March 6th, 2010 . 12:54 pm . By: Buzz Carrick

Slayer of the winter, art thou here again? O welcome, thou that bring’st the summer nigh! The bitter wind makes not the victory vain. Nor will we mock thee for thy faint blue sky. – William Morris

What a gorgeous day, temps hit 70 and just a light breeze.  Absolutely fabulous condition for some soccer training.  Quite a few observers, coaches, and players remark on the wonderful conditions.  This is my second favorite time of year, fall being my favorite.  If it only it would last longer.  I’m sure it will be 98 next week.

Friday was media day at FCD training.  I set the over under at 10 media members and I’m glad to say FCD broke it.  I don’t think they hit 20, but it might have been close.  Media day is a chance for any media to get photos, interviews, and camera time of all the players.  It’s sort of a kick off the season thing.  I don’t want to say FCD has never done one before but I can’t really recall one.  There was no food or drink for media, not the usual goodie bag you might get with “Major” teams, but still a good event and a step in a positive direction.

With FCD having been out of town for a couple weeks this is the first chance to see the team in a while.  Hyndman said up till now has been about trialists and rookies, so now the real team building and tactical work begins.

News, Notes, and Observations

- Cunningham, McCarty, and Pearce are here in camp.  This is really the first time all have been here for a good stretch of time.  I would anticipate only Heath Perce missing this summer.

- Ruben Luna and Bryan Leyva are both in camp.  I asked, and Leyva can 100% for sure play in MLS league games this year.  Luna, if he signs, may or may not be able to play in games.  There was apparently a recent conference call about the home grown players signed during this year, but nothing has yet been decided on them.  The hold up on Luna has to do with some technicality and is not from lack of interest from either party.  It’s not real clear what the specific problem is.

- Leyva, by the way, you can’t tell is a 17 year old rookie.  His skill and play is MLS level, if reserve MLS level.  Luna you can tell is a kid, he’s got great potential, but he’s off the standard just a bit.   If you haven’t seen Luna play he’s very similar to Carlos Ruiz in style.  He drifts in and out, you don’t even notice him, then bang he’s in on goal and scoring.  He hit the post on a break in on Dario today, unlucky not to score.

- Marvin Chavez and Peri Marosevic have traded numbers.  Chavez is now wearing #18 and Marosevic #17.

- Speaking of Marosevic, he’s got some kind of foot problem and was rehabbing on the side.  (pressure sores both feet)

- Eric Avila and Marvin Chavez were also on the side working with trainer.  Avila hurt his foot in training this week (ankle sprain) and Chavez hurt his knee against Houston (right MCL sprain).  Both players will not travel to play Chicago this weekend as FCD doens’t want to risk them in the slightest.  Here’s a quote from Hyndman about either of them going to Chicago.

“No, we’re going to keep a couple of guys home. Marvin Chavez, he got banged up pretty good against Houston, a little strained knee.  Talking to Marvin today, if he pulls his leg out, it doesn’t hurt but if he brings his leg in, it hurts. So what we want to do is not hurt him anymore, so he will not be going.  And unfortunately, Eric Avila got hurt a couple of days ago in training with his foot.  He has made some very, very good recoveries but it’s one of those things that I think we have players we still need to make a final decision on, so I would not want to bring Avi there and make his injury worse.”

- Misho Fahim, Dane Saintus, and Duke Hashimoto are all three gone and no longer in the picture.  That’s four SMU guys out, if you add Paulo Da Silva who left some time ago.

- Eric Alexander is still here, in fact he’s a lock to make this team.  He’s maybe even passing Loyd as the first rookie that might see PT this year.  This kid could be the steal of the draft in round 3.  He’s Pitchkolan with good feet, field awareness, and passing ability.  He’s playing holding mid and excelling, and doing well when asked to play either of the other two central midfield roles.

- Edson Edward is also still in the mix, much to my surprise.  His feet are subpar and if he sticks it will be more as a prospect to develop than someone who can contribute.  He’s big, strong, physical, fast, and tough as heck.  But very, very RAW.   I think he’s going head to head with Steve Purdy for the 8th defender spot.  Which is shocking given how good Purdy looks in training, one wonders how Purdy is doing in games since we’ve seen so few this spring.  Cause based on training, this decision should be a no-brainer.

