Training camp opened today for all rookies, a handful of trialists, and any veteran that felt like getting a jump start on his teammates. Chris Wingert, Tony Beltran, David Horst, Rafeal Cox, Ned Grabavoy, and Jean Alexander were the veterans that decided to take advantage of the extra conditioning the next week will provide. They joined the four rookies and a handful of trialists that included the following players;
Archive for category Practice Updates
A Few More Pics and Tidbits
Feb 17
I only had a few minutes to put up the prior post, and in the rush I missed a couple of updates:
- I’m sure that I had heard this before, but Nat Borchers had surgery in December on his foot for bone spurs. The surgery was needed as he played with pain in his foot for most of last season. He told me that he was unable to strike a ball very well last season because of this. He had been practicing recently but was in a boot today (and will remain out of practice for a couple more days). He was experiencing some pain, but expects to get back into the full swing of things shortly after immobilizing the foot for a few days.
- I verified that Real Salt Lake will have a PR presence in both Tampa and in Charleston, and we will receive regular updates.
- The team also verified that Solorzano will be on trial with the team beginning on Thursday. There also could be a couple of additional names. Expect an update on this tomorrow.
- Nothing official at this point with regards to signing Rachid El Khalifi.
- The team will have exhibitions against the University of South Florida (2/21 @7:30PM) and University of Tampa (2/24 @ 7PM).
In addition, I thought I’d post a few more clicks. Check them after the break.
I attended the practice today up at Park City. The most exciting part of the afternoon was the ride up there (because of the snow storm). Here are a few things that I did learn and observe:
- The practice wasn’t very intense. They broke into groups and did some drills and had some brief short-sided scrimmage play.
- Jason Kreis was not in attendance.
- Kevin Reiman has been released.
- Only two trialists were in attendance: Steve Clark and Luis Escalada.
- Kennedy Owusu-Ansah has had to return to Hertha Berlin. No word on the level of interest that RSL has in him, or if this is the end of the line.
- Jorginho Paulista and Alexander Viveros also no longer with the team, and it is presumed that their trial with the team is over. I will try to confirm the status of these.
See my thoughts on Clark and Escalada after the break.
Steve Clark
Steve Clark seems to be quite athletic. He also finished 2nd in the beep test. In addition, he is a Keepin’ It Real reader, so he gets bonus points for that. While it’s hard to evaluate a keeper in practice, he seems to have good reflexes, and could give Reynish a run for his money at the 3rd keeper spot.
Luis Escalada
Escalada does appear slightly on the heavy side (although he was wearing two layers and long sleeves), but it wasn’t as dramatic as I was expecting from the earlier reports. He also seems to have a casual attitude in practice. However, I also always felt that Espindola had a casual approach to practice, so it’s hard to evaluate. I did notice that he seemed to have a nice soft touch on the ball and a decent shot in the few instances that I saw him in action with the ball.
UPDATE: I have been cautioned about drawing a conclusion about the 3 trialists who are no longer training with the team (I hear the team is actually high on Kennedy Owusu-Ansah).
INTRODUCING:
Robbie Russell
Today’s practice included the introduction to the team of Robbie Russell. It’s a good thing, because it was an otherwise quiet day. Chris Wingert was missing in action. Beckerman, Kirby, Mantilla and Beltran all left after a few minutes of warmups – I think they left to do strength training early. The remaining players seemed like the walking wounded: Yura, Olave and Espindola were all featuring large quantities of ice after practice. Here are a few other notes:
- Russell actually showed up a couple of minutes late, and Coach Kreis gave him a hard time saying “late for first practice, huh. That will be a fine.”
- Practice was a little more competitive than Tuesday, but it still seems that these players are fairly loose and comfortable with each other.
- Russell confirmed that his wife’s parents do live in Park City and that is where he will be staying right now.
- His wife is a teacher in Norway and will be finishing up the next semester there before moving full time.
