Morning
Club Atlas Colomos is a really beautiful facility. There are flowers everywhere -- such exquisite colors, fuchsia and purple, that I wish I knew their names and origins. Waist-high hedges border the sidewalk, lots and lots of green, palm trees and sculpted shrubs. You can spot a member of the grounds crew at any given moment, raking leaves, trimming plants, carrying off dead limbs in wheelbarrows, doing everything they can to keep the grounds fresh and pristine.
Alright, so the language is a little flowery (yes, pun intended), but everyone so far has remarked on the beautiful facilities and city.
“Guadalajara is treating us fantastic,” head coach Gonzalo Pineda said on Wednesday. “The hotel is great, the food is great, and these training facilities are awesome, so I think the players are enjoying this preseason.”
"Since we arrived the weather is really nice, very tropical and honestly, it’s nice because we were in Atlanta, and it was so cold," Alan Franco said on Wednesday. "This place is beautiful. I hadn’t visited, and honestly it surprised me so much."
The team trained Thursday morning, getting a little bit of an earlier start than the day before.
It’s the first day during the trip that the team has two training sessions. The first started at 9:30 a.m., the second will be later this afternoon.
In the morning, the team started on one of the other Atlas fields within the facility, where Santiago Sosa worked out on his own yesterday. After some possession drills on that field, the team swapped back over to the field they were on yesterday for some wider games, competitive scrimmages and then penalty kicks.
Here's what the first section of practice looked like from George Campbell's perspective:
It’s clear from watching practice that this is the thick of training camp. Coaches are pushing the players, the players are pushing themselves. There’s demand to move the ball faster and score more goals. The intensity is high -- as is the competition.
A couple positions have been especially interesting to watch. First, left fullback. Three guys are competing for the spot previously owned by George Bello. Andrew Gutman, who was with the Red Bulls last season, has impressed so far in camp. Wiley is just 17 years old, but has a lot of potential shown by signing a Homegrown deal and getting time with the U-20 U.S. men's national team. And then there’s Mikey Ambrose, a seasoned veteran who’s been with the club a long time, proven to be a natural leader and has a strong understanding of how the team wants to play.
The other position to watch has been at striker. With Josef Martínez away on international duty with Venezuela, Luiz Araújo, Tyler Wolff and Jackson Conway have been the main strikers up top. It’s been fun watching Araújo and Conway work together. The two have totally opposite styles, Araújo quick and flashy, Conway more about power. And then there’s Wolff who’s had a strong preseason so far, scoring goals in the opening minutes of both of Atlanta’s friendly matches.
Afternoon
They're back!
Josef Martínez and Ronald Hernández were back on the pitch for the afternoon session. (The two have been away from the club for the past two weeks on international duty with Venezuela.)
It was really good to see them both. Watching them trot out made it feel like the guys are back together -- the team is so close to having almost everyone back (Miles Robinson and Machop Chol should be here soon).
For the afternoon portion, the team started off on the smaller of the two fields, splitting up into two groups. One group wore blue pennies over their red practice jerseys. The groups took turns crossing and finishing. The red group took the ball from the back, passed it up the field and kicked it out wide to the wing. A player would run on and cross it back into the box where attackers flooded the box and attempted to finish.
That seemed to be the theme of the afternoon session: crossing and finishing. For part of practice, players worked on crossing the ball off throw-ins in the attacking third.
About halfway through, the team switched fields again, moving to the bigger stadium-like pitch.
The crossing and finishing emphasis produced some quality play. On one, Luiz Araújo on the right side crossed it toward the opposite end line with his left foot. Gutman headed the cross into the box and Franco Ibarra came for the shot using the inside of his foot. Later, Gutman sent a cross into the box from his position on the left and Martínez slid like Ozzie Albies into home plate to score the goal.
Before the players could leave the pitch, they had to score a goal from the top of the box. They were given two touches, the first to control the ball at their feet, the second to take their shot. If a player scored, they were done with practice. It was going pretty well for a while until a lull when nobody scored (credit goes to goalkeepers Justin Garces and Dylan Castanheira for coming up with some big saves.) That's when the calls began: "It's getting late," "The sun is setting," "We're going to miss dinner." Finally, the last few players scored their goals. In a fit of joy, Ambrose skipped off the field, giving Matheus Rossetto a hug as they walked off the pitch.
Training on the bigger pitch had a bit of an after-school-practice feel to it. Staff scattered along the stands to sit and watch, shielding their eyes from the bright sun. When Aiden McFadden's shot sailed over the goal, a group of Atlas youth players, who were gathering around the pitch preparing for their own practice at 5, squealed and chased down the ball. Players who had gotten their goal and were done for the day stripped off their boots and sat on the grass near the bench. Some had the trainers stretch them out to ward off the fatigue of a two-session day.
We'll be back on Friday with updates from Guadalajara so stay tuned for more coverage at ATLUTD.com/mexico and ATLUTD on Twitter.