- Jason Yeisley is also still around and playing a bunch of target striker.  He’s the only real high, back to goal kind of striker in camp.  Not real fast though.

- Andrew Wiedeman continues to play a ton of wide right mid.  I’ve been meaning to ask Hyndman about that but I keep forgetting.

- Training is starting to get a little chippy.  The pressure is mounting and guys are starting to realize their spot may be in jeopardy.  This is the part of the year where a kick in the ankles now draws a face off or a few words running back up the field.

Catching Up with Schellas Hyndman

Since it was media day Hyndman was mobbed by 10+ reporters the entire time he was available.  I did get to talk to him alone for a couple minutes out on the field but it was just a catching up kind of chat.  I listened for a while to the media throng, but most of the questions are generic and obvious kinds of things anyone reading this site knows already.

I did pull out a couple details from my chat and from listening in, so here are some points Hyndman made.  In no particular order…

- FCD is still very much after a “in the box” striker.  They get offered lots of players both inside and outside of MLS, but they want to find the right guy at the right cost.  Cap is important and so is fit.  That’s what is taking so long.  The coaches knows just as much as anyone else they have all their eggs in the “Cunningham basket.”

- The CBA is NOT holding up signing anyone.  True the cap is undetermined, but FCD is in a good position in cap $$ terms and can do what they need to.

- Hyndman is 100% happy with Dario Sala, but does think he needs goalkeeper.  SH likes a real, legit challenge at every spot as he thinks people play better when challenged.  Point being, Lambo and Kelly are not in position to challenge Dario.  Lambo, SH says, needs games.  A loan?  He didn’t say specifically, but that’s what I took him to mean.   Kelley will either be the 3 if Lambo goes on loan or if he’s willing might stick around as a 4th training keeper.

- The coach also said “maybe” a left mid, depending on how things go.

- There are four people right now in contention for the wide mid spots: Chavez, Harris, Avila, and Shea.  Marvin Chavez appears, from the coach’s comments, to have the right side won.  The left for now is Brek Shea, but there wasn’t the conviction about it as Hyndman said Shea isn’t a “pure” left mid.  Heath Pearce was mentioned in this context as an almost after thought.

- Edson Edward has a “good chance” to make this team.

Training

After warm up was a 2/3s field game with full goals and goalies, 11v11 field players.  Each team had an extra midfielder to tighten space and make it traffic heavy.  8 passes had to be completed before going to goal.  The teams were similar to the next section, although ast. coach Marco Ferruzzi was playing to make up the even numbers.

Second part of training was a full field scrimmage.  The played about 45 minutes with Hyndman stopping play to work on free kicks and corners from time to time.  Nothing to complicated, just early season base sets.  McCarty and Pearce take corners and wide free kicks.  Those two are also over the ball on straight ahead shooting free kicks, but they are joined by Daniel Hernandez.

Red (First Team)

I would think it safe to assume you will see this team versus Chicago this weekend.

Green (Reserves)

Edward sat out for 15, then went in on the green team for Loyd.  Wallace also got a run with the red team in Benitez’s spot.

John, Harris, and Ihemelu did some extra work scoring on corners, mostly headers, on crosses from coach Keeshan.  Kelley was in goal for them.

Loyd did some crossing for Luna, Yeisley, and Wiedeman who were working on finishing with Ferruzzi. Lambo was in net.

Thought of the Day

This kid Eric Alexander can play.  He’s a legit MLS level player and has no problems with the speed or skill.  He’s not a player that will need to develop, but should be able to contribute early on this season.  As a starter? Well no, of course not.  But he’s already earned the respect of the staff and players.

Alexander is now firmly entrenched as Hernandez’s backup and he’s in the mix backing up both McCarty and Ferreira.  He will be on the bench and in certain circumstance you will see him coming in to games.

It makes me wonder what they heck has been going on at Indiana the last few years.  I know understand why they just made a coaching change.  With this kind of talent in their side the performances the last few years raises questions.

Categories: Practice Observations.

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