Practice Observations: Passing Time
November 14th, 2007 . 3:25 pm . By: Buzz Carrick
Morrow’s out of town doing some scouting of the ACC tournament, but I decided to go to training anyway. Sometimes it’s nice to spend a beautiful Wednesday morning hanging around a soccer field. Later this week Ferruzzi is going to scout the A-1 tourney. There is an inter-squad scrimmage this Friday morning, I would think about 10am. News Notes and Observations- PHP #1 has been shut down to make the winter rye conversion, so the team is training on field #4. - Pablo Ricchetti and Dario Sala are rehabbing somewhere. With Sala out, FCD is down to one keeper. - Adrian Serioux is having surgery today to remove a bone spur on the top of his right foot and also have his left knee scoped. - Carlos Ruiz had his meniscus surgery Tuesday morning. FCD PR says the procedure went well. - Roberto Mina is outside doing rehab on the side of the field. He continue to work, but boy howdy is he looking plump. - No word on when Marcelo Saragosa is due back in town. - Sebastian Botero has been let go so he could return to Colombia and try to catch on with a team down there. He never out performed Pitchkolan in my mind, which makes him very expendable. - None of the above 7 people will be traveling with the team to Trinidad it appears. Blake Wagner is having his hernia op in December, so he could go on the trip. Not sure if he will. - Also missing will be anyone called to their respective national teams, of which the younger guys eligible for the U20s and U23s are most likely. Arturo Alvarez for example will almost certainly be with the U23s, but so too could be Dax McCarty, Anthony Wallace, and Blake Wagner. Abdus Ibrahim is a possible U20 candidate. So all of them could miss the Trinidad trip. - Arturo Alvarez is missing today, although it’s an excused absence for personal business. - Solid day from Sandy Gbandi, one of this better performances. He looked quite comfortable and composed, which he usually doesn’t. - Today was one of the most light hearted and joyful sessions I have seen. Lots of clowning around and no one taking anything to seriously. It is after all the off season. - Except of course Gbandi and Toja had a little face off at some point over something. I didn’t see what, probably a tackle if I had to guess. - Word has it Jeff Cassar has surfaced down in Trinidad helping the Puerto Rico Islanders and Colin Clarke as a goalkeeper coach during the Caribbean Football Union 2007 Championship Cup they are involved with. He’s also apparently scouting for RSL at the same time. - Shaka Hislop is in town and come out to watch training today. Catching up with… no one.Morrow is out scouting. I chanted with Oscar and had a nice little discussion about his soccer philosophy and team building. Not anything I am going to repeat, just good background info on him and what he thinks a team needs playing here in Dallas. TrainingTwo groups for the small possession games after some warm-up drills. Pareja Group Ferruzzi Group Half field game with full goals, midfield to end line. Burse in one goal, Nestor (the part time GK coach) in the other. Two teams play and the third makes an offensive neutrals on the outside. Wagner is a full time neutral in the middle in green. Orange: Pitchkolan Daniels Jones Ibrahim McCarty Thompson Rhine Thought of the DayI have a great deal of respect for Oscar Pareja. He’s got an incredible soccer background, is a wonderful soccer teacher, and in my opinion has a fantastic intuitive understanding of the game. I also think he knows what it takes to win in Dallas having been a part of some of the best teams here. Having him on the coaching staff is a tremendous asset in my opinion. Oscar withdrew his name from contention the last time around on the head coaching hire. I believe he felt he wasn’t quite ready and wanted some time as an assistant coach. I certainly can understand that and he was probably right about that, the transition from player to coach can be a tough one. But from where I sit, he’s real close now to being ready. He’s successfully made it through that first year of transition and is embracing the role of educator and teacher of the game. I’ve been kicking this around for a while, and after talking to Oscar today I am more convinced than ever it’s true. I think the man if going to be a top notch coach. Very soon I believe he’s going to be in high demand. Good coaches get snapped up quick and Oscar is known both here and in other countries. We know how much a benefit it is for a coach to have played in this league. So my advice to FCD is to pay the man enough so he will be around the next time the franchise needs a coach, or be prepared to lose him as someone is gonna want to hire him as a head coach real soon. If he goes, FCD may not be able to afford to get him back. Papi, as he is called by everyone around the team, is destined to coach this franchise some day. FCD has a good coach now, but they need to hold onto their other good coach. 20 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
Rumor: AA’s personal business is that he left for Bordeaux yesterday for a trial with the League 1 side before joining up with the U-23’s at their December camp.
