Was at practice today. Saw quite a few players out there.... Kenny was working out with Mina and Toja. Some new guy wearing #10 on his shorts It was very hot and humid today. I'm not much for describing the drills and such, but it was a different atmosphere out there. When I left about 15 minutes before noon, they were playing small sided broken up into three teams. One team watches from all around the touch line and keeps the ball inbounds while the other two teams go at it. Dario and Ray were the keepers at each end. Yes, Denilson was out there playing up front with Ruiz. I saw some of the same moves that we see in the youtube videos. When will we see him play? That seemed to be the $64,000 question out there today. I will say this and I heard it direct from Hitch's mouth: Hitch is talking with attorneys today and he said it could happen this week. Will he play Saturday if this happens? Maybe, maybe not. Will his first game be away at the US Open cup? Probably not. September 7th is Brazilian Indepenence day... we have a home game on September 8th.... who knows? I would think that if they rush the visa approval this week, then why wait for another week to play him? Perhaps we see Denilson sub in on the 1st around the 70th minute? I have taken over 200 pictures during practice, and will post SOME of them here. Steve Morrow for some reason asked me NOT to post any of Denilson right away. If I see any other practice shots of Denilson in an FCD jersey, then mine are going up. I'm uploading pics now, and will add them to this thread later today.
here's one interesting picture from today.... I have NO IDEA WHO THIS GUY IS!!!!! I'm working on the others now.....
Yeah, I heard him say that a few times today as well... I'm guessing that Hitch is hoping for 5 business days (Friday the 31st) and Morrow is giving the worst scenario, 10 business days (Friday September 7th).
Oooh, great photos -- LOVE the ball in front of the face. Thanks for all that you are able to post. Now, my concern-- how is Toja's ankle progressing??? Does it look to be any better this week? Obviously, he won't be back by the 1st . . . And a #10 jersey is fine, but #8 still rocks. BTW, I'm thinking of going to tomorrow's practice with my camera. Was it more restricted today? It's always been fun and easy to watch the guys practice and to take photos. If that changes, I will not be happy.
no restrictions today... that's what I couldn't understand. I was the first one out there with a somewhat big lens, and Morrow came over while I was talking to Drum'r Boy and asked that I not take pictures of Denilson practicing with the team.... but then there were several press guys with much bigger lenses than mine taking pictures a short time later, so I don't get it. Yeah, the picture with the ball in front was just coincidence! I figure if Morrow doesn't want me to post any then at least that one is safe to show!
Nice photos as always, FCD-FAN. My first time at a practice session today. Kenny was mostly jogging with Roberto but said he thought he should be back to full training in the next 2 weeks, and that he was very happy with the progress he'd been making. Juan's ankle was still strapped, and he was doing exercises away from the main group. He said he feels good though and thinks he'll be back to drills sometime this week. Not sure if that's just wishful thinking, but his movements didn't look impeded from where I was standing. I don't think I ever saw him get up to full speed though, so not easy to say where he's at in terms of when he'll be up to playing again. Didn't watch any of the keeper training, but in the small teams two-touch games at the end, Sala wasn't looking too good to me. Could have been down to defensive errors for a couple of the goals, but he seemed slow off his mark. RayJ on the other hand made a couple of good saves. Wags scored a great goal from the middle of the short pitch.
oh, and as far as Toja, I didn't really focus too much on him, he didn't seem to be favoring the ankle too much, but he was not in cleats and was not practicing with the rest of the team today so I'm guessing he's still got a ways to go. And for Kenny, even though I did get a shot of him grabbing his leg, I didn't see him limp or anything today. He did a lot of jogging with Mina around the perimeter throughout the day, stopping once to sign autographs through the fence. Mina looks to have put a few pounds on while he's been away. I'm betting it's only because he's not able to work out. Once he's working out harder he'll probably be back to normal. We've got a great team right now, but I really do want to see Mina and Kenny back in the lineup soon.
Maybe it was because of the press conference thing (they were having a photo shoot afterwards, apparently). Seems odd that you would be asked to wait. BTW, just curious . . . are you "official" and able to get onto the field to take your photos? Looking forward to more (if you can't post #10, you could aways post more of #8 and #33).
I too was at practice, tough to tell how good he was from the drills they were running, but it was my first practice and I didn't exactly know what to look for. Really hot out. The presser was nice though, got some pictures I'll put up on my UNT facebook that none of you can see but you're not missing much, my camera wasn't cooperating.
Thanks for the report!! It sounds like Juan is moving better than he was last week, so that's good! As for Dario . . . I don't like how long this is taking. Last week, he was only doing basic goalie drills, and it doesn't sounds like the knee is getting a whole lot better.
maybe that was it... don't know for sure. Nope... but when my daughters soccer team is able to get on the fields before games, I am down there with her taking pictures before the game! All the rest of my pictures during games are from the stands, and during practices are behind the fence.
Cool! I came with my daughter several times this summer. But I'm too short to see over the fence, so I have to stand on a rock to take photos. . . She will be mad if I go without her tomorrow, but this is too good of a chance to miss. Sorry, dear!
FYI, if you want to get down on the field to take pictures during the games it shouldn't be too tough. My wife asked if she could do it and they gave her a business card to call some guy and get a press pass.
i'm guessing they dont want pictures of denilson "working" with the team because he doesn't have a work visa yet and thus isn't authourized to work. i could be way off on that though.
Ryan, you can put up a public link so everyone can see your facebook pics. Just put the pics in an album, and then click on the main page for the album. Scroll to the bottom and it should say something along the lines of "Share with your friends who aren't on facebook" and then there's a link. It works for everyone apparently, thats how my parents were able to look at my pictures while I was studying abroad.