Practice Observations: Ice Cold
January 28th, 2009 . 12:17 am . By: Buzz Carrick
Holy cow is it cold today. Freezing, literally. There’s a layer of ice on the fence around the field. Unfortunately that makes for a not wonderful session. Everyone is working hard but looks stiff and can’t really get it into top gear. It’s so cold the evening session is canceled for the pending weather. I’m sure it will be 80 tomorrow. News, Notes and Observations.- Do you recall how FCD was grandfathered in with the roster cut down? Do you recall where FCD had 5 Generation adidas players rather than 4 and that was ok? Do you recall me mentioning that if FCD picked anther Ga player he would be on the senior roster? Well, this being MLS, if turns out that not just any Ga they picked but EVERY Ga they have over 4 is on the senior roster of 18 to 20. You might want to check the Roster Dance, cause if you include a #10, there’s basically one spot left (the 20th) with nine people now trying to get it. (I don’t know which Ga player will officially be on the senior roster, so I put Guarda up there for now as he was the newest one.) - Kenny Cooper is back and trains today. He looks great and is fit and ready. - Anthony Wallace, Brek Shea, and Josh Lambo are all back. Shea and Lambo trained. Wallace was inside doing some rehab on a hammy… or maybe a test cause I’m told he’ll train tomorrow. Shea looks like he’s 100%. - An important answer: Shea trained at left back and center back with FCD. I asked earlier this week and Hyndman is still thinking Shea is going to be a center back on this team. However, Shea played left midfield and wing for the US U20s. - Peri Marosevic arrived today. He had gone home to get organized and collect his stuff after U20 camp. He should be training tomorrow. - New Trialist? Adrian Chevannes. I’m sure everyone knows who he is. Right back, former US U17 and SMU. With both Dello and Serioux out FCD needed a body to train. Long odds, but Hyndman knows him. - Sean Bucknor is here today. Instant Scouting Report (Just Add Water): Even in the cold looks like he moves well. Tall and fleet runner. Very raw and a bit lost from time to time, but had moments that were interesting. He’s a Jamaican striker from Tampa U who was ineligible this last season. Previously played Juco ball. - JD Binger is supposed to be in tonight and train tomorrow. - Juan Guerra also in today. Instant Scouting Report (Just Add Water): Works hard, covers lots of ground. Doesn’t look out of place and has a little something. A more complete player now than Bucknor. - Kevin Ouma is still here. No sign of Mike Sambursky. - Adrian Serioux is rehabbing still. - Michael Dello-Russo is inside working out, guess he can’t train yet with the broken nose. - The odds are getting longer on Chase Wileman as he’s still out hurt and now’s not a good time to be hurt. - George John also out for a while with is knee, being just drafted, odds are on he’ll make the roster. - No Rocha yet. - Marcel Saragosa is back in Dallas. He looks fine but joins Serioux in rehab. They are going to bring him back very slowly I’m told. No reason to rush him. Catching up with Schellas HyndmanWork interfered with my schedule today and I didn’t even start this report till midnight. It’s 1 AM now, I’m stuck in a cheap Waco hotel, and I still haven’t gotten to the Hyndman stuff. So I figured I’d go ahead and post this report and then do the Q&A in the morning. Sorry, my work/life is a bit chaotic right now. TrainingToday was deeper in the process of the defense building progression. The 1v1, etc, from last week has progressed to 4 man defensive shape, compactness, and coverage. First drill is a half field with 4 defenders (and a goalie) against 4 attackers and 2 wide outside the cones crossers. Drill is about the wide defender moving out to take the crosser and the defense rotating to cover. First Green (D): Wagner, Moor, Pitch, and Chevannes. Purdy and Shea rotate in. After some time, Ricchetti is added to a the green as a d-mid. Some more rotations and an extra player is added to blue. Second drill is a 60 yard field with two keepers, two sets of defenders, and one attacking team that goes end to end. Green One (D): Guarda (DM), Wagner, Moor, Pitch, Chevannes Training ended with some full field running and passing. Pure fitness, but as usual with Hyndman, fitness with a ball. Thought of the DaySo all of a sudden the roster got very tight. By my estimation, with McCarty still on the roster and a #10 in theory on the way, there are nine players going for one spot. And that doesn’t include FCD draft pick Brian Shriver who is finishing school. George John, Jamie Watson, Juan Guerra, JD Binger, Sean Bucknor, Kevin Ouma, Chase Wileman, Jeff Rowland, and now Adrian Chevannes are all in camp or will be soon and seem to all be up for the one spot. So who’s your choice? 18 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
My choice is that FCD start a low-level PDL team that can be a feeder. I think Colorado and Chicago have already done it. Any chance of that happening, Buzz? And how would it work within MLS rules?
Unbelievable. I didn’t know Don Garber was related to Bud Selig.
“work got in the way of my schedule” lol don’t you be apologizing there — and wait till the roads are clear – i don’t care what the destination
Don’t worry about it being 80 degrees. If they practice this morning you might see the orange ball being used.
Steve, it’s possible. I’ve talked to Hitch about it so I know it’s on the radar as something they want to do eventually. Having a PDL team in this market already complicates things.
And training was canceled this morning.
OKC might be an interesting spot to try a PDL team. Only have the Hornets, and minor league baseball to compete with, plus its a 2 or 2 and half hr drive. Just throwing it out there.
As far as the roster dance is concerned, FCD will have to keep 4 strikers on the roster, especially with Cunningham’s age. That means you have to put Watson up in the 18 for now until they sign someone?
Well, they have tried the Richetti as striker in the past IIRC. He might be workable for a short duration.
I have to admit, I’d like to see Watson make it. I still remember the goal he put in on us years ago, and how much it pissed off the FCD crowd and crew. I like that kind of player on our team.
Buzz-don’t ever apologize for doing this (or not being able to do this as it were). glad to hear that you are “working”.
I am not a huge fan of Watson, just think we have to keep 4 forwards and he is the leading candidate right now.
Ricchetti wasn’t tried at striker, Rocha was. Maybe SH has that in mind. Unforunately, he is not at camp yet, so can’t see how he is used.
I thnk Brek would be a better option as he has played FW in his career.
I thought they had experimented with Rocha as a striker.. so there’s always that too.
I don’t see us keeping Torres & Pitchkolan unless John goes on an injury list.
We can’t be happy at RM, having neither Rocha or Shriver currently available.
For 4th forward, we haven’t seen Guerra or Bucknor yet, but we have seen Watson. To me if Watson make the Team, FCD will have missed filling a need.
methinks Pitch is on his way out the door too, although i hate that idea. but with Drew Moor, Torres, Purdy, Shea, and the draft pick John, Pitch doesnt seem to fit as he’s more expensive than the draft pick, SH just signed Purdy/Torres and wont cut them, and Shea is salary protected as GA.
Richetti showed he can play central defense and so can Serioux, in a pinch.
I liked Shea at left wing and forward.
if you look at VDB and brek, the have similar builds. brek really needs to learn from VDB so that he’ll be able to utilize his size as well as dave.
[...] you’re an avid reader of 3rd Degree you may have already seen in the practice report that the two extra Generation adidas players are on the senior roster. I did some more thinking about it and decided to tweak the Roster Dance again to try and better [...]
Looks like we have ourselves a new forward. On the FCD Blog it says we have signed the forward from University of Tampa, Sean Bucknor. He must have really impressed in the short time he’s been here