- Morales scored in a scrimmage off of a sweet free kick right past Borchers ear.
- Russell didn’t seem too active during the scrimmage (and played it safe by staying back will the other backs often pushed forward), but I’m sure that’s part of getting used to the players, coaches, system, etc.
- I didn’t get to see the speed that was advertised, but I was surprised at how stocky and strong he appears to be.
- Russell indicated that D-mid is probably his strongest spot despite having played right back for the last several years professionally.
- Robbie seemed to be extremely well spoken and professional.
- He indicated that he has heard great things about Utah and the people and that he loves what he has seen so far.
- Apparantly he was in Maryland for a week waiting for the contract to be finalized.
- Ian Joy mentioned that Russell is well known in Europe and he has seen him play on TV several times. He is known to be a very consistent, solid player.
TEAM TOGETHER
I managed to get out to practice today for the first time in a long while. It was noticeably different than practices I had attended in the past, particularly those in preseason or very early in the season. First, this group seems to have really bonded. An example of that is that as they started the jaunt above, Rimando gave Dema a hard time and asked him if there were going to be any slide tackles during the warmup. Second, they seemed really loose and casual. When they were playing a small goal scrimmage with Kreis on one side. He went to block a shot and slid to the ground and the ball made contact with his hand, and several players were yelling “handball”. Kreis had the biggest grin on his face that I’ve seen from him. I see this as a sign of the team coming together, the confidence that comes with holding down first place in the West and the fact that they don’t have another league game until Monday.
Here are a couple of other tidbits:
- Fabian participated in practice. Seemed to move reasonably well.
- Clint Mathis is still hanging around with the team.
- Adam Acosta and two similar looking (possibly BYU players) named Mike were working with the team.
- Findley was with the team (Sturgis and Seitz of course are with the Olympic squad).
Practices prior to game day are typically very brief, and interesting. Even though everyone is trying to conscientiously not overdo it, you can usually sense a special intensity in the air. Today was no exception. Here are some of my observations:
- Injury report: Sturgis had low-impact workout – light running and stretching. Nimo did not participate at all. Espindola seemed to be at full speed. Mantilla didn’t participate in the last 20 minutes or so (not sure if this was injury related).
- No signals about starting lineup, but here is what I gathered from an informal poll of media in attendance. Espindola likely to team up with Deuchar. Midfield most likely to remain the same as DC match (sorry Talley critics). Cordoba and Bomma will be waiting in the wings if Talley struggles early. Most likely Olave and Borchers in central defense, although its nearly a toss up with Mantilla if he is fully healthy. Wingert is a lock as one outside back, possibility of Beltran on the other side especially because his speed could come in handy to counteract Donovan.
- There are 2 members of a Scottish newspaper (I think the Sun?) in town this week following Kenny Deuchar around. They were telling us that if he gets good service he can dominate a game inside the box.
- At the end of practice, the team took shots from various spots on the field. They had the outside backs out wide, and they were practicing getting off crosses. Looks to me like we are planning on focusing on this in the upcoming match (to take advantage of Deuchar).
- Goldenballs and Don Garber teamed up this afternoon for a media blitz at the site of the new stadium.
(click to enlarge)
Not surprisingly, today’s practice was quite short due to the bad weather, and the teams impending departure to DC. Things were quite intense as usual.
- The team was split into two groups. One group took shots on goal while the other was doing a possession/defensive pressure drill.
- They finished with a full sided scrimmage.
- The starting lineup of one side may give some indication to the coaching staff’s thoughts at this point for Saturday’s starting eleven.
- This lineup included Rimando, Wingert, Borchers, Olave, Beltran, Talley, Beckerman, Kovalenko, Morales, Deuchar and Findley. Sturgis was not present and Espindola spent his time running. Everyone else participated fully.
- Look for Cordoba to possibly get some action in the Open Cup match next Wednesday.
My first day before game practice, here are my two words to describe it: Intense and Short.
