Ahh, I though they said "over here" but I suppose it could be a name. Maybe that's "trialist." There's a short, bald, black guy with yellow boots that I'm not sure who is.
Correct. You can hear it on the video too. One of the few names called out I didn't recognize. Lots of faces I didn't know. Not counting the keepers I counted 24 players. -23 are in the picture.
One could only hope it was Javier Hernandez, "Chicharito." He is currently lighting up the Mexican Primera league on Chivas with 8 goals in the last 5 games. Why he would be "trying out" for the quakes and not in negotiations for a transfer with some Spanish La Liga team would only boggle the mind.
Dream on. About 2 min mark, they were saying 'Adi, Adi' I think. Who would that be? Or was that Javi, Javi?
looks to me they are still doing there elementary style of play, i prolly wont be out to any games when i can go to a sunday league and watch the same thing free.
We should see three more. Gjoey is a USian. He's from Tacoma, and in any case, he was only playing in Montreal. JD said four internationals, two South Americans, two Euros. So he owes us three. Oh and no, I have not heard anything. I'm just hoping that they settle the CBA and that that suddenly frees up a bunch of international signings for MLS. Go Quakes!! - Mark
Who were all those guys passing the ball around on the carpet? Did we bring in like 20 new guys?! Go Quakes!! - Mark
I really can't tell much from that video, but thanks for it. I will say that I really hope they start working on speeding those passes up. Slow passes no good.
I went to practice this morning hoping to catch a glimpse of the trialists but the coaches had the players doing conditioning. I was there for at least 20min and all they did was run the stairs on the west side of BS. They were already running when I got there and I didn't see them stop once while I was there. I didn't even see a single ball anywhere on the field. I think it's safe to say that the coaching staff is really taking fitness seriously this season.
Were you there long enough to see if everyone looked nice and fit or if anyone is struggling? Poor Joe Cannon must be miserable, but it's good for him!
Ha! I did see a few stragglers and figured those were the goalies and most likely Elliot. Beyond those guys I did notice that everyone else was moving real well. There's no doubt our boys are fit. I'm hoping the coaching staff keeps focusing on fitness throughout the season and not just pre-season.
Good news. Not worrying about fitness and being able to sub for other reasons and just for the players to be able to concentrate on things other than worrying about pacing themselves too much in games can only help.
Very good to hear. If it was one weakness almost the entire team shared last year it was lack of fitness. Fix that and the other issues get much easier to work on.
A Gambian? Cool, I like that. I hope he's fast. My friend from the Gambia will be pretty interested in this, maybe I can finally make him a Quakes supporter, and then he can show me how to make peanut butter soup. I forgot. I am really relieved to hear about the fitness focus. It doesn't just fix a problem from last year, but it shows that the coaching staff was able to diagnose at least one of their problems. Which means they are at least able to acknowledge an issue. Another plus will be that if some of the players who had been slow, immobile, and easy to tire last season, continue to be slow, immobile, and easy to tire, it will be patently obvious that they really are past-it or just lazy if the team fitness training can no longer be blamed. Way to isolate the problem coach! Can someone who is observing the practices more closely than I confirm for us that the fitness emphasis is in fact greater than it was in the early pre-season last-season? If it it isn't then it might just be that we all have forgotten that fitness training tends to slump off as the season begins and maybe the quakes just let it slip too much last year. Also, Is there any word on Jason's recovery? What is his estimated return date?
Interesting. I like that he's fast and that he's young. As for not being able to muscle guys around, he's only 17. Give him a few years to develop and that issue might just go away.
unfortunately that could be too much to ask when talking about kids from places like the Gambia. undernourishment is pretty common in countries that are that poor leading to stunted growth, even if they have spent half their teenage years in more comfortable living (think Freddy Adu). It might be just that he is young, but it is probably more likely that he will need to take whatever strength he can get to hold off defenders, but have quickness, trickery, and technical ability to make up for it.
Besides seeing the Earthquakes players focusing on their fitness as they likely hadn't last season, the best thing in those photos is that the professional-style "box" goals are currently still in place. While that's definitely a good sign thus far, I hope they remain there for the season... after all, those same goals were there all the way through last year's preseason, only to unfortunately be replaced with the AYSO-style goals (along with the equally-unfortunate shortening of the playing field that came along with that) for either the final preseason home game or the home/season opener (I can't remember which). GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Wow! good eyes GS. I was there I didn't notice the box goals. I believe Yallop did expand the field a bit last year but I don't remember how much.
Thanks. Was it because most of the action at the time was in the stands (just curious)? Once the Santa Clara University soccer season started near the end of the Earthquakes' season the last two years, Yallop finally extended the playing field length from the ridiculously-short 110 yards to the near-ideal 115 yards (120 yards being the ideal length), but he kept the playing field width at an equally-ridiculously narrow 71 yards or so throughout when he easily could've widened it to the ideal 75 yards. Let's hope that the still-installed box goals are a sign of better, more ideal playing field dimensions to come for the entire season and beyond. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G