- The practice wasn't very intense. They broke into groups and did some drills and had some brief short-sided scrimmage play.
- Jason Kreis was not in attendance.
- Kevin Reiman has been released.
- Only two trialists were in attendance: Steve Clark and Luis Escalada.
- Kennedy Owusu-Ansah has had to return to Hertha Berlin. No word on the level of interest that RSL has in him, or if this is the end of the line.
- Jorginho Paulista and Alexander Viveros also no longer with the team, and it is presumed that their trial with the team is over. I will try to confirm the status of these.
See my thoughts on Clark and Escalada after the break.
Steve Clark
Steve Clark seems to be quite athletic. He also finished 2nd in the beep test. In addition, he is a Keepin' It Real reader, so he gets bonus points for that. While it's hard to evaluate a keeper in practice, he seems to have good reflexes, and could give Reynish a run for his money at the 3rd keeper spot.
Luis Escalada
Escalada does appear slightly on the heavy side (although he was wearing two layers and long sleeves), but it wasn't as dramatic as I was expecting from the earlier reports. He also seems to have a casual attitude in practice. However, I also always felt that Espindola had a casual approach to practice, so it's hard to evaluate. I did notice that he seemed to have a nice soft touch on the ball and a decent shot in the few instances that I saw him in action with the ball.
UPDATE: I have been cautioned about drawing a conclusion about the 3 trialists who are no longer training with the team (I hear the team is actually high on Kennedy Owusu-Ansah).
