Sounders FC is on the East Coast for the first time in 2015 with its match against New York City FC scheduled for Sunday night. A trip this long typically warrants an extra day of travel for a training session…so I give you the return of Tidbits From Training!
Typically a preseason piece of content, there was a plenty going on at today’s very sunny practice in White Plains, NY, that I thought a little coverage would be a super idea.
Here’s some of what went down…
Getting Out Of Town
Having only just arrived in New York City on Friday night, the club made the trek out to NYCFC’s training facility in White Plains. On the way, a nice view of Yankee Stadium was to be had as well as much of the city. Upon arrival at the facility, a picture-perfect pitch greeted the club and a very warm, sunny afternoon.
Oba Being Oba
Towards the beginning of the session, the guys participated in a little 5v2, a standard exercise to work on touch, movement and passing. For some of the more skilled players, it’s a chance to show off some of their finesse.
As he often tends to do, Obafemi Martins did just that. Taking the ball with his right foot, Martins pulled it behind him, spun completely around and shot it out in a move that I couldn’t really believe when I saw it. That description hardly does it justice, but I assure you, it was marvelous.
All Hands On Deck
While training was going on, the club’s bus driver for the sojourn stood by and watched off to the side of the field. Not content with taking in the skills of Martins and Clint Dempsey or the impressive shot-stopping of Stefan Frei and Troy Perkins, our transportation expert decided to bust out some handstands with a little walk to boot. Yep, handstands and an upside down stroll. For no reason. Just because. Was a sight.
Clint Mans The Goal
Typically reserved for Martins, the post-training shooting session was this time policed by the American international who stood between the pipes and tried to save a number of penalties. The first of which was taken by actual goalkeeper Stefan Frei, who had Dempsey guessing the wrong way, but clanged it off the post. Dempsey got his hands on a few of the spot kicks though, smiling the whole time, of course.
New SFC Digital Media Crew
Following training, Digital Media Video Producer Bryan Babcock and I prepared for our player interviews. This time, however, said players wanted to conduct the interviews themselves. As evidenced by the picture below, Chad Barrett grabbed the mic and interviewed Clint, following quick chats with Cristian Roldan and Dylan Remick. It was highly entertaining stuff, particularly watching Lamar Neagle learn how to use the camera. All in all, a productive session before tomorrow’s big match with NYCFC.
