I was able to attend practice today. Nothing earth shattering, but it was my first chance to see Fabi back with the team. Here are some tidbits:
1) I got a look at Nick's finger. It does look pretty nasty. I wasn't able to speak to Nick or the trainer, but I'm not sure Goff's report about a fracture is accurate. Everyone I talked to on the sideline was unaware of that.
2) Fabian looks thinner than when we last saw him. However, when I talked to him he said that he was in Buenos Aires for a couple of weeks before coming here and he was working out but he still isn't fully in game shape.
3) Speaking of Fabian, he does seem glad to be back and feels very comfortable with this team. He also said I'm hear with "my friends" as he pointed to Javi, Jamison, and his new friend, Luis Escalada.
4) Chris Seitz was in the middle of pre-game warmups with Portland when RSL took the field last week against Colorado. After his game was over he checked the RSL score on his phone and was "bummed out" about the result but he didn't notice anything else. A short time later he received a text from Rimando's wife, Jacqui that said "where are you"? He then checked the boxscore and saw the substitutions. His immediate concern was, of course, for Rimando as he discovered what had happened.
5) Seitz feels that he is ready to go, and stated that his recent 3 90-minute games in USL were very "timely" to help prepare him for the start tomorrow.
6) Bomma wouldn't confirm his starting position tomorrow, but if practice is any indicator it looks like he'll get the nod along with Seitz and Beltran.
7) According to Andy, he feels like there are some similarities with Javi's game (both are distributors and like the ball at their feet) and the team won't play much different. He said that if he is selected for the start, he has had some good work in preseason and to this point, but he'll have to see if he has 90-minute match fitness.
8) Of course, Kreis wouldn't discuss the starting lineup other than confirming Seitz as a starter. When David James pressed him about Williams being the likely starter, Kreis threw out the fact that Grabavoy has been the most consistent and typically earliest midfield substitution in our 6 matches this season. Talk around practice was that Grabavoy is a capable creative player and not to rule him out as an option, however, most seem to assume that it will be Andy.
9) I was curious about Grabavoy and how he fits, so I asked around practice and here is what I heard: Despite playing some D-mid in San Jose, Ned's game has been that of an attacking player as evidenced in his time at Indiana, with the Fire reserves in the PDL, and with the LA Galaxy and Columbus Crew in MLS. He can play out wide, but likes to tuck in centrally. He can also fit into a playmaker role.
