Notes from Froggy's Pad: Heading North

Patrick Mulcare
May 15, 2008

It has been several weeks since the last practice report but I was able to take a few notes this Tuesday. Tuesdays are usually "tournament days" and the Crew will compete in a bunch of "mini-games" that gradually evolve into a larger scale contest. I noticed that the first thing that several of the players did when they came outside was to practice the baseline shot that Alejandro Moreno took against San Jose. They all came outside 15 minuets late because of some remaining video recap and most players were sporting new black training tops with their numbers directly next to the central Crew shield.

The first warm ups done with the trainer's direction were simple passes then short runs followed by a stretch. More passing and running followed until half the team was sent back inside to weight lift. I don't remember ever seeing that done before but all of the defenders were the group that went inside. A goalkeeper coach (likely from OSU) was helping Mike Lapper warm up the goalies to get ready for the day's finale.

The practice area was made of 2 square fields of different size but each had four goals facing each other. The big field had goals placed on the 18 yard mark and on the midfield sidelines. The small field had 3" (approx.) goals placed on the midfield stripe and the 18 yard mark as well as 2 sideline goals to from a square.

The rules of the game would be that each team defends two particular goals and no goals would count if the shooter was more than 10 feet away from the goal. There were four games of five minuets with water breaks in-between and each time the number of allowed touches changed from two touch to unlimited.

The "Yellow" team was Robbie Rogers, Steven Lenhart, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Nicolas Hernandez, Brad Evans and Emmanuel Ekpo who was being referred to as "Mannoo." The "Orange" team was Alejandro Moreno, Eddie Gaven, George Josten, Guilherme So and "B.C." or Brian Carroll. I didn't take note of the first two goal scorers but Schelotto and Moreno then scored two goals each followed by single goals from Carroll & Gaven. The second game featured the unlimited touch rule and the goal scorers were Garey, Moreno, Rogers, Gaven, Garey, Nico, Garey, and Evans. The last three games melded together in my notes but more goal scorers were Nico, Ali, So and Gaven. I didn't get confirmation but I think the final score was 10-7.

The defenders played the same game but the focus was much more about making saves whereas that strategy was non-existent with the strikers. The "Yellow" team was Andy Iro, Ryan Junge, 2008 Draft Pick & fresh from College graduation #26 Cory Elenio, Jed Zayner, Duncan Oughton and Chad Marshall. The "Orange" team was Ryan Miller, Danny

O'Rourke, Robert Warzycha, Frankie Hejduk and Andrew Peterson. The goals scorers were O'Rourke, Hejduk, Elenio, Miller, Zayner. I lost track a bit watching the goalies practice their long passes but I was told after practice that the score could of been tied 8-8 or had a one goal differential.

The grand finale was played on the big field with goalies defending the nets and the limited touch rules changed with each goal scored. The team scoring the goal would switch after each time from one touch, two touch, and unlimited touches allowed. The players played for the same color team as on the small field and the game was first team to score five. Goal scorers were Garey, Ezra after several consecutive shots on net by the team, Garey, So from Ali & Ezra, Robbie from Iro, Ekpo from Iro and Rodgers. The Orange team begrudgingly allowed team Yellow to have a rematch game decided by first team to score three goals. The goal scorers were Hejduk, Elino from Rodgers, Guille from Iro, Peterson, and Hejduk who scored on Goalie Mike Lapper who had just tried to score on a breakaway and left his net unguarded.

I didn't see any corner-kick practice but I'm thinking that will come later this week.