Thursday, May 14, 2009

New Face in Training

The Galaxy welcomed a new face to training on Wednesday morning as Trinidad and Tobago National Team midfielder Chris Birchall practiced with the club.

The 25-year old currently plays for English League One side Brighton & Hove Albion after having previous stints with Port Vale and Coventry City.

He is a regular with the Trinidad & Tobago National Team, having appeared more than 30 times, including in their recent 3-0 defeat to the U.S. in Nashville, Tenn. on April 1. He started all three of the country's games at the 2006 FIFA World Cup as T&T went out in the first round with a 0-2-1 record.

Birchall will wear the #33 shirt while training with the club. That shirt was last worn in preseason by Josh Boateng, with Celestine Babayaro and Clint Mathis having also worn the shirt recently.

Here are a few more shots of Mr. Birchall's first day training with the Galaxy and be sure to check back tomorrow as we get to know him a little bit more in the year's debut episode of This Week Inside the Galaxy.

9 comments:

Bleier said...

Thanks for reporting on this. Look forward to tomorrow. Glad this is not a "secret".

Galaxy Til I Die said...

It is so refreshing to get news like this. It was very frustrating as a fan during the Gullit era to have every single trialist that came in be some huge secret.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully #33 shirt is not jinxed for him. This T&T novelty is not a bad little player if you don't want to spend a lot of money. Is he going to have a Ricketts type impact? Not likely, but he can't be any worse than Stephany ;-), Tudela and the likes. I think he'll be a good addition.

Dylan said...

ive been to games and seen him play in the UK and Trini. He's decent. not sure why he never made the step up in England from lower league to Premiership, he has scored a couple of peaches which made it seem he would. Maybe its his size, and he always looks a little out of breath. thats not a bad thing for the MLS tho, they'll certainly get him fit, and i think his skills will make him a success for LA. He's a defensive minded midfielder, but reminds me of the attacker huckerby too with his runs and passes. Anywhos, good luck to him and the galaxy! score more goals fellas!!!

Anonymous said...

Awesome news cant wait till he is in the line up

Anonymous said...

Great. Sign him up because our current midfield needs help!! Dema and Stephani suck!!! Now how about we head down south and score ourselves some young and hungry Colombians or Argentians or Brazilians. They're a dime a dozen and have twice as much talent as our current crop of mediocre crap.

Anonymous said...

He's only 25 years old. i fail to see where he fits in our plans.

Anonymous said...

He will be a great addition to the team and bring some talent to the midfield which we need

charlesj27 said...

Welcome to LA, Chris... I hope that you will work hard and train with the rest of our guys very well. I hope that Bruce, Dave, and Cobi finds the needed qualities in you that I believe you can bring to this team. My concern right now is your fitness level and endurance for the MLS - I believe that you will need to spend considerable time with our trainers to get there. Good luck, adn like others are stating - I hope to see you get an MLS contract with the LA Galaxy; YES, we could surely use your positioning and directionality in the midfield.