Training your brain for 2012

It is hard not to analyze the first few trainings for the 2012 Portland Timbers without jumping to conclusions. After months without the team on the pitch, watching them for two straight hours leaves your head spinning in all sorts of directions about what kind of season Portland will have.

That being said, here are 11 observations from Wednesday morning’s training session.

1- The practice consisted of fitness drills, lots of one-touch passing drills and 9v9 half-field scrimmages. Head Coach John Spencer’s voice filled the training ground during the passing drills, but he was quiet for most of the 9v9 games.

2. It was nice to see some aggression displayed during the mock games. Futty Danso was constantly yelling directions at teammates, as was Troy Perkins.

There were also some contentious challenges, the hardest of which happened when Kalif Alhassan took out Eric Alexander with a slide tackle. Alexander shoved Alhassan’s legs to the ground and yelled at the Ghanaian before walking away. While some might see the chippiness as a bad thing, it seemed that none of the players nor coaches had any issues with it. 

3. The field players were broken up into 3 squads of 8, while the goalkeepers rotated between the teams.  Missing from the teams were David Horst, Sal Zizzo, and Jose Adolfo Valencia. Horst and Zizzo are continuing rehab from injuries, while Valencia was having “physical testing” done. 

4. While the teams were not broken down by playing time necessarily, two of the teams certainly shared the most experienced Timbers players. Here is a breakdown of the teams-

Team A- Jack Jewsbury, Mike Chabala, Darlington Nagbe, James Marcelin, Eddie Johnson, Eric Brunner, Miguel Ibarra, and Hanyer Mosquera

Team B- Rodney Wallace, Andrew Jean-Baptiste, Danso, Alhassan, Jorge Perlaza, Diego Chara, Bright Dike, and Franck Songo’o

Team C- Alexander, Steve Purdy, Chris Taylor, Lovel Palmer, Freddie Braun, Ryan Kawulok, Brent Richards and Brendan King

5. The team of Johnson and Chabala was the most consistent and scored quite a few goals. Chabala, in particular, had some nice crosses, while Johnson looked completely game ready after dealing with concussions last season. Other players who looked good were Nagbe, who chased down quite a few long balls, and Brunner, who continues to dominate the air. Ibarra seemed to struggle to hit accurate crosses and shots.

6. Danso led his team with a steady presence at the back, while Wallace looked good when on the attack. Chara seemingly had no influence in the middle and appeared to be a step slow on the attack. Sango’o has the ability to get through traffic looks like he might be able to stick with the team.

7. Alexander was aggressive throughout the practice and put in the ball in the back of the net on multiple occasions. Taylor has some decent crosses, but had a few costly mistakes at the back, including a complete whiff on a clear that set up a Perlaza goal.

8. First round pick Jean-Baptiste is much thicker in person than he appears. He has a similar body type to Dike. After practice, Spencer talked about the massive jump from college soccer to pro soccer and it seems Jean-Baptiste is experiencing that. I would be surprised if Jean-Baptiste is in the 18-man game day roster on March 12.

9. If I had to make a prediction based on one practice, I’d say Songo’o might get signed for the season. He is definitely my favorite out of non-roster invitees. The only issue is the fact he is from Cameroon and would count against the international roster spots.

10. After practice, Spencer said Nagbe was “by far, technically the best player on the team.” He also said he projects that Nagbe could be as good as Brad Davis and Landon Donovan. Spencer also said that Jewsbury will be captain for as long as Spencer is the coach of the Timbers.

11. My first prediction at who will be in the 18 for the season opener vs the Philadelphia Union on March 12. The starters will be Perkins, Palmer, Brunner, Mosquera, Chabala, Nagbe, Jewsbury, Chara, Alhassan, Perlaza, and Johnson. The bench will be Gleeson, Valencia, Marcelin, Wallace, Dike, Danso, and Alexander.