Tomorrow Kansas City plays their second international friendly of the season when they take on
English Premier League side Stoke City at Livestrong Sporting Park. Stoke so far is 1-1 on this
tour of the United States, they opened the tour with a loss to the Columbus Crew 2-1 and defeated
Orlando City 1-0.
An interesting mix of guys played a half-field scrimmage today. After the full squad warmed up
and most of the starters went back inside for their regen workouts, the players who did not start
Saturday's match took to the field. Interestingly, Kris Boyd and Eric Alexander joined the players
who didn't start, and Andrew Jean Baptiste was on the field as well, in spite of having also played
over 60 minutes on Saturday.
I was down to my t-shirt during San Jose Earthquakes' 5-0 drubbing of Chivas yesterday, very
much enjoying the sunny weather. Today, not so pleasant: rainy, windy and cold.
In fact, yesterday's starters spent today's training session indoors, doing their typical
post-match regen workouts in the gym.
The U.S. WNT finished up the on-field portion of its pre-Olympic training camp in Darlington with a
closed door training match against Norway. The Norwegians, who failed to qualify for the Olympics
after finishing third in Group D behind Brazil and Australia, were kind enough to drop down to
England for the scrimmage.
The training session today for the U.S. WNT consisted of a 90-minute closed-door scrimmage vs.
China as the team winds down its training camp in Princeton, N.J. Of course, the two teams will
meet for real on May 27 at PPL Park in Chester, Pa., and with more than 15,300 tickets now sold for
that match, it should be a rocking atmosphere.
Keelin Winters manages to just get a foot to the ball as Alex Morgan shoots
The U.S. team had just one training today, and as some ominous clouds rolled in during the
practice, it seemed for a moment like it might be a damp and windy session, but the rain quickly
passed and the team had another sharp practice that included a 30-minute full-field scrimmage (that
featured some stoppages to work on set plays) at the end.
Tomorrow's match against the Impact marks the beginning of the second dense stretch of games the
Sounders will have to play this season. If Seattle manages to make the US Open Cup semifinal by
beating the San Jose Earthquakes, they won't have a full week between games until after the July 18
friendly with Chelsea - a run of 10 matches in one month.
Today's Sounders U23 v Sounders FC scrimmage saw both Steve Zakuani and Josh Ford get time on
the field. As of today's MLS Injury Report both are moving towards healthy on the four step report.
David Estrada's injury in practice does not make the report.
SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC -- OUT: FW Babayele Sodade (R knee ACL tear); DOUBTFUL: GK Michael
Gspurning (R hip strain); DF Patrick Ianni (lower back pain); DF Leo Gonzalez (L quad strain); DF
Adam Johansson (R hamstring strain); MF Steve Zakuani (R leg fracture); QUESTIONABLE: GK Josh Ford
(R knee stress fracture)
A Seattle Sounders FC spokesman has confirmed that Ford is still on the short-term Injured
List.
Tukwila, Wash.-- A mixed squad of Seattle Sounders FC U18 and U16 players played a scrimmage
match against the Sounders Reserves and Sounders U-23 players. Sounders U-23 coach, Darren Sawatzky
helped lead the efforts on the Starfire training fields yesterday afternoon.
The match was very spirited and the Academy team played extremely well and were not at all
intimidated by the older, more experienced players.
Today's closed practice at the Timbers training center saw the introduction of forward Danny
Mwanga to the team. Mwanga took part in the full practice and was mobbed by the press
afterward.
Once again Eric Brunner was not at practice as he continues to recover from a concussion
suffered against Vancouver.
With only three days before their next game, a friendly against Spanish side Valencia, on
Wednesday, the Timbers had a regeneration day at Jeld-Wen Field to recover from their win over the
Chicago Fire. Most of the Timbers starters were absent from practice today, instead spending time
in the gym with the team's trainers.
The Timbers held a closed practice at Jeld-Wen Field today before taking on the Timbers U23's in
a closed scrimmage. With the Timbers in a long stretch between reserve games and the U23's only two
days away from their season opener this Friday, both teams could use some match fitness.
The Timbers started off practice with their usual warm-ups and games of keep away.
Monday's training was optional for players who played more than 45 minutes on Saturday, so those
players did not participate in the regular training. Rodney Wallace and Kalif Alhassan ran laps
around the field. Kris Boyd joined Wallace later on, and they kicked the ball around.
The rest of the boys, plus Spencer and assistants Cameron Knowles and Amos Magee, played a half
field scrimmage.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Figuring out how to get Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones and Maurice Edu
all on the field at the same time for the U.S. men's national team has proven difficult in the past
given their similar playing styles.
On Tuesday evening FC Jax Destroyers, the USL Premier Development League team from Jacksonville,
drove down to Orlando to scrimmage the U.S. Men's National Team. It was a great opportunity for the
U.S. to get a run against another opponent and for the Destroyers to face the top talent in the
country.
