Today I arrived at the US men's national team training scrimmage just in time to see new LA Galaxy aquisition Nate Jaqua score a nice goal on a header. He got on the end of a pass and sent the ball past Troy Perkins.
Matt Reis was the goalkeeper nearest where I was standing, and he kept talking to his defenders, shouting warnings and encouragements nonstop. He had Michael Parkhurst and Bobby Boswell in front of him as his centerbacks. At one point, Heath Pearce sent in a pass, and as Boswell prepared to head it away, Reis yelled, "I'm on line, right here," and Boswell headed the ball down towards the goal for Reis to pick up.
After that, there was a little break in the play and Boswell went to Reis, saying that it was nice to hear him talking, since it allowed Boswell to know where his goalkeeper was. Reis slapped hands with Boswell, saying, "No problem, man, you're doing a good job out there."
They kept a clean sheet on their side for the rest of the scrimmage.
After the scrimmage, the players did some group fitness with interval laps, speeding up to a sprint when a whistle blew, then a steady run when it blew again. For a goalkeeper, Perkins ran well, near the front of his group. Jimmy Conrad and Jonathan Bornstein led theirs.
Assistant coach Peter Nowak was running the drill barefoot. I asked the team equipment manager, Ryan Maxwell, if Nowak was missing his shoes. He shook his head. "Do you know why he's running barefoot?" I asked.
He shook his head again. "I have no idea."
I didn't get a chance to ask Nowak himself, as he has declined to speak to media this week.
