Saturday, July 25, 2009

Hit the Bull, Win a Steak

Straight after landing in Kansas City on Friday afternoon, the team boarded the bus and went straight to the stadium for a quick training session, allowing the guys to get their legs moving after the flight, while also getting adjusted to a field that not many of the guys have played on before.

Bruce, Dave and Cobi put the guys through an extended warmup before going through some set pieces and functional work.

As is always the case, Bruce gave the guys a few free minutes at the end of training to mess around and do what they saw fit. A number of the guys played a quick game of 5v2, the goalkeepers worked out on their own and some decided to have some fun given that we were inside a baseball stadium.

Just beyond the left field stands at CommunityAmerica Ballpark sits this metal bull with a hole in one of the eyes. By the looks of it, if a player hits a home run through it, someone wins $100,000. Well, if yesterday's training session was a baseball game, someone somewhere would be a bit richer.
Tony, David, Gordo and Eddie Lewis all took aim at the bulls eye and after two near misses from Gordo and Eddie, David stepped up for his first try and put it straight through, leading to a chorus of screams and cheers from his teammates that were looking on.

There was no media inside training at that point so no video exists of this moment, but for all of us who saw (at least part of it) live, it will live on in lore forever. In fact, Gordo was already re-telling the story just minutes after it happened.
Finally, while a few of the players spoke to the media after the conclusion of training, Chris Birchall jumped in goal to face shots from a few of the guys...let's just say that we better hope that Ricketts and Saunders don't both go down, because based on Chris' goalkeeping abilities, he should stick to the midfield.
Speaking of Birchall, Larry Morgan caught up with him earlier this week to talk about what he brings to the club. Larry also spoke to Alan Gordon who, fresh off his goal against AC Milan, could see significant playing time this evening.

Mark Rogondino also looked at tonight's matchup in his latest View from the Booth column, while MLSnet.com breaks down all the numbers and trends heading into the game.

See you all again before kickoff.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

No video?! Come on blog staff, that kind of footage is priceless.

charlesj27 said...

Thanks for another great training update. Nice to se the guys enjoying their time with each other. I hope the training sessions are allowing each and every one of them to get to each other's abilities, timing on runs, tendencies, and positional strengths better. Good luck against the KC Wizards today. Play hard; play well, guys. Nice pics/thanks.

Anonymous said...

HAHAHA damnit David, we may have problems with you, but you're funny.

Anonymous said...

How do you not have video of this? That would've been awesome!

Sara said...

WOW, Becks hit it?NO WAY!!!

Damn haha now that does take TALENT, shame there is no video, but i love reading that the guys get along, and have a healthy banter between them.

I am rooting for Gordon to do well tonight.

Anonymous said...

That is classic that Beckham put it through on first try, haha.What also cracked me up is the fact that Birchall is a lousy goalkeeper, LOL.

Thanks for the report, and i hope the guys get another win, and have a great match, best. xoxo

Anonymous said...

Cut the BULL and win a championship instead! Circus, Circus!