April 30th, 2008 . 6:28 pm . By: Buzz Carrick

Photo courtesy FC Dallas.

Your teacher wants you to go slow, and she’s wrong because it’s the fastest who get paid and it’s the fastest who get laid. - Reese Bobby

Terrific day for racing… er… I mean training. Really beautiful out, I was wishing I was on the golf course. Bit windy. Although as usual the stadium blocks most of it from the FCD training field.

You may be aware by now that Dan Wheldon dropped by training to participate. Let’s just say he shouldn’t quit his day job. Nice promotion for FCD though as there were about 20 media out. That’s WAY more than usual.

News, Notes, & Observations

- Jamie Watson is still around. He’s fighting for a developmental spot.

- David Monsalve is in camp today. He’s a young (19) Canadian keeper of Colombian descent. He played for Toronto once or twice, but he’s a member of the MLS emergency keeper pool.

- Also here is Alex Fischera. He’s 24 and was one of the final 18 for Dallas Sueño. His age makes him a viable developmental signing as a possible Alex Yi replacement. He plays a little defense today but not enough for me to get a real idea about him.

- Adrian Serioux has a little back stiffness and took the day off as a precaution. Morrow didn’t seem to concerned, saying it was serious [smirk], so I would expect Serioux return to training tomorrow.

- Dax McCarty looks to have another hernia flare up. Morrow thinks it’s related to burn out and Dax might need a break. Recovery time is usually two to three weeks and it’s the same procedure Dax had last year. Dax is capable of training and playing with the injury, as he did today, but I would anticipate they will go ahead and have him worked on and shut him down for a few weeks to let the kid recharge. I’d give him a month if it was me.

- Abdus Ibrahim was missing and because I’m like that I forgot to ask Morrow where he was.

- As frequently happens, Cooper and Brek Shea stayed out and did extra shooting after everyone else was gone. This kid Shea looks like a really hard worker.

- Bobby Rhine is back in training, but he’s going to need time and/or reserve minutes prior to getting back in the first team contention.

- Josh Lambo had some metal plates taken out of his mouth. He’s cleared for light training. Today he jogged and did some simple hand drills.

Catching up with Morrow

It was kinda a light day for questions with all the distractions from Wheldon and the other media. So not a lot of the talk was useful as quotes. Much of what I got to talk to Morrow about was injuries.

Remember that the translations are a bit. I don’t speak for Morrow.

How hard is it to prepare for unknown team?

Not to difficult. We’ve seen them on tape a few times, we know all the player pretty well. There a well organized team, hard to break down. They work hard for each other, stay in a good shape, and try to make it difficult to play against them. It’s not to difficult, we’ll be well prepared to face them this weekend.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: No worries, they suck.

How was Whledon, did he show you some good moves?

I don’t know that he showed me some good ones. [general laughter] It’s great. It’s great for him to come out, it’s good publicity for us. We’re always glad to have personalities out here training with us. It’s great.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: I hate that crap.

How tough is the San Jose back line?

They’re well organized in the back four. They got some guys that with some experience that have been around the league for a little while and know exactly what their job is. I think San Jose is doing a good job of trying to build their team from a strong defensive unit.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: They forgot to get any offense.

Training

Jogging and warm up as usual to start. After that was a split field drill where Morrow worked the front seven against a back four. The opposite end of the field was some simple 4v3 shooting type drills.

Following the split field was a full walk through for about 45 minutes, in which Dan Wheldon took part in the last 5 or 10 minutes. The green team worked in a 4-4-2, in preparation for San Jose one has to think. Morrow ran through several variations of line up and is clearly looking at some options.

Training finished with some in the box finishing and shooting.

Lineup Prediction

Option One: While Dax participated in training, it’s not highly likely he’ll start, so option one is if he misses out. Anthony Wallace played in Adrian Serioux’s spot in the walk through, but I except Adrian to play.

Option Two: Thompson in as a center forward flanked by Cooper and Alvarez as wings. Wagner out for Toja at left wing back.

Option Three: Ricardinho in for Cooper, McCarty in for Rocha, and Daniels in for Moor. Clearly a set up of highly probable subs and/or guys in competition for playing time.

Thought of the Day

I mentioned that training finished with some in the box finishing drills, and I mention it again because of Alex Fischera. He scored again and again and out finished virtually every FCD player. It’s was really amazing to watch frankly. The guy is ridiculous in the box, just freakish… or at least he is in training. It was almost surreal. Every shot hit the frame and most of them went in. No shots wide (Alvarez), over the top (Cooper), or even into the stadium (Ricchetti).

Of course that doesn’t mean Fischera can play, since he’s a defender really it won’t come up much. One drill on one day could be a fluke. Only long term scouting will tell us if he can play. But it does give me a glimpse into some of his possible potential.

And of course it makes me wonder about FCD’s finishing in general that he looked so good.

Categories: Practice Observations.

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