Fresh off of a bye week, Minnesota United took the training ground on Wednesday before flying off to Ottawa for Saturday’s match against the Fury. Despite blue skies, players were chilled with the rather cool and windy conditions. Here are some notes on training this week and brief Q & A sessions with both head coach Carl Craig and Technical Director Manny Lagos.
- The full squad was able to partake in training today with no visible injuries. Given the extra week, the training staff worked hard to ensure that United’s players were fully fit for this Saturday’s game.
- Working on a shorter field, the team minimized the impact of the wind and focused on short passing, keeping the guys in sync. Lance Laing and Danny Cruz fought the breeze and landed crosses into the center, which were easily slotted away by Christian Ramirez and JC Banks.
- This Saturday’s opponent features two former Minnesota United players—Jonny Steele (2015) and Mozzi Gyorio (2014). While the team saw chippiness from another former player Geison Mouraearlier this year, Brent Kallman doesn’t expect any sort of grudge match from the Fury midfielders. “They’re both really good players – if they have time and space, they can hurt you. Mozzi is very creative, and Jonny is super technical on the ball. There hasn’t been any trash-talking by any means.”
- The only notable absence from this weekend’s lineup will be Damion Lowe, who’s on a red card suspension after a couple of hard fouls against the New York Cosmos on April 23rd. While Tiago Calvano is the presumptive starter in Lowe’s place, I would anticipate a very similar lineup to the one we saw in the team’s last match.
- Trialists Jack Blake and Robert Cullen were not with the team this week. While Cullen will not be picked up by the team, Blake reportedly flew to his home in England – possibly to secure work visas. The team had no comment on their plans with Blake at this time.
Carl’s Corner
- Despite the turf in Ottawa being “bone dry”, Carl doesn’t see lineup changes purely due to conditions. “That’s a good question. Manny and I were concerned with it last year—some of the older vets struggled with it. The reality is that maybe 50-percent of the fields in the league have it, so guys have to suck it up. Or not… I think the type of football we play is suitable for turf, but we have to manage their legs. It’s not the age, it’s how their body holds up.”
- On the Rowdies’ signing of Joe Cole: “Another number 10 for them, eh? He’s a good player. It’ll be interesting seeing him play with Kalif Alhassan. Kalif’s looked thinner this year, had a couple of impressive plays in the first weeks. Not sure how you line that side up at this point, but that’s their problem. We’ll focus on our own.”
- On playing against Steele and Gyorio: “We won’t change our gameplan. Listen, Jonny’s got stuff. He can knock a lovely ball. He was never the quickest, but he’s a tough one-on-one match for a defender. Very good delivery. I don’t think he’ll come with a different attitude. He always carries an aggression to him, Minnesota or otherwise. All the lads here like Mozzi—I got along with him as well. It’s a shame how things worked out for him or didn’t work out for him. He’s got a lot of friends in this dressing room here. He’s a good kid.”
Manny’s Musings
(Note: Your regularly scheduled segment of match ratings are impossible due to the bye week. Here’s part of a conversation with Sporting Director Manny Lagos as a peace offering.)
How does the process of making transactions change once the season kicks off?
ML: I think you have players coming in at different points, but there are still times where good players come across our desk. We have to come to decisions about where these players fit in for both the short and long-term, and that was the case with Steward.
Does that mean that you, Carl, and the coaching staff sit down and look at how the team’s doing and try to find fixes?
ML: I don’t want to underthink that assessment. [Laughter] I think that when you have an opportunity to bring a player in and have him train with the first team, it’s a great way to see how he fits with the team. Obviously with Stew, he’s a great guy and a very good goalie. He’s somebody that we felt very good about due to his training time and we were happy to get him on the roster.
With his callup to Haiti for the Copa America this summer, does international duty affect your negotiating one way or the other?
ML: There certainly is a need to be cognizant of possible national team duties. We need to see what makes sense for the team—there are pros and cons to it, it isn’t all bad at all. Ultimately though, it does become part of the discussion.
As you gear up for the big summer transfer window, are you already scouting places like Europe, South America, or Mexico?
ML: It’s never too far out to try to find players to grow the club and cultivate an environment here, so it’s certainly part of the process. This is a unique year for us – we have some big projects to help grow the club. It’s important to keep active on the market and make sure we can have the best team possible for this year and beyond.
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