Monday's training session looked a bit more rigid in its structure, as all healthy players,
including Saturday's starters, participated in full training. Spencer referred to it as a "light
re-gen," but it looked a bit more strenuous than that. A sign of things to come, I suppose.
CARSON, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Galaxy suffered an injury setback on Wednesday as back-up
goalkeeper Brian Perk underwent surgery to repair a sports hernia.
Perk suffered injury while with the U.S. Under-23 side during their camp in January and has
dealt with the knock throughout the preseason.
Two first half goals from Brek Shea and a third from Michael Stephens delivered the
U-23 MNT a 3-0 win against the Atlanta Silverbacks in a closed-door scrimmage Sunday night in
Nashville. All 18 players saw action, with U.S. U-23 head coach Caleb Porter making seven changes
at halftime.
It might as well have been a scrimmage for the young Americans as they put on a clinic in their
Olympic qualifying opener. The US U-23 roster is stacked with talent led by Caleb Porter and with
all that talent comes high expectations. The young men met those expectations and then some by
cruising to a 6-0 victory over Cuba in the Group A opener.
Brek Shea led the U.S. Under-23 men's national team to victory in their final tuneup before
Olympic qualifying, scoring two goals in a 3-0 victory over the Atlanta Silverbacks.
Shea scored his brace against the NASL club in the first half of the closed-door scrimmage
played at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn.
The U.S. Under-23 men's national team is just over a week away from opening its Olympic
qualifying campaign, and it will prepare for that with a game against the Atlanta Silverbacks.
Caleb Porter's side will take on Atlanta in a closed-door scrimmage on March 18 at Lipscomb
University in Nashville, Tenn.
Whether you're going to high school or college football games, watching the NFL or playing on the gridiron yourself (see below), here's the lingo that you need to know.
Blitz When defensive secondary players rush through the offensive line into the backfield to try to "sack" the quarterback.
The Timbers reserves will be taking on Oregon State this afternoon in a bid to find more playing
time for the team's reserves while giving the Beavers some high level competition as they prepare
for the fall season. The scrimmage is closed to the public, but I will be there to take in the
proceedings.
Go to the Modelo Especial Facebook page right now and sign up today to win a trip to meet USA and
Fulham star Clint Dempsey, and our Mexican arch-villain Gerardo Torrado.
Prize package includes:
*Round-trip travel to NYC with deluxe hotel accommodations for two
*Full day of fantasy camp (clinic & scrimmage) with Clint Dempsey and Gerardo Torrado
*Enjoy a Modelo Especial with Dempsey and Torrado following camp
*Modelo Unido jersey
The U.S. WNT spent its last full day at its training base in Darlington today, but that didn't
include training. After a scrimmage yesterday, the U.S. players got today off, besides some regen
work in the morning that included yoga.
The players mostly rested today and packed up in preparation for traveling to Glasgow, Scotland
tomorrow, but a handful of players took a short excursion to the charming city of Durham for some
brief shopping and dinner.
The next step in Omar Gonzalez's recovery from a torn ACL is complete.
A day after testing his recovered left knee by playing 45 minutes in a scrimmage with the Los
Angeles Galaxy's reserve squad, Gonzalez was activated from the disabled list by the club. Gonzalez
is now eligible to make his season debut on Wednesday at the Home Depot Center against the
Philadelphia Union.
Last week FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced that he would like to see an alternative to
penalty shootouts, calling them a "tragedy". He asked Franz Beckenbauer (who is head of a task
force to recommend rule changes for the 2014 World Cup) to brainstorm a better way to settle
matches that end in draws.
Orlando, FL The Barcelona USA under 11 boys continue to rack up the frequent
flyer miles and are currently in Florida to participate in the Danone Nations Cup. Â We arrived
Thursday afternoon with our sights set on the prize. Â Winner gets an all expense trip to Poland in
a few months to compete in the World Finals against other champions from participating
countries.
It's all gotten a little too familiar, asking Coach John Spencer on a Monday what he thinks
about a loss on the previous Saturday. Oh well.
The Monday training session followed the same general pattern as others earlier in the season,
with the whole team warming up together, before the starters and John Ireland headed for the gym to
continue their regen workouts.
Behind every great team...are great people. Or so they say. Every training session, scrimmage,
media session and match played there are people working behind the scenes to see that it all runs
smoothly. In what will be an the first in a series of articles looking into the "Plight of..."
these people, we have one who is nearly invaluable to the successful efforts of a Major League
Soccer team: the equipment manager.
The Union's scrimmage with Belen on Thursday ended in the first half after a scuffle broke out
with the Union already down 2–0.
A report on the Belen website (crappy translation here; did the first goal come from a PK?))
accuses the Union of engaging in "anti-football." The report continues, "What most annoyed the
Belemitas was the attitude of the coaching staff who, from the beginning, did not stop shouting
insults not only to the players but also the Belen referee and his assistants.
