Today's post is a bit late as I was at the open training at the Riot. What follows, as a result, is a collection of thoughts, musings and the like derived from the short experience there.
Tony Beltran, Will Johnson, Javier Morales, Jonny Steele, and Nat Borchers all went through training and didn't seem to have any real trouble. The training session was not particularly intensive, but it was encouraging to see them continue on their road to recovery.
Much of the training was small-sided, and nearly all of it (save some running and stretching) was with the ball. It's quite nice to see. Everyone looked sharp, fit — and most importantly, everyone looked like they were having a good time. After that win against Los Angeles, I don't blame them.
It was also nice to see some of the combinations that were being worked on: Near the end, Diogo de Almeida and Nat Borchers were working together, with the former on crosses and the latter on headers — Nat is clearly taking his recovery seriously. (I like the notion that this is a surprise. Clearly it is not.)
Speaking of Nat, he signed my Borlave kit. What a guy.
I'm struggling with my lineup prediction as a result of the training session. Nobody sat out of training (though Javi seemed to be absent the first few minutes) but, likewise, nobody went particularly hard. Except Olave, who at one point, took out the talismanic Javier, prompting Javi to throw his arms up in mock-protest to the referee (or, well, lack there of.)
All told, everyone looks really quite good and ready. Tomorrow's the first home match of the season, and we'll need everyone as strong as they can be.
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The pitch looks absolutely fantastic. Perhaps this is due to some mild winter considerations, but regardless, it's set to look stellar for the home opener. It's smooth as can be: A player's dream. If it can stay in this condition through the season, we'll be looking pretty. We did see some degradation last year, but nothing to the level of some clubs' grounds. We must have quite good groundskeepers.
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Right, on to the opposition a bit. I don't have particularly much to say about New York but this: What are they doing? Do they know? Do we know? Does anybody know?
Speaking of New York, here's a wonderful quote from Thierry Henry about our club.
"I told you for a very long time, (Salt Lake is) far ahead of us," he said. "For me, I said it for a very long time - they are, if not with L.A., the best team in this league – by a distance. It’s not a coincidence that we didn’t beat them yet since I’m here. Not a lot of teams beat Salt Lake, especially at their place. It’s going to be a difficult task. Talent is not enough, and you know it and I know it. We just have to work."
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'Til tomorrow, when I'll make my prediction and preview the match. It's finally here.
Oh, and if you'd like to see some mediocre photos from practice, come check out Under the Crossbar on Facebook. Hooray.
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