Although it only lasted about an hour, here are my observations:
- A drill with six aside, that emphasized tight passing and then taking an accurate shot at the end. Each team was in a small square and tried to make 6 one-touch passes in a row and then kick it into the small square at the other end in order to score a point. *Note: it seems like we have concentrated a lot on tight passing drills. Hopefully it will pay dividends this season.*
- An 8v8, small field drill with players surrounding the field (sidelines and endlines). These players assisted whoever had the ball, and helped to keep this gam moving. This became a fast-paced game like you’d see in indoor soccer and had everyone focused on quick build-up, good finishing and maintaining form. Was quite intense. A couple of players were pretty vocal about their teammates on this one. I heard several comments that I won’t repeat here. This is the accountability that Lagerway talked about.
- Finishing – everyone took turns receiving a pass from the coach and tried to finish. There were some pretty impressive shots. Olave, Cordoba, Bomma, Morales – all hit some high quality shots. However, there was a stretch when Rimando was in goal where nobody even put the shot on net. He said “Do I even need to be here?” Next thing you know, he was in the line with the players taking the kicks and he blasted one past Reynish and said “that’s how you do it”. It was a pretty funny moment at the end of practice.
- Brennan Tennelle was running during practice and didn’t participate in the drills. Yura participated fully, but was icing down his left (I think) knee afterward.
- There was a group of kids there watching practice, and when the players came out after practice they were swarming for autographs. You’ll see a couple of pictures of this.
- The crowd of media was a little bigger for this than preseason practices. I assume that’s a function of it being nearly gameday, and that there was a chance to get a glimpse of DC>
- DC came in for their practice and I snapped a couple of pics, but their practice was closed and I didn’t catch any of them afterward for pics.
Here are a few pics (click to enlarge):
I made my first venture out to practice today since the season began. It was also my first chance to see Deuchar in person. Here are a few observations:
- It was dang cold!
- James Edward beat me to the punch here, but I would agree with him that if you can take any messages away from what happens in practice it seemed like Sturgis may be in line for his first action and start of the season. Although to be fair, I heard Sturgis mentioned that he “has no idea” what Kreis has in mind for the starting XI and that the team usually doesn’t start to address that until the practice on the day before the match.
- The team spent alot of time in the 8v8 and 11v11 action concentrating on moving the ball, switching the ball and crossing the ball. Based on comments from the coaching staff, I took it that they wanted to focus on making good passes and putting the ball in good spots for the strikers.
While that was going on, several forwards/midfielders who were not involved with that action spent time off to the side practicing their finishing skills. - My impression from what I saw and from talking to a couple of others at practice is that Cordoba is really coming along. The team still likes his ability, and his fitness is getting better. He still appears to be a little bit out of sync with what is going on at times, but he is fitting in much better with the team. He also appears to be less timid than the first time I saw him in practice.
- Beltran will be a starter in this league, and probably sooner rather than later. Wingert is going to be pushed by this guy all season.
Here are a few pics (click to enlarge):
After being at the last two practices outdoors, I can say that I like them much better than the indoor practices. The abundance of light outdoors makes the photography much easier/better. Here is a summary of today:
First half hour was fitness, stretching, etc. Next was a line of 3-man drills. They then broke up into two groups. One group took shots on the keeper from various spots. The other group did a drill that focused on spacing, moving the ball quickly, and making accurate passes. (BTW – of what I saw Cordoba seems to have real quality passing ability). They then did a short field scrimmage, and afterwords did more fitness activities. I left the 2 hour practice after 2 1/2 hours and they were just winding down.
Injury updates: Rimando and Kovalenko in full duty. Wingert training on his own still but looked to be going at full speed. Espindola sat out of the main drills, and was icing down his knee at the end.
Absentees: Oly guys of course, and Borchers. Rumor has it that Nat was closing on a house or condo. I think he was still filling out his NCAA basketball bracket.
Not much else that was noteworthy.
