Revs opened training camp with entrance physicals Thursday night and conditioning testing Friday. Consistency a key concept as preseason camp opens Less roster turnover, return of head coach Jay Heaps give Revs more stability in 2013 January 19, 2013 Jeff Lemieux
Any idea when we'll get word on who is on trial with the team? I know Quinton Griffith packed his short shorts to join the squad, but who else do we have in?
Let the season begin! Bring on the prestigious Desert Diamond Cup! I feel much more positive this preseason than I did the last one. This roster is miles better than the one that flew off to Tucson in January of last year.
per Jeff Lemieux: Non-rostered training camp participants: Bilal Duckett (D), Quinton Griffith (D), Matt Horth (F), Olivier Kapo (F). #NERevs
interesting that Griffith is listed as a Defender. possibly a typo, but i wonder if Heaps wants to try him out at LB. another thought: technically all three of Donnie Smith, Q Griffith, and Kapo are left-wingers. i wonder if that means anything re: Nguyen or (more likely) Toja?
Bilal Duckett was a 3rd round (37th overall) SuperDraft pick of the Whitecaps in 2011. He made 4 appearances. He spent 2012 with the Harrisburg City Islanders.
Olivier Kapo, age 32, born in the Ivory Coast, played for France's NT (9 appearances, last in 2004). Spent 2012 with Auxerre (Ligue 1) playing left wing (7 goals). Matt Horth played 4 years for Gordon College (Wenham, MA). Went undrafted in the 2011 SuperDraft, signed with Atlanta Silverbacks (NASL) where he scored 18 goals in 49 games over the last two seasons.
Kapo is pretty interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivier_Kapo he has a pretty decent resume or at least he played with some good clubs. Horth plays for the Silverbacks, 18 goals in 49 games
Kapo was linked to Chivas USA a while back. Wiki says he signed an 18 month contract with Auxerre in January 2012. Anyone know what led to him leaving? I can't find anything and Auxerre's website still has him listed as their no. 10. I'm also interested in the choices of Kapo and Griffith since both seem like the only real wingers in camp. We could certainly use the width, but it also seems as though we're set on playing through the middle. Kapo could fit there as well as he scored 7 in his last 20 with Auxerre, which isn't exactly a lofty total, but shows that he does get into the box.
Auxerre were relegated last season, so he might have had a relegation clause in his contract. I'm curious why so many left mids are in camp right now, since that's Nguyen's spot.
if i had to guess, i would suggest that maybe Griffith is being looked at as a LB option and Kapo would be a LM option pushing Nguyen to the CAM role and relegating the seemingly always injured Toja to the bench (or selling/trading him)
I really hope they're not thinking that. Nguyen isn't a CAM, his game is far more suited to the wing, and they shouldn't be shopping Toja before training camp has even started given his limited time on the team - he's the only true CM on the roster right now. Also, while I wouldn't mind Kapo as another forward option, I wouldn't trust a starting spot to a 32-year-old coming from a league with a slower speed of play than MLS.
Training camp has started, and Toja is already injured: https://twitter.com/kylejmccarthy/status/293397367267393537 Don't get me wrong, the guy's got buckets of talent, and I hope he can fill the role. But he needed more time than the season even allotted to get healthy and match-fit last year, and he's not exactly cloaking himself in glory as 2013 begins.
Kapo played for them on 12/21. Looks like a recent release since he did not play for them 1/12. Also, Kapo is a right mid who has been listed at forward a couple times for Auxerre (atleast on soccernet reports). I don't think Kapo is competition for Nguyen. The other thing that we could be looking at is some combination of Kapo, Nguyen, Rowe, Fagundez, and Toja all shifting positions behind Bengtson. I wouldn't mind that at all...as long as they are getting proper support from Cisse, Simms, Dorman, and McCarthy behind them.
Kapo is an attacking mid who can play centrally, on either wing, or as a second striker. You can see where he's played on this website: http://www.football-lineups.com/footballer/1722/?y=2007 Use the drop-down menu ("Filter Tournament") to cycle through each year he's been active.
He's played all over the place in more senses than one. I worry about a 32-year-old guy who has played for eight clubs in eight years. However... it's only a trial. As to Nguyen, he's still slated to be out for some time, no? Sene is also trying aggressively to come back, but if he missed a month or two of the season, I wouldn't be surprised. And Toja, I just don't know -- if he's good for a full 90 week in and week out, I'll be shocked. I guess my point here is that even though in theory we're stacked at midfield, the reality is that we have at least some temporary holes.
Nguyen's surgery was at the end of September, and the timetable for recovery the team gave was 4 months, which would mean he should be good to train any time now, if not already. Sene's was at the end of August and they gave a timetable of 6-8 months. February would be 6 months. An update in November said he was targeting being healthy for the opener, but we'll see. I'd imagine the team would want to be cautious with him. As for Toja, McCarthy later said that Heaps "didn't want to push Toja before heading to Arizona," whatever that means. It's definitely something to worry about, the fact that three of our "star" offensive players are coming off injuries.
Question about Sene in light of the RG3 controversy - I remember Sene also had an ACL injury while at Bayern. Did he injure the other knee or the same one? I've read if you re-injure the same knee there's less chance you come back close to 100%.
Am I missing something or do we still not have a real quality RM? Last year it was a mix of Rowe, Guy, Feilhaber? I have no idea what formation Heaps will run with this year, but if last year was any indication, it will be a 4-4-2 with a narrow diamond midfield. So wings aren't really needed anyway. Assuming Heaps goes crazy and actually changes his formation, we have no one I'd be comfortable calling a RM.
Rowe, Guy, Cardenas, and Fagundez all rotated at RM last year. I'd be comfortable with either Rowe, Caldwell or Fagundez growing into that role during the year.