Los Angeles Blues News Release -- www.labluesprosoccer.com
Monday, December 19, 2011
FULLERTON, Calif. – The Los Angeles Blues wrapped up their last week of training before the holidays Thursday. Following the session, Head Coach Charlie Naimo and defender Erlys Garcia took the time to provide their assessment of the current state of the team. The Los Angeles coaching staff made a special point of opening the team’s offseason camp early this year, and the decision seems to have been beneficial.
“I keep rewinding to a year ago, and I think we’ve been more successful this time in attracting young players with good upsides as well as a lot of very athletic guys that understand the grind of the league,” Naimo said. “Before the 2011 season, we didn’t know we had a chance to sign (former Blues star) Walter Gaitán until late January, which reminds me that there could be some great quality out there that we’re not aware of yet. So we’re ahead of where we were last year, but there’s still a lot of work for us.”
In agreeing with Naimo’s overall positive assessment, Erlys Garcia attributed some of the improvement from a year ago to the club’s training facilities recently being moved from Downtown Los Angeles to Fullerton College.
“Compared to this time in 2010, practice has been a lot better,” the 26-year-old said through a translator. “Part of it is practicing on natural grass. Artificial turf is tough on the knees and ankles if you’re training on it all the time, as we were before. The conditions here are great and the players who have come in are really anxious to prove they have something to add to the team. Things are progressing slowly but steadily.”
The Los Angeles coaches had originally planned to help the progress along with another scrimmage against high-level opposition before the holidays. That has now been deemed unnecessary, following recent developments that have contributed to Naimo’s relative satisfaction with the offseason workouts so far.
Since December 8, the Blues have signed Scottish striker Allan Russell and American prospect Bryan Burke, and they currently have offers out to two more players. With the roster slowly starting to take shape, Naimo is shifting his focus toward the New Year.
“You can see a more level group of players now after we’ve released some more guys and secured others, and the quality will only continue to improve,” Naimo said. “Playing friendlies against good teams will help us determine who could really help us in 2012. We’re already looking at several possibilities for January and are even considering an earlier preseason start so we can get more quality games in.”
The earlier the better, according to defender Garcia. After registering the second-most minutes of all Blues field players in 2011, the former Cuban international knows what it takes to be successful in a competitive league like USL PRO.
“I’d say we’re about halfway where we need to be,” said Garcia, who was a member of his country’s Olympic qualifying squad before defecting to the U.S. in 2008. “We still only have a few players signed and the guys that are out here have to continue to work hard in order to develop the chemistry needed to do well during the season. We’ll start training daily in January, which should speed up the process tremendously and help integrate new players a lot more quickly.”