Today the intensity picked up a bit as the focus seemed to be geared a little more towards getting into game speed applications of what they have been working on all week. Everybody seemed to have calmed down from their first couple days where you could clearly see the players were nervous or even anxious to prove their worth to the club.
Terry Dunfield kept on keepin' on, he is clearly going to be one of the players to watch this year with The 'Caps, I think he's really going to do well in MLS, his skill set is going to be incredibly valuable . Kind of a poor mans JDG.
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Atiba Harris continues to live up to his billing as a shifty player who can't finish. I don't think he put the ball in the net once during the entire practice. I am confident in saying that he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from 20 feet away. He does bring blinding speed and decent ball control. So as long as he can keep his turnovers down he should be able to contribute. He claims he can play anything but keeper, so I'm looking forward to see if he can bring something more then just some good jokes.
Phil Davies is showing some confidence, a few times he even beat Alain Rochat one-on-one. There were a couple real great battles between the two Quebec-born players.
The second funny thing in today's training session was Wes Knight and Blake Wagner managing to lose a ball during a ball control drill. I don't mean that the ball just rolled off and then they went and chased it down. I mean they lost the ball. It disappeared. Wagner looked directly at me after looking for the ball and said "It's gone for good". It disappeared somewhere into the framework of the stadium.
But the funniest thing by far was the battle between Michael Boxall and Davide Chiumiento. The 200 pound Kiwi vs. Heidi. I still don't see what is so appealing about an undersized midfielder who doesn't track back, and is scared to tackle. They've already got Gershon Koffie... and at least he'll make a tackle.
Speaking of Gershon; I'm still convinced that Koffie isn't big enough to make the transition to MLS. In addition to that he gets far too down on himself when he misses the net in simple shooting drills. I'm pretty sure he's missed the net before so he should probably just worry about focusing on improving rather then focusing on the fact he's sent a ball 8 feet wide yet again.
Ryan O'Leary was not participating in full training as he was suffering from what a Google search of the symptoms would call Black Toe. Basically due to his choice of footwear and the wet turf, the nail on both of his big toes has gone black. He said he spent the night draining the blood from under his nails and there was no improvement. He felt that practice wasn't going to go well for him today as he was in "agony" and the coaching staff gave him the Ok to sit this one out. He expects to be back training on Saturday.
Alain Rochat looks to be gaining confidence and growing more comfortable with his teammates. He really looks to be the best player on the field and for a "quiet guy" seems to have a pretty good sense of humour. This guy is good, I can't wait for the rest of you to see what he brings to the pitch.
The 'Caps received striker Long Tan in return for Jonny Steele and Ricardo Sanchez last year (technically they got him after the season, but they sent Steele and Sanchez the other way last summer). I can't see him making the team. He runs right at guys, which would be fine if he actually made a move, or got by them. He really just runs at them, and into them, losing the ball in their feet immediately then either ends up on the ground or just standing there without the ball. If Long Tan makes the team he'll be on the bench for a long time.
Blake Wagner finally seemed to be getting into the swing of things. There appeared to be a complete change between Thursday and Monday. His first couple of days in camp I was really unimpressed with what he was bringing to the table. His body language and his enthusiasm didn't seem to be sending the right message. By the end of training on Thursday he had a smile on his face and seemed far more alert and even his posture was different. He is definitely looking forward to getting down to Arizona and "playing on real grass" and getting some sun.
The 'Caps players will have Friday as a travel day before they begin training again on Saturday in Arizona. They will face Real Salt Lake (Tuesday, February 1st) and The Columbus Crew (Tuesday, February 8th). Both will be preparing for their upcoming matches in the CONCACAF Champions League. Columbus have undertaken a massive overhaul on their roster and Real Salt Lake have just reloaded their very deep roster. The games will each consist of three; 45 minute periods so that the coaching staffs will be able to get a good look at the large number of players that they will be bringing.
I will not be able to make the trip to Arizona, so I will try to keep you updated with any information that comes my way between now and the teams return home to Vancouver.