USL Orange County SC

Training Update: Flooding the Field

Published on October 27, 2011 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Orange County SC News Release


LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Wednesday's Blues training session in Downtown Los Angeles hardly resembled the previous one only six days prior. Instead of barely over ten participants, a total of nearly 30 roster hopefuls flooded the artificial turf this time, as Head Coach Charlie Naimo and Associate Head Coach Shayon Jalayer had numerous young prospects showcasing their talent alongside a handful of players from the 2011 roster.

"A lot of the guys out here are local college players we invited," Jalayer said. "There are a lot of new faces and we've seen some reasonable talent. At some point, it will be up to Charlie and me to decipher how good all these guys are in comparison to who we had last season. We need players who can really make an impact for us and help us achieve our goals."

The training sessions currently include relatively few drills focusing on specific skill sets but are more oriented towards assessing players' overall performance in competitive situations. Jalayer explained the reasoning behind this approach.

"We've mostly been putting these guys in small-sided game scenarios to give them an opportunity to showcase their abilities in games," the Blues Associate Head Coach said. "I think if we did speed work or individual ball work, some players would probably stand out, but that doesn't mean they would necessarily know how to transfer that into game situations. So instead we're really trying to test their speed of play, understanding of the game and ability to keep possession."

Among the participants in Wednesday's session was a key member of this year's roster in defender-midfielder Carlos Borja. The former Chivas USA man joined the Blues during the 2011 season and quickly established himself as a frequent starter for the USL PRO side.

"We've only been practicing twice a week and it's still several months until the new season starts, so we're definitely in the early stages of our preparations," Borja said. "There are a lot of new players coming in all the time and I'm seeing a lot of talent and hard work out here. Hopefully some of these guys can add something that we've been missing, and hopefully that will help us exceed what we accomplished in 2011."

In their quest to build a roster capable of winning the USL PRO championship, the Blues coaches also place high hopes on the team's open combine, likely to be held in January of next year. Stay tuned to www.labluesprosoccer.com for combine details as well as weekly updates on the process that may just result in the emergence of the next Cinderella star a la 2011 Blues top scorer Cesar Rivera!

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United Soccer League Championship Stories from October 27, 2011


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