2015 Preseason Report #1

Every team is busy, busy, busy right now, getting ready for the regular season to begin in less than a month.  Here’s the report on who’s doing what and where:

PORTLAND TIMBERS  –  The Timbers kicked off their set of scrimmages at the Desert Friendlies in Tucson, Arizona the right way, with goals in each half to propel them to a 2-0 win over Sporting Kansas City on 31 January.  Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward] and Ben Zemanski [Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] both played the first half and Michael Nanchoff [North Royalton/Walsh Jesuit] played the second half.  Nanchoff scored the Timbers’ second goal with a delightful free kick in the 53rd minute.  A week later, Portland drew 1-1 with the Houston Dynamo.  Nagbe and Zemanski started and played 60, while Nanchoff came in for the final 30.  On Wednesday, 11 February, the Timbers wrapped up their work in the desert with a 0-0 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes.  Nanchoff started and played 60, while Zemanski came on for the final 30 and Nagbe rested.  Portland will return home to continue training in advance of their own Simple Invitational, to be held at Providence Park, 22-28 February.  The other clubs participating will be the Chicago Fire, Vancouver Whitecaps and Norwiegan club Stabaek.

TORONTO FC  –  The Reds started their preseason in Bradenton, Fla., where they took part in some training sessions at the IMG Academy.  They won a scrimmage on 4 February, 4-2 against Montverde Academy but I just can’t find the lineup they used anywhere on the interwebs, and as such, can’t tell you how much Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius] played or didn’t play.  Up next was a change in venue to Orlando, where TFC played a couple scrimmages.  There was a 0-2 loss to the New York Red Bulls 5 February, followed by a 0-0 draw with Orlando City SC on 8 February.  Head Coach Greg Vanney started the “veterans,” which mean Morrow was at left back and played 60 minutes against NYRB (after maybe 30 against Montverde?) and at least 45 against the Lions.  TFC is now back in Bradenton for the IMG Suncoast Pro Classic, where they’ll play the USL PRO’s OKC Energy FC (today, 730pm), Danish side HB Koge (Sat, 21 Feb, 12pm), and the Red Bulls (Wed, 25 Feb, 730pm).  They’ll also have a playoff game on Sat, 28 Feb, but we won’t know against whom or at what time until they conclude their group matches.

MONTREAL IMPACT  –  The Impact trained indoors in frigid Quebec for the first part of the month before heading to much, much warmer Mexico.  They had played a scrimmage with their U-18 team before heading south, but there wasn’t much to report on that.  Last Saturday, les Bleus lost 0-1 to Mexico City first division club Cruz Azul and Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] went the distance in net.  Tuesday afternoon, the two teams faced off again and the Impact reversed the scoreline to win 1-0.  Again Bush played 90, and in addition to earning the shutout, he stopped two penalty kicks!  Coming up for Head Coach Frank Klopas’ boys will be another scrimmage against 3rd division team FC Cuautla, in preparation for the Impact’s CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal match with Pachuca next Tuesday.

COLUMBUS CREW  –  After a couple weeks of training south Florida, the Crew  headed to Austin, Texas for the ATX Pro Soccer Challenge.  The Black and Gold went home with a 3-1 loss to FC Dallas and a 1-0 win over the Austin Aztex, new USL PRO affiliate.  On Friday night, Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] and Brad Stuver [Twinsburg/Twinsburg] both played the second half, as Head Coach Gregg Berhalter went with his plan of rotating and shuffling lineups over the course of the team’s time in Texas.  For whatever it’s worth, Stuver did not allow a goal during his time in net.  Speas got the second half in Sunday’s win.  Next up for the Crew is a trip back to Florida for the IMG Suncoast Pro Soccer Classic (click the link in the TFC report for more info), where they’ll play London United (18 Feb, 12pm), the Costa Rica U-23 team (21 Feb, 5pm) and the Philadelphia Union (25 Feb, 5pm) before a playoff game on the 28th.

DC UNITED  –  Like the Crew SC, DC spent some time training in Florida before they headed to Austin, but unlike the Crew SC, DC played some scrimmages while in Brandenton.  They drew 1-1 with MLS debutant Orlando City SC on 28 January; drew 0-0 with Swedish side Jönköpings 3 February; and then lost 0-1 to Malmo FF three days later.  Right back Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] played a half in each of the first two games, but none of the third.  The Black and Red was the fourth team in Austin this past weekend and they won the tournament, defeating the Austin Aztex 2-0 and FC Dallas 1-0.  I’m going to go out a limb here and say this is easily the best soccer trophy ever.  Korb did not play deepintheheartof, but he did train.  I can’t find any news on why.  Maybe Head Coach Ben Olsen is saving him for DC’s final preseason match on 20 February with FC Dallas, in anticipation of the upcoming trip to Costa Rica for its CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal matchup with Alajuelense?

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  –  The league champs have been galavanting across Europe for the last week, after starting their work at home.  On 30 January, the Galaxy beat Ventura County Fusion 2-0, then defeated the Seattle Sounders 2-1 on 6 February, before heading to Washington DC to meet President Obama.  In the nation’s capital, they also trained a little and scrimmaged the Georgetown University Men’s Soccer Team 2-1.  We couldn’t ascertain any details about how much and where and when Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe] played in any of those matches, but here’s an article on him and his approach to this season.  Once the Galaxy made it across the Atlantic, they visited Stefan Ishizaki’s old stomping grounds in Stockholm, Sweden, where they lost a scrimmage 2-1 to Hammarby.  Walker subbed in for the for Ishizaki and played the final 23 minutes as holding mid.  The team has been doing the bulk of its training in Robbie Keane’s old stomping grounds in Dublin, where they’ll play a scrimmage this upcoming Saturday against Shamrock Rovers.  Head Coach Bruce Arena’s bunch will return home for more training in advance of the season opener.

NEW YORK CITY FC  –  NYCFC began its inaugural preseason in England,  where it got things going with a 2-0 friendly win against Scottish Premier League side St. Mirren.  This past Sunday, the [unsure what nickname to use… the sky blues, maybe?] lost 2-0 to Danish side Brondby.  Josh Williams [Copley/Copley] subbed in for the second half at right back in the first match, and then started at right back and played the first half of the second.  On 1 February, NYCFC played a closed-door scrimmage with new NASL team Jacksonville Armada, which finished a 2-1 victory for the MLS club.  It was set up with four 24 minute periods and we’re deducing that Williams played the third and fourth quarters, for whatever that’s worth.  The team will now head to Charleston, SC for the Carolina Challenge Cup, where it wrap up the preseason with games against Orlando City SC (21 Feb, 730pm), Houston Dynamo (25, 5pm) and the host Battery of USL PRO (28, 730pm).

PHOTO CREDIT:  Speas/USA Today Sports Images; Williams/NYCFC.com