Q & A with Tropics Head Coach Eoghan Conlon

As the Lakeland Tropics anticipate their Premier Development League season opener next week – not to mention their first game ever in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup – head coach Eoghan Conlon discusses the dynamics of the new season, the impact of returning and new players, and the impact of the league’s soccer for the community in Polk County. The team trains nightly at 7 p.m. Victory Field on the campus of Southeastern University.

How are you finding year two of PDL different from the first year?

EC: “I think year two gives us a little bit more time to assess what we need, assess the group, reflect on the previous season, and make the necessary adjustments coming up to the second season. So it’s been just as busy but with more adjustments to make those improvements”.

Who are some of the players familiar to Tropics fans that we can expect to see again this summer?

EC: “We can expect to see Ricardo Diegues and Victor Parreiras (expected to miss the first month of the season following knee surgery)  coming back, as well as Luca Wiechers and Ramzi Toure coming back from their respective universities to play another season with us, so they’re the four main returners. Obviously, you’ll see as well of course Juan Tejada who had a really good season, he’s going to return with us as well. So we have a good spine that are coming back to help us. Gustavo Rodriguez from Southeastern will return. Pedro Ivo Dias is recovering from injury so we more than likely will not see him. But as I said there’s a good spine coming returning back and we’re excited to get the season kicked off. “

The Tropics finished third in their first summer in the PDL. What was your impression of the overall play last year and what are you anticipating in the Southeast division this season?

EC: “Good question — I think the overall level of the play was very high. We had a good record and a good season. A lot of those games, though, were very, very close, so again it goes back to the players and how well we’re able to push through. In terms of anticipating this season, it’s hard to really anticipate in PDL, or in any competitive league, but our expectation is that we’re up there competing, winning games, developing players and exposing players throughout the course of the season. We expect to be up there competing and taking one game at a time as we did last season.”

You expect to have a new goaltender this year—tell us about him.

EC: “Well, Jonathan Valerio will obviously still compete as well at some point and come in. I know he had a difficult year in the indoor league, so he’ll come back and still compete. We are bringing in a goalkeeper from Florida Golf Coast University, a Brazilian, Gustavo Vasconcelos. He’s going to come in and compete. I spoke to their head coach, Coach Cormier, and he recommended him very highly. So we’re excited to have him in and bring into the group and have him compete with the goalkeeping group.”

The Tropics have received the invitation to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. What does that mean for the team and Polk County?

EC: “For us obviously getting into the open cup is going to be huge for our franchise, for our community, for our fans. It’s going to hopefully some day be an opportunity to have a professional team come and play in Lakeland. Obviously  in terms of exposing soccer at a higher level to our fans and opportunity for our players, it’s going to be massive for our team and our community.”