or two pieces.”

However, Nicolas Benedetti will not be one of those pieces. “It wasn’t a secret that we were trying to move for Benedetti,” Heath said. “We offered a lot of money and we couldn’t quite get it done, but we are still out there looking for players that we feel will make us better. We feel as though we have a good core to build from but we do need to add one or two pieces to make it better.”

Heath was asked if he had any advice for expansion club Los Angeles Football Club and the recently announced teams in Nashville and Miami, to which he answered, “It depends what you’re going to spend.”