Tuesday, June 17, 6:00pm - 7:30pm RFK Stadium You are invited to attend a D.C. United training session at RFK Stadium and watch the pros train and prepare for their upcoming match. The day will include insight from the D.C. United coaching staff, as well as a question-and-answer session for those looking to expand their understanding of the sport of soccer at any level. Soccer coaches, parents, and kids are welcome to attend, free of charge. If you would like to attend, please RSVP at (703) 478-6600 ext.2241. If you have questions, please call Mike Harloff at (703) 397-5457
The RSVP taped message indicated the session would be at the auxiliary field. I believe they are adjacent to RFK on the northern quadrant of the stadium--you know, where all the townhouses are. GM
myself, the grillmaster and a friend who doesn't post on BS attended. there were a couple of younger boys teams and at least one girls team and a few parents. several DCU staffers were there as well. it was pretty wet and cold, it rained the whole time. they played a 4 goal--field switching match with stoich pivoting the play then a short field match with the three teams--two on, one in roation on the side that plays out of bounds balls back into play. a urugayan trialist was slow to get a ball back and got an earful from petke, who obviously wanted to win. the play itself was fairly intense--olsen manhandled one cat so bad he went down in a bear hug and petke and rimando hollered at guys. in fact the who field was talking, challenging, etc. the english kid played and i think he finished at least 1/2 of his chances, he is pretty polished though not a very impressive athlete--small, not super fast but very technical and seemingly a fast thinker on the field. stoich ripped a couple of goals that i thought might rip the back of the net out--incredible. barclay also has a hard shot--he played a little game with nick where he just bombed him with hard balls straight at nick. eskedarian sat out due to a sore back. etch wasn't there. and the uruguayan guy is eddie pope's long lost twin, or at least looks a hell of a lot like pope.
the guy with the eddie pope look didn't really stand out to me. he certainly didn't show as well as the english guy did in my opinion. he seemed pretty soft and didn't have nearly the impact others had. i thought the best thing i saw all practice was this incredible play by elesio to clear a tasty ball away with his head. i don't remember who hit it (but stoich was like a cannon all night) but whomever it was, just destroyed a ball from about 20 meters just to the left of goal. the keeper was way off his line and this thing was just rocketing to the mouth. quintinilla came out of no where and got way the hell up in the air to nod it over the bar. i would have bet you a grand before that he could jump tha high or move that fast--i'd sure the hell like to see that athleticism in a DCU match. it was nice. stoich hit a jawdropper--you can ask the grillmaster--that was moving about as fast as those jets in the flyover. btw--i defy anyone to tell me john trask can't coach--he was outstanding teaching and preparing throughout running the practice. he also got the guys fired up and playing with some intensity.
While I was hydroplaning my way out to western Maryland recently I noticed that there is the skeleton of a huge ship on the side of I-68. Turns out that somebody is already building an ark (says so on the sign)...though the recreation with steel girders seems odd. On an unrelated note, thanks for the practice report R&B. Interesting to hear that Trask may actually be able to coach. Tim