It was a very soggy day here today in Vancouver as the Blue and White took the pitch for the first time as a group in 2011. Before the players took the field Bob Lenarduzzi, Tom Soehn, and Teitur Thordason, each addressed the media. There isn't a lot of sense in going over everything that was said today because there were not a lot of surprises. The big hitters came in and asked a lot of questions most of us already knew the answers for.
However Bob Lenarduzzi did happen to mention that The 'Caps expect to be into BC Place in late September, and Teitur casually threw it out there that the team is still looking to add one more preseason game to the schedule in the last week before the season starts.
Player wise a couple guys caught my eye durring the drills.
Wes Knight was the first guy in on every drill and the first guy back from water breaks, which to some people seems like just something really silly, but it speaks a lot to the guys work ethic.
Alain Rochat was very quick both with and without the ball, he did everything I expected to see from him, he made some long blind passes across the pitch that landed right on the money whenever his teammate called for the ball. He looks to be the sharpest as far as touch on the ball and fitness.
Michael Boxall, whom the Caps took first overall in the Supplemental Draft... huge hands... I had it wrong when I said he had full international experience with New Zealand, technically he has in fact played for New Zealand A which is a developmental program for the U-20 Squad. He's hoping that he'll be able to get some exposure with the 'Caps so he can hopefully make the full All Whites squad in the coming years.
Omar Selgado didn't really seem to enjoy the rain, but lets be honest the weather sucked today. He also had the largest collection of boots in the room.
Gershon Koffie took a kick on the bottom of the foot, but popped up pretty quickly after. Considering I had to leave the practice 15 minutes early I can't say that was the only injury today but that was the closest thing to one until that point.
Mouloud Akloul and Bedri Gashi were both absent from training today. They are both supposed to be rejoining the team this week.
Ryan O'Leary in in camp. He is coming over to the 'Caps from Kilmarnock in Scotland, and is a former U20 player in the Scottish Player Pool.
Ethan Gage was notably absent as he is currently on trial at Reading in England, which might also explain why he was recently left out of the lineup for Canada's training camp in preparations for the Olympic Qualifying Campaign.
Beyond that the club laid out its plans for the spring where they confirmed that they will be holding exhibition matches against Real Salt Lake, Columbus Crew, Chivas USA, Portland, and Seattle.
The first two games of the season will be Toronto at home and then 7 days later in Philadelphia against the Union at PPL Park.