Los Angeles Football Club kicked off its first week of preseason training camp on Monday. Head coach Bob Bradley and the strength and conditioning team began 2020 with a relatively light week of training to bring the players back up to speed slowly, but there was still plenty to take away from LAFC’s first week back on the training fields.

PLAYERS ARRIVE READY

LAFC is a relatively young team, but athletes of any age have to put effort into their fitness during the offseason. LAFC veteran Jordan Harvey said Monday that he only took a week off after LAFC’s elimination in the Western Conference final against the Seattle Sounders in late October. By the time Seattle was celebrating its latest MLS Cup victory, Harvey was already back training at the practice facility. Much of LAFC’s roster has followed suit and come into camp in strong physical condition.

The team’s collective fitness was a welcome sight to Bradley. When asked about his perception of his team’s overall conditioning entering camp, he praised his players for meeting the standards set for them by the strength team during the offseason.

“We challenge guys to come in ready to start playing, understanding the way we work in the past,” said Bradley, whose team makes its CONCACAF Champions League debut against Leon on Feb. 18 in Mexico. “(The strength and conditioning team) has done an excellent job putting out requirements and staying in touch with players. All that, I think, has put us in a place to really get into it.”

GETTING NEW FACES UP TO SPEED

Speaking after practice on Friday, Bradley described LAFC’s draft picks and tryout players as being on “information overload.” One of the most important elements of the first week of training was helping the newcomers, youngsters and veterans alike, understand the way LAFC plays.

The nuances of LAFC’s style of play take time for any player to pick up, but in year three, the players who have been on the roster from day one are taking an active role in helping the uninitiated players learn as quickly as possible. Bradley was pleased by how well the newer players have absorbed the information, as well as the leadership shown by the incumbent members of the roster.

“The beginning part of preseason we try to build a foundation of football fitness, but also combined with our ideas on how we want to play, getting yourself ready for the season,” Bradley said. “This four-day window we’re focused on building up in those ways, and then as we go from one four-day cycle to the next, we’ll raise the intensity little by little.”

LAFC opened training camp with its SuperDraft selections from the first two rounds, attacker Jack Hallahan and goalkeeper Paulo Pita. The team’s picks from rounds three and four, midfielder Jorge Gonzalez and right back Younes Boudadi, joined the club during the week. According to Bradley, the only preseason invite who did not survive the first week of training was Christian Diaz, a defender from Forward Madison FC of USL League One.

Midfielder Sam Silvera and former Red Bulls striker Bradley Wright-Phillips remain with the club for now. The team is still in the early stages of evaluating Wright-Phillips, who dealt with a groin injury that limited him to two goals and one assist in 24 regular-season matches in 2019. Wright-Phillips played at least 32 regular-season matches every season from 2014-2018.

NATIONAL TEAM OBLIGATIONS

LAFC is no stranger to practicing with incomplete rosters. In the franchise’s short history, several players have missed time for international duty at various points during the season. LAFC is dealing with that familiar challenge again to begin 2020. Striker Diego Rossi is with Uruguay, while midfielders Eduard Atuesta (Colombia) and José Cifuentes (Ecuador) and defenders Eddie Segura (Colombia) and Walker Zimmerman (USA) are also with their respective national teams.

Zimmerman is with the U.S. team through its Feb. 1 exhibition against Costa Rica in Carson; the rest of the absent players are preparing for the CONMEBOL Olympic qualifying tournament in Colombia, which started on Friday (Jan. 18). The final for that event is Feb. 9, so participating players could potentially be gone until then. Bradley is finding ways to take advantage of being without some of his regulars. On Monday, LAFC brought members of its academy to practice with the senior team to gain valuable experience.

“We think our academy is going in a very positive way, but our academy kids begin at 2004. This is experience for them; that doesn’t make them quite ready,” Bradley said. “We continue to try to see if we can find ways to get them into practice on the right days. This part of preseason when we are missing players is a good time to bring some of the young guys in.”