February 8th, 2008 . 2:47 pm . By: Buzz Carrick

I’m all out of hope, One more bad dream could bring a fall. - Billy Idol

Absolutely beautiful today, I drove me CJ7 up to training, which while a touch cold on the highway in the morning, was beautiful the rest of the day driving around. Today is one of the first times I got my eyes on senior roster players with soccer balls out so I’ve got some comments and impressions.

One bizarre story right off the top.

New, Notes, & Observations

- Trialist Ali Manouchehri is gone after one day.  He had arrived on Wednesday.  Last night he was complaining that his eye hurt so he went to the emergency room and it turns out he has a detached retina.  Apparently he has to get surgery in the next week or he risks going blind.  So today he said goodbye and left Dallas.  Apparently he’s had an operation on the retina before, so while it’s disappointing for FCD, that’s nothing compared to the trouble the kid might be in.  Good luck and best wishes to him; and our hopes go with him for a speedy recovery.

- Morrow says they are working out a date for Robert Malcolm to come and that he’s a higher level trialist that what’s in camp now.  He’s still under contract and has other options so FCD may have to work some to sign him if Morrow decides he’s the guy.

- I asked about the trialists here this week and Morrow says it’s basically an extended open tryout for them.  The club isn’t doing a full blown open public tryout this year because of the Sueno MLS.  Instead they invited the cream of the crop of resumes they had gotten that would fall into this category.  Most of them will be gone next week unless they prove something this weekend. 

- That doesn’t include the draft picks who will be staying until cut down day.  Or longer obviously if they make it.

- Morrow says FCD has reached an agreement in principle with Roberto Mina, but that he has not in fact signed.  FCD is going to get him a tourist visa to come up on trial so Morrow can check him out.  Morrow wants Mina to “prove himself and be assessed” in person to show he is both fit and healthy before they actually sign him, which of course will also be dependent on Mina getting a work visa.

- I asked Morrow about Jamie Watson specifically, who is training here.  Morrow says the only room for him is on the developmental roster so Watson is in competition for those limited spots.

- By the way, March 1st is roster compliance day. As usual FCD will be in Brazil by that point so they will actually cut down to the proper roster on the day the depart.

- T&T keeper Marvin Phillips is training today.

- T&T players Conrad Smith and Sheldon Emmanuel will be here next week.

- Morrow says he has 2 or 3 candidates in mind for the open goalkeeper coaching job.  Here today is Clemson assistant coach Drew Keeshan.  Morrow says he wanted to get a first look him.  It’s a coaching try out if you will.

- Ryan Dempsey showed up today.  No physical  yet so he just sits and watches.

First Impressions

Since this was the first day I have seen both the trialists and the FCD current roster players, I figured I would give you some first impressions on some of them.

Trialists

- Ben Nason: the touch is just a bit heavy but he is active and energetic.

- Jamil Roberts: nervous with the ball.  He’s far too reactive at this point.

- Chuck Kim: looks to have the quickest feet and mental side of this bunch, but his decision making and passing vision aren’t great.

- Toure: doesn’t look wonderful in tight space, but that’s not his game.  He’s a big athletic target striker.

- Sam Stockley: takes control of his team in training, good communication and leadership.  Feet not bad for a defender, plays head up.  He looks younger than I expected.

- Kenneth Cristensen: follows play too much and isn’t smooth enough.

- Gustavo Cabrera: solid player, nice all around game. Might be worth a longer look.

- Javier Alvial: real nice feet for 16.  Has potential, but not yet for MLS.

FCD Players

- Cooper looks sharp and fit.  Real positive for me to see him come in ready and raring to go. 

- Ricardinho has matured. He’s been training with CAP this winter.  He’s put on some upper body mass and filled out.  He looks fantastic today and dangerous as hell.  Massive winter progression here, he looks like a man instead of a kid.

- Eric Avila can play.  The kid was the best player on his training team.  Terrific in tight space, great awareness, top notch feet.  I’d like to see more intensity though.  He’s just  a touch too laid back.  I want to se him playing with more aggression and not taking it easy.

- Saragosa looks determined to win a starting spot. He’s fit and ready.  He absolutely crushed Cooper once today.

- Alex Yi is moving really well and looks healthier than he has in a year. I asked him about it and he says he feels great.  He lost some weight and trimmed down, “I feel so light on my feet,” he said.  We had talked before about a long term muscle problem being related to something else and he says he’s been working with a physical therapist on his hips.  They think that was the problem and may have it corrected. All of which is exciting for FCD defensive prospects.  It’s also a contract year for Yi, so it’s time to cut bait.

- Dario Sala was in fantastic form today keeping almost everything out of his net when the trialists where shooting.

- Abdus Ibrahim looks confident.  He used to look scared all the time, today he’s a part of the team.  No longer a rookie, as it were.  Ferruzzi kept Ibbe out late to work build out play along the touchline, getting a feel for wide play on the left.  It makes me think he might be in the mix at left wingback.

Training

The team is broken into two groups who run through two completely different training session.  It’s essentially two different practices.

Group One: Trialists

Under the eye of Jorge Alvail.  He has them doing one touch work then moves them into a 6v4 possession game where 5 passes is a goal.  During the one touch work they all look quite capable, but the possession games exposes the touch some and is played at a pace below MLS training.  Still there are one or two interesting players here.  Here’s the three groups for the possession game.

Orange: Scott Jones and Kim
Yellow: Alvial Watson, Nason, Cabrera
Blue: Stockley, Roberts, Toure, Cristensen

They finished up with some 3 man combo drills progressing to goal with final cross into two player and a keeper in net.  FCD does this drill all the time during the regular season.

Group Two: FCD Roster Players

This group started out with fitness running under the eye of Ferruzzi and Morrow.  After about 45 minutes of running, they came back to field #1 and played two rounds of 4v4 mini games with goals.  Here’s the teams.

Blue: Oduro, Ricchetti, Dello-Russo, and Thompson
Orange: Cooper, Yi, Daniels, and Ibrahim
Red: Rhine, Wagenfuhr, Avila, Wileman
Green: Pitchkolan, Saragosa, Ricardinho, and Ferruzzi

Thought of the Day

It’s always fun to see how players progress and change over the winter.  They almost always do in some fashion.  Some come back fit and ready, some out of shape and lazy.  Some of them never recovery from sitting around for two months.

Like this year with Ricardinho and Ibrahim, you often get remarkable transformations in young players.  And for that matter old ones too as they can suddenly feel very old.  Every year there are surprises, like Toja for example we had zero expectations of last year.  Compare that to Ricchetti we knew should be good and a key part of the team.

So what’s the surprise going to be this year?  I had a great instinctual response to Ricardinho today, he might be one.  Yi healthy might be a real surprise.  How about McCarty with the raves I’m hearing from U23 camp?  Could it be Wallace who is allegedly in high demand around the league?  My own personnel favorite André Rocha, who while not signed yet I am totally stocked about, might be very interesting.

So who do you think it’s gonna be the big surprise this year?

Categories: Practice Observations.

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