After previous trips to the Bell Gardens Sports Center, each of the remaining 18 Sueno MLS participants left without knowing their fate.
After Saturday, though, each member knew that they would live to play another day.
Sueno MLS L.A. has reached the Final 18 and the figure will remain unchanged for another week. On Thursday, the finalists will play a game on the main field at The Home Depot Center. On Saturday, the squad ran through a training session.
"Tactics, getting to know each other, plays -- it was good," Edgar Espinoza said. "They chose the last 18 and it's harder now. Show your best."
Under a warm March sky, the remaining trialists set out to impress coaches and scouts with their soccer skills. The training session lasted roughly three hours, with players first running through some light passing drills, then progressing to more complicated passes before competing in a nine-on-nine format.
Some players said they'd ran through similar intense training sessions before both others were new to the high-paced and high-intensity practice Chivas USA coaches and scouts put them through.
"It was better practice than club," Briant Reyes said. "Right here it was more organized and you get a better technique and everything. It helps you because they see your mistakes and they help you practice from the mistakes and you get better."
Mistakes were a bit common at the start, players said.
"I had a lot of moments when we barely started that I thought I did bad because of my passes," Juan Moreno said. "I'm used to, when I get the ball, touching it with the outside of my foot but they told me right now you're supposed to trap it with the inside. So I was having trouble with that because I kept messing up. But later on I got used to it."
In the first round, the talent stood out from the rest of the field. As early as the round-of-60, players said, the competition level increased. In some respects, the getting past the round-of-60 was more difficult than competing on Saturday.
"The first round was kind of easy because my team knew what they were doing," Moreno said. "The next round came and it seemed harder because everyone was at the same level. I was a little nervous in the second round too because everyone knew what they were doing."
Still, players said the skill and competition level was the highest it's been for them thus far.
"You have more people who can play your positions so you have to show coaches that you are better than those people," Reyes said. "You have to show your best or they'll forget you."
One area where some players were apparently caught off guard was fitness. Three players did not make it through the entire match because their bodies started to give out on them. Two players were taken out of the match because of cramping and left the game as an eight-on-eight affair. Later, a defender went in for a challenge on an opponent but instead laid on the ground in apparent pain after his leg cramped up. A Chivas USA coach tried to stretch out the fallen youngster before play resumed.
However, one player who team coaches tended to did well for himself in a minute's span. Goalkeeper Alonso Lara laid on the ground as a coach stretched out Lara's legs in the early part of the scrimmage. Lara appeared to have been in pain but he eventually rose to his feet and play resumed. Moments later, Lara was tested as a player slipped a precise shot on goal. Lara left his feet and pushed the ball over the crossbar.
Ultimately, though, players were able to put most everything else aside and concentrate on the task at hand.
"Every time I come here, I'm sweating, I'm nervous, my legs are shaking," Moreno said. "But once I get on the field I forget about all of that."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