Not my rumor and I can’t confirm it. Just passing it along.
Thanks for the report! It’s good to hear about what’s going on.
And I think you made some spot-on comments about Coach Pareja, just from what I’ve seen this year, with how he works & interacts with the players. I hope FCD can keep him.
P.S. The team is supposed to practice on Sunday, Nov. 25th (according to the Blog). If you find out, later, what the time the practice will be, could you let us know? It would be great to catch one more practice before the season ends (this Friday doesn’t work).
Thanks!
I was out there Monday at Gbandi started crap with one of the guys and withBobby… Is he some kind of arsehole????You are so right about Oscar…..
if arturo is at bordeaux, I will be on trial at real madrid next week
Couldn’t find anything about an AA tryout on the Les Girondins blogs and such. I’ll keep reading up to see they post something in the days to come.
They better not let Oscar get away. That would be BAD.
Initial research with some sources is turning up nothing on AA at Bordeaux. He would have to get FCD permission at this point as he will remain under contract until Dec 31.
Even after his mess up i hope we don’t lose Artie he is a good player and i like the guy. Gbandi is still being Gbandi it seems which isn’t good. I hope we can get healthy in the off season seems like a lot of guys are hurt and are going in for surgery.
I think AA is more of a problem then he is worth, and I don’t mean with his attitude or behavior. I think he handcuffs Morrows line-up and tactics. He is a left footed player that is not affective on the left side of the field. On the right side, he can perform his patented cut & crack move with his left, but he has almost no ability to distribute from that position and forget about him making crosses with his atrophied right leg. The only other option that I see for AA is to play the #10 position as a high attacking midfielder. I just don’t know if he has the vision and mentality for this, and then once again there is the problem of the gangrenous right limb again. So I say AU REVOIR, let him be someone elses problem.
Buzz, do think that there is any possibility of AA being a quality high attacking Mid?
There’s a funny article on the Bordeaux site which refers to Denilson (an ex-Girondin himself) as the “King of Oil”, deigning only to play in spots like Saudi Arabia and Texas where there’s lots of petroleum around.
Arturo is at Bordeaux, I know for a fact, 100 percent. Why wouldn’t he be? You bunch of losers with absolutely no true support for you team actually expect him to come back? What is wrong with you people? Let me wiegh the two options. Playing at Bordeaux on a decent contract or playing for FC Dallas in the most pathetic league in the world? And yes, he is definitely good enough to play in Europe. Why in the name of sanity would he ever stay here?
Get a Life – a bit harsh but FCD fans do turn on players quickly for some reason. Alvarez is a good player who is still young and can improve a lot. Hope he is back and that Dallas hangs onto it’s good players long enough to get continuity like New England and Houston.
FCD has trouble with continuity because players can’t wait to get the heck out. The FO, head coach and fan base are fair-weather who wouldn’t know the definition of loyalty if a dictionary fell on their heads. AA is not the only player looking/hoping/praying to leave. There’s a joke in MLS that there’s no happier player than a ex-FCD player.
Hey “Get a life” (or should we just call you Arturo?) – calling all FCD fans a bunch of losers is really not any way to ingratiate yourself to us. Nmae calling is so mature as well.
Any way, AA IS a good player jsut too one dimensional. Does not have very good vision most of the time and gets lost in a game too easily. Would I prefer that he blossoms wearing an FCD jersey? Hell yea!
Now crawl back into your hole “get a life” !
The King of Oil has to stick as a nickname.
Letts-FCD has loyal fans. It’s just that not enough of them live in Frisco (population how much?). And since the turn of the millennium, there has been no “fair-weather” to speak of. So anyone reading this article should be considered a die-hard fan.
Denilson, le roi du petrole!
I believe Alvarez is gone, that he will get a contract in europe and chances are that contract will pay him up to TEN times what FCD paid him. He is a good, talented,young player with plenty of upside. That fact seems to be lost on the powers that be at FCD who would rather spend the money on old players past their sell by date. Good luck to Arturo Alvarez.
Hey…Get a life…
from your bitterness and calling us the worst league in the world..i guess i can tell where you came from…
i don’t know if you heard what the King of Spain told the Venezuelan president Chavez…”Shut Up!!”
and please honor your screen name:”get a life”!
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