Sounders end training as Railhawks watch
Posted By Don Ruiz on September 23, 2009 at 1:31 pm
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The Sounders are done with practice at Starfire for today, meaning they're done for the week. The team flies out for Boston tomorrow morning and will continue its training in New England leading up to the game at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
In our last chance to talk with coach Sigi Schmid before the game, he gave this report on how New England is different from the team that beat his Sounders, 1-0, last month.
Short answer: They're probably better.
Here's the full answer:
“They have been able to stay very consistent in that back four of [Steve] Ralston and [Jay] Heaps on the outside and [Darrius] Barnes and [Emmanuel] Osei in the middle. They have probably played the last seven games together in that formation. They have really solidified that part of the team along with [Matt] Reis in goal. Shalrie Joseph is there. [Jeff] Larentowicz is there. [Steve] Ralston is back out there. With the exception of [Taylor] Twellman, they have everybody they didn’t have in the beginning of the year. When they played us earlier, they came out and they came away with a win. [. . .] It’s going to be difficult for us at their place because it is always difficult away from home. But we also feel confident that we can play well.”
Meanwhile a couple of pictures from practice. The picture above shows Kasey Keller in the new red practice jerseys the keepers have been wearing this week.
And below is Sounder Peter Vagenas chatting with Gavin Glinton of the
Carolina Railhawks.
The Railhawks are training at Starfire this week in advance of their USL-1 playoff game tomorrow at the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Glinton has some MLS playing experience, and was greeted warmly by several Sounders. Also receiving a warm welcome from Steve Zakuani was Devon McKenney, a former teammate at the University of Akron.
Carolina Railhawks take in Sounders practice before game in Vancouver
I think Sigi has been misquoted re: New England's defense. I assume he said Heaps, Barnes, Osei and "Alston", not "Ralston" Steve Ralston is playing AM or RM (or even striker this year), Kevin Alston is the rookie who's enjoying a strong year at right back.
Upon review of the Sounders-Chivas game and other MLS matches from the weekend, and the Sounders "lack of finishing" can be attributed to one thing - shots at the center of goal versus at the corners / posts ...
Don't take the shot unless you're targeting a corner ... all shots
must be to a corner
Nice catch, LE.
And yeah, EF, I thought Thornton was dazzling, but too many of the shots went ball-to-Thornton rather than Thornton-to-ball.