With the first month of preseason over, FC Dallas will shift their preparations for the 2008 MLS regular season a bit further south. On Friday, the club traveled to Brazil, where they will spend the next 11 days preparing alongside South American partner Clube Atletico Parananese, headquartered in Curitiba.
This is the second consecutive year that FCD has spent part of their preseason in Brazil and head coach Steve Morrow is looking forward to the possibilities that the trip will present.
"It's a great trip for us," Morrow said. "We're all excited about it and the boys are looking forward to it. The training complex is great and the games are good and competitive. We're very much focusing on being together as a team, building the team spirit while we're down there and starting to fine tune things on the field in terms of our system and style of play. We have a lot of time and opportunity and need to do that down there."
On Thurs., March 6, the Hoops will square off against CAP on their home field and Morrow knows it will be a hard-fought affair.
"CAP is on a great run at the moment, 12 games unbeaten so far, which is a club record for them," Morrow said. "They're in tremendous form and it's going to be a great game for us on Thursday night."
FCD held a nearly two-hour training session in Frisco on Friday morning and were set to leave for Brazil later in the afternoon. One burning question was the status of Ecuadorian forward Roberto Mina, who has been injured for most of the last 18 months.
"Mina has not signed yet," Morrow said. "We're currently negotiating with him and his representatives to figure out an agreement, a contract. We want to take Roberto to Brazil with us. His agent felt like we needed to have an agreement in place before we did that, so that's what we're doing right now. He hasn't signed a contract yet."
The Hoops coach also elaborated on where the club currently sits with negotiations for Chilean striker Reinaldo Navia, who is currently under contract to a club in Argentina.
"We're not making tremendous progress," Morrow said. "We've kind of reached the point where we've given an offer that we think is a good one. We're waiting for a response from them. We've been going back and forth without making too much progress really."
Much of the first month of preseason was spent working in new formations, both a 4-3-3 and a 3-5-2, and Morrow has been pleased with what he has seen from his back line thus far.
"At the moment, I think we're looking solid with what we have in the back three," he said. "I know it sounds generic and repetitive but if something comes along that is better than what we have, then we will add it. At this moment in time, that possibility is not there."
During last year's trip to Brazil, Pablo Ricchetti joined FCD on a trial, returned with them to Frisco and officially joined the roster in March. Morrow has several South American players coming in for a look this time around as well.
"Yes, we have a couple lined up but they haven't been confirmed," Morrow said. "We're looking at inviting two guys in while they're down there and there might be one other player with CAP that we're looking at. But at the moment, we're not in a position to give their names."
With league rosters needing to be in compliance with the salary budget and player limit by March 3, the FCD boss said there could be a new addition to the Hoops developmental roster -- 16-year-old striker DouDou Torre, a native of Liberia whom the club had filed a discovery on. He has played for them throughout preseason but will not be traveling with them to Brazil because of his visa status.
"At this moment, we're offering DouDou a developmental spot," Morrow said. "He's thinking over that situation and has indicated that he would be delighted to accept that. So, we're just finalizing a few parts of that."
Morrow also confirmed that Aaron Pitchkolan will be on the 18-man senior roster this season. Pitchkolan, who is in his fourth MLS season, spent the entire 2007 season on the developmental squad.
The FCD coach isn't the only one excited about the trip south. His players are equally anticipating the time in South America.
"I'm looking forward to it," said third-year striker Kenny Cooper. "It was a really good trip last year. CAP were great hosts last year and they provided us with a lot of quality competition. I'm looking forward to the same thing this year. It's nice to go somewhere that we're familiar with having also gone there last year."
Veteran Bobby Rhine, who is in his 10th season with the club, admits that the Brazil trip is the best preseason excursion he's seen during his tenure.
"I think it's the best one that we've done since I've been here," Rhine said. "It's the perfect combination of concentration and preparation. We'll get at least two games from CAP. The competition is good and it's an excellent chance to work on our strengths and weaknesses."
While the FCD players are looking forward to the trip, they also know that there is plenty to work on with the start of the 2008 season looming in just over a month's time.
"Our fitness, that's our biggest focus right now," said FCD midfielder Adrian Serioux, who missed the trip last year because of an injury. "We're trying to gear toward that proper game shape and quickness that we need leading into the last exhibition game in March and the end of the month when the season starts."
Rhine also expects some great competition from their South American partner next week.
"We know we'll get a good game with CAP in their stadium, something a lot of teams in MLS don't get to experience, going to South America and playing in a home team's stadium," he said. "It's going to be good from that aspect. It will be good to get away and address the things that we want to work on."